Now that we are past Remembrance Day, the next big event is of course....Christmas. So keeping with that upbeat spirit, this week is going to be a week of Christmas Craft How To's. These are great little things you can make for yourself, or to give to others.
Every year for the past 3 years, I have given hand made gifts to my family for Christmas. I like it because it is a little bit less expensive than buying gifts, and much more personal.
One of my favorite crafts (and the most time consuming) is my paper ball ornament. There are a few different designs that you can do with this, but I'm going to show you one of the nicer ones.
~TO START~
You will need:
1- Pair of Scissors
1 - 2 3/4" Styrofoam Ball
2 - 150 pack of Straight Pins
2 - Rolls of Wrapping Paper (different colors)
1 - Roll of Ribbon
1 - Thimble
Once you have all of your supplies, you are ready to start your prep.
To make this ornament, you need to cut out 40 - 50, 1.5 inch squares of wrapping paper (of each colour).
In total, you should have between 80 - 100 wrapping paper squares. **They do not have to be exactly 1.5 inches, this is just a guide line.
Once you have your squares cut out,now it is time to fold them! You are going to be folding them into triangle shapes. The way that I do this is to fold your square in half, then on the creased edge, fold your two ends into the middle. They should look like this when you are finished.
When you have folded all of your squares, you are ready to start pinning!
To start, you are going to choose one of your colors of triangles. For this ornament, I started with my silver wrapping paper.
To Begin, you are going to take one of your triangles and pin the top point into your Styrofoam ball. Gently stretch the bottom two points down on to the ball and pin those in as well. (Now would be a great time to mention that you should wear your thimble on your index finger to push in the pins. Unless you have super callist fingers, it is going to be uncomfortable and painful by the time you are done!)
When your fist triangle is pinned on, move on to your second. You are going to line up this new triangle to the last, so that the top points are side by side, and the side edge is touching. Pin this triangle on the same way you did the last. When this is pinned on, your Styrofoam ball should look like it has one large triangle pinned to the top.
You are then going to pin on two more triangles in the same way you did the last, until it looks like one large square is pinned on the top.
It's OK if there is a bit of over hang from the wrapping paper
it will be covered up with more layers soon.
You now have your ornament started... Tired Yet? :P.... I know it seems like a very long process, but trust me, it is worth it to see your finished product!
Now you are going to use your second color of wrapping paper for the next layer (they will alternate back and forth from now on) we'll call this color #2 for reference
Taking one of your #2 colored triangles, you are going to pin the top corner a fer centimeters below one of your #1 colored triangles already on the ball. Make sure that the point of #2 is centered under #1, or it will look funny. Pin the other two corners of the triangle down, and repeat the process for the other three #1 triangles.
When you have finished this step, your ornament should look like this.
You should have an X shape of #1 colored paper visible under the #2 color.
Now comes the tricky part. Take one of you #2 triangles, and pin in in the space between the other #2 triangles. The top point should be centered in the middle, and lined up with the other two points on either side. (the three points lined up should look like a W shape). Pin the other two points down, and repeat the process until the other three spaces have been filled. When this is done, there should be a small portion of #1 paper showing at the very top, in a star shape.
Star shape at the top of the ornament.
You've now got two layers of your ornament done. Check back in tomorrow, and I'll show you the next steps to complete your hand made paper ornament!
"Crafting is the hand print of all culture" ~ Unknown
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