It’s been a few months since I posted, and to bring those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook or Instagram up to date, I had my third baby boy in September, we moved to a new flat at the beginning of November, and I’m still working on getting everything organised and tidy. For obvious reasons, I haven’t made many Christmas decorations this year.
I did however make these paper ornaments way back in July, realising that would likely be my only chance this year, and as I took step by step pictures, here’s a tutorial.
I worked with what I had in my paper stash, and that determined how full my ornaments would be, and how many I could make. You can of course make yours fuller by adding pieces, and make as many ornaments as you want. The three 12×12” scrapbooking papers I had, from a Swedish 2006 Christmas collection, was enough to make eight ornaments of six pieces of paper each.
I started by making a template (you can use almost any shape you want, as long as it’s left and right sides are symmetrical), then copied that on the back of my papers. I wanted to get as many pieces as possible from my material, with minimal waste, so I adjusted the shape of my template accordingly.
Cut out your shapes.
Fold each cut piece of paper lengthwise; make it a sharp crease, a bone folder may come in handy if you have one.
Repeat for all of the shapes you’ve cut out.
I used all three paper designs in each of my ornaments, so for every ornament I was working on, I made sure to lay them out in the right order so as not to get them mixed up.
Next, glue two of the pieces together.
Make sure the folds align neatly.
If, despite aligning the folds perfectly, the edges are uneven, don’t worry. We’ll trim them later.
Keep gluing your shapes together, until you’ve added the last one. Leave the end ones open for now.
Now trim your ornament, so it looks neat.
If the top is too pointed, you can cut off the top and bottom slightly, thus making any beads you might add sit more nicely.
To hang your ornament you can use a number of different things, from string to ribbon. I used a linen thread, and added beads to give a neat finishing touch. Start by putting a small bead on the thread. This will make sure the thread is more safely secured to your ornament, and won’t slip loose.
Double the thread, and put on a slightly larger bead.
Add another large bead and a small bead – they will sit at top and bottom of the ornament.
Put the thread inside the still open ornament, make sure the beads end up in the right places. Glue the ornament shut.
Your ornament is now finished!
These make good ornaments if you have limited space for storage, as they can be folded flat when not in use. Have you made any ornaments this year?
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Lovely! Thanks Sarah.
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Clever and pretty! I can't recall whether I've made any ornaments this year(!), because I tend to do my Christmas crafting *after* Christmas. Then I'm still in the mood, and there's no stress. 🙂 We have a Christmas tree from December 23 to January 13 (if enough of the needles hang on that long), and I love how this makes for a long, stress-free, period of Christmas, after the busy weeks of Advent.
I'm glad to see that you and yours are well! I've been thinking of you from time to time.
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Yes, I made snowman button ornaments from my button jar. The buttons represent those from old clothing from my father, mother, husband and me. These are for our sons and family. Your ornaments are lovely. Thank you for the post. Merry Christmas.
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thanks for sharing!
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