Okay, so I saw this idea on Pinterest. You can do it with pages from a book, newspaper, ribbon… anything, really. I’ve always been a fan of making my own ornaments, and I’ve always bought the clear glass balls from Michael’s — I’ve painted them, glittered them, filled ‘em with stuff, decoupaged them… you name it, I’ve done it over the years.
Well, this year is a bit different. It’s the first time we’ve had about a hundred leftover wedding programs and a few dozen wedding invitations. Aside from having a huge bonfire (which I’m sure our HOA would likely frown upon), this was my next best idea… why not make Christmