Materials: - Assorted 12x12 Paper - Paper Trimmer or Scissors - Ruler - Brad, eyelet or staples - Fishing line or ribbon
Step 1: You will want to select 3-4 double sided papers. For this post I used some of our lovely 12x12 Christmas papers.
Step 2: Cut these into 1" wide strips. You will need: - (2) 7" long - (3) 6" long - (2) 5" long
Step 3: One of the 6 inch strips will be the center of your heart ornament. Starting about 2.5" from the bottom of your center piece you will want to place the top edges of the 5" long strips. They will go face down onto the center piece. One strip will go on each side. You can affix them there with a brad, eyelet or staple (I used brads). About a half inch above that you will do the same thing with the 6" long strips and another half inch above that you will affix the 7" strips.
Step 4: Now you have a sort of inverted tree of paper strips and you will start to pull the top ends of your 5", 6", and 7" strips to the base of your center strip. Using one brad, eyelet, or staple hold them all in place there. This forms a natural heart shape and creates a darn cute ornament for a modern tree.
- (5) 4” Squares of Origami or Double-sided Scrapbook paper
- (2) 2 1/8” Squares for Covers
- (1) 18” Length of Thin Ribbon
- Double Stick Tape
Fold 4” square horizontally & vertically.
Fold diagonally twice.
Open up the square & you will have two diagonally folds, one vertical & one horizontal fold.
Fold into a triangle.
Fold the outer ends of the triangle inside towards the center.You will end up with a square.
Using double stick tape, attach the five squares.Keep each end free.
Fold the ribbon in half. Place double stick tape on each diagonal.Keep the looped end of the ribbon on the closed part of the square & the open length on the open end of the ornament.
Use these sparkly ornaments to decorate your tree or take this basic design to a whole new level! This is a great starting point to get really creative: Shimmer Sprays, assorted embellishments, double-sided papers, different punch designs and the list goes on!
Materials -
-2.5” Circle Punch
-Assorted Glitter Paper -or- Stardream Shimmer Paper
-Glue Gun, Glue Dots or another quick-drying adhesive
-Ribbon
-Scissors
Optional Accessories:
-Beads, Brads or Embellishments of your choice
-Floral wire or fishing line
Step 1) Punch out circles with your Circle Punch from your assorted paper. You can be adventurous with the quantity of circles you use for your design; however, I have found that 10 circles total work best.
(Tip: Try using a Christmas double sided paper or adhere a fun holiday paper to a glitter paper to achieve a totally different look.)
Step 2)Fold the circle in half with the design side out (for glitter paper – glitter side out).
Step 3)Put a drop of glue at each corner. Line up and glue the folded edges together at the seam. Continue to do this until the last one; however, do not glue the ornament closed.
Step 4)Knot off the bottom of your ribbon a few times then glue the excess ribbon up. Tie a loop at the top large enough to hang on the branch of a tree.
(Tip: You could also place a bead or glue a brad at the bottom instead of knotting off ribbon.)
Step 5)Take your ribbon and place it into the center of the ornament’s seam. Place some glue across the center of the ornament -press to seal your ornament closed and to glue your ribbon in.
Step 6)Glue the each flap of the ornament together with a small bead of glue. Repeat until the entire ornaments open flaps are glued shut.
Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you enjoyed our "12 days of Christmas" blogging as much as we enjoyed sharing our projects and ideas. There were so many creative posts, I decided to share the Top 10 since the start of the holiday season, based upon pageviews and number of comments. So, starting with number ten, counting down to our most popular post. . .
10. Tissue Puff Balls - Great for any special event, our tissue puff balls or "pom poms" have always been a big hit. The candy cane tissue made a nice holiday touch (thanks Portland PZ!). 9. Paper Ball Ornament - Christina's candy cane inspired creation set the bar high for inspired paper ornaments. Love these!
