School and work have been crazy recently, so I haven’t had a lot of time for do-it-yourself posts. Instead, I thought I would give you a peek at what I am currently working on.
Christmas ornaments made from sheet music:
I was inspired by this Christmas tree DIY & used a similar technique to make these ornaments.
Paper ball ornaments
I made these ornaments using Jessica’s tutorial. I love that she included patterns for paper balls of three sizes. Eventually, I want to make a large paper ball to sit on my living room end-table - white paper with a dusting of glitter would look really festive!
Thanks for reading!
I am currently loving the scalloped Christmas tree look (see here), so I decided to apply the same technique to my Christmas ornaments.
Time: 30 minutes for a small (1.5” diameter) ball
Age: hmmmm…hard to say. Patience is a must. Fast drying glue is also a must for younger children. Probably age 12 and up? The small paper circles can be a challenge to align (and keep in the right position) if your glue does not dry fast.
Materials:
Styrofoam ball (showing a 1.5” ball)
Hole punch (I used a 3/8” punch)
Paper (I used thicker scrap-booking paper, but this can also be done using construction paper, wrapping paper, or even felt)
Scissors
Glue (clear, fast-dry glue would be best)
Ribbon
Dressmaking pins (optional)
Punch out circles
Glue (or pin) the bottom circle first:
Begin gluing first row of circles onto the ball. Overlap edges.
Continue adding rows.
(I have flipped ball over)
Once the entire ball is covered, you will be left with a small opening at the top.
Glue (or pin) the final circle onto the top of the ball
Glue (or pin) on ribbon
Done!
You can change-up the effect by using a variety of paper patterns & by altering the ball size. The ornament below was made using 7 different paper patterns on a 6” diameter styrofoam ball.
Have fun!
Thanks for reading!
Since this is the first (upcoming) holiday season in our new house, I have been thinking a lot about decorations. Here’s a look at some cute little winter hats (toques - for my Canadian friends).
What you need:
Yarn (thick yarn works best, I unfortunately used the thin stuff in this tutorial)
Empty paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls
Scissors
Ruler (optional)
Difficulty: Easy - I learned how to do this in about grade 4
If you like to measure, cut about a 10” lengths of yarn (this does not have to be exact!)
You can choose to use multiple colours of yarn - for ease, I only used two colours in this tutorial
Cut the paper towel roll into 0.5 - 1” pieces. This forms the band of the hat.
Now it’s time to knot the yarn. Fold a piece of yarn in half.
Put the folded yarn into the paper town roll.
Pass the yarn tails through the loop.
Pull to tighten.
Repeat!
Keep adding more yarn.
Finished knotting…
To create the pom-pom, tie the yarn strands together.
Cut pom-pom to desired length. Fluff the yarn to create more of a fuzzy pom-pom (not shown)
You can hang the finished product on a tree…
…or add a festive touch to everyday items
Thanks for reading!
