Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Handcrafted Holiday ~ Paper Ball Ornaments

The kids and I have been making ornaments for the tree for about two weeks now. I can't wait to show you the files of the sweater mice... but I can't figure out how to upload the PDF file I made for the pattern. If anyone has ideas I would love them. ;)

The other day on our advent calendar tag was 'making paper ball ornaments'. I saw a picture in a book (or on the net) of these and I thought they were just beautiful! They have been in my head ever since. Of course, I had stick with my theme and find a way to make them recycled. So I found the perfect medium... Old calendars!

Georgia O'Keeffe and Sulamith Wulfing were my two top choices from our stash of old calendars, but the kids favorite was Mary Engelbreit. She has some really neat patterns around the outsides of her calendar pages that make very fun ornaments!

You need:

Old calendars
a mini hole punch
scissors
brads

1. Cut a bunch of 3 inch strips off the calendar picture. You can either keep them in order (so the ball has a distinct picture on it), or you can mix them up.

2. Take 5 or so and punch them with the hole punch on both ends like the picture above. Then, still holding them in your hand, put the brad, but do not butterfly. Do the same with the remaining paper strips until you have a little stack with brads at both ends. When you have quite a few, then butterfly the brad so they stay secure.

3. Slowly spread them out, like so:

4. Arrange them how you want being careful not to rip the strips and viola!

5. We are tying fishing line to the brad at the top of each ornament and then putting Christmas tree hooks through the fishing line. They are making a BEAUTIFUL addition to our recycled tree!

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6 comments

Chasey said...

Thank you so much for sharing this idea!These christmas ornaments are BEAUTIFUL!

Silver Sisters said...

Gorgeous! I am so trying these as soon as I can get me hands on some brads.

Katie said...

Aren't those fun to make!? I used to make them with my preschool class.
Hope you and your family are enjoying this holiday season.
Warmly,
Katie

Valerie @ Frugal Family Fun Blog said...

These look great!! We'll be making some too, since I won't have to worry about them breaking if Clara knocks them off the tree. Great way to re-use those old calendars. I love it!!

Kristen said...

I am so excited to make these! I may try to make them with the photos i didnt use will scrapbooking!

Stacy of KSW said...

Hooray! I've also been working on a handmade holiday - tin can luminaries, recycled magazine trees, paper plate bow wreaths, etc.

These will be the perfect addition to our home {I have 3 kids 3 and under}

I can't thank you enough, it;s my first visit to your site and I can't wait to see more!

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