8. Waterfall Card - A-M-A-Z-I-N-G This is a must watch video displaying Sandra's unique cardmaking skills.
7. The Geoball Ornament - Since posting this ornament I've been told that it is a popular idea to make these out of recycled holiday cards. So don't throw out your cards this year and start your crafting now!
5. Holiday Crafters' Challenge Winner - Sarah's recipe book & stand was nothing short of creative genius. All I can say about this is wow, wow, wow!
4. Origami Gift Wrap - Jill in Bellevue used Amanda's tutorial to create this adorable stack of gifts. This packaging is almost as good as the gift!
3. Fimo Ornaments - Christina created some super adorable ornaments using Fimo clay. We all want a cup of that cocoa on our tree!!
2. Rat Ring - While I was posting about the delight of Christmas Crackers - the rat ring took center stage. I hope this post inspired some to start a tradition with Christmas Crackers because they are as fun as they look.
1. Snowflake Template - By far, our most popular post this season was the snowflake template/video. Over 1,400 people viewed the demo and snowflakes were abound everywhere I went. This idea shows how simple a project can be and that being creative doesn't require a lot of time, money or product. Simply fantastic!!
So, what do you think? Did your favorite project/post make the list? What was your favorite idea of the holiday?
Again, I hope you all enjoyed our posts. We try to inspire all year round so keep our blog bookmarked!!
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful day!! --Kim
Warning, I am not a quiller. I have never watched a video on quilling, read a book on quilling, nor have I looked at any real instructions on how to quill. But I got so excited by the craft, I bought all of the supplies and my amateur status hasn't deterred me from trying different projects. Given that warning, you should know that if I can make this snowflake, anyone can. I mean ANYONE.
Supplies needed for this project are quilling paper, a circle board, a slotted quilling tool, glue, spray adhesive and quilling tweezers. For the glue, you'll want a nice, fine tipped adhesive that dries quickly and dries clear.
To create the snowflake pattern I designed, you'll need to make 6 large cat eyes, 6 small cat eyes, 12 small tight coils and 1 large tight coil. They actually call the "cat eye" shape a "marquise", but I like to coin my own phrases and they look like eyes to me, so there you go. For the larger cat eyes, I used an 18 inch piece of quilling paper and the 1 inch circle. For the smaller eyes, I used a 10 inch piece of quilling paper and the 1/2 inch circle. For the small tight coils, I used 9 inch a piece of quilling paper and for the large tight coil I used one whole piece (18").
The following 40 second video demonstrates a standard quilled circle, the starting point for the cat eye shapes:
To create the cat eyes, you start with a quilled circle. And then pinch the ends. So easy! This 15 second video demonstrates shaping of the eyes:
Creating the tight coils is a snap: wind the paper on the slotted tool, carefully remove and glue.
Making the Snowflake: To assemble the snowflake take your 6 smaller cat eyes and organize them so that they can easily be glued together leaving only a small gap in the center. Apply a small amount of glue on the side of each tip, place the cat eyes in place and let dry. Next, attach the larger eyes to the tips of each smaller eye. You will attach these by placing the small coiled pieces on either side of the tips and adding a big glob of glue in the middle. This is why you want clear glue. These pieces will take a little longer to dry.
Tip: Keep checking your pieces while they dry to make sure they are not sticking to your work surface or you will have a beautiful snowflake adhered to your table. Working on a glossy surface like a magazine or wax paper helps.
Finally, add the large coiled piece to the center with a dollop of glue.
Lastly, you want to harden this baby up so that you can hang it on your tree, attach it to a wrapped package, or hang it from your dogs collar. This is accomplished with the spray adhesive. When the snowflake is dry enough to move without falling apart, place it on a piece of wax paper. Take it outside and spray it like crazy. Bring it back inside and transfer it to a clean piece of wax paper. In the morning you'll have a nice, stiff snowflake, ready for hanging.
Phew, that was a long post! But really the snowflake takes less than 30 minutes to make including drying time before the spray adhesive. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! --Kim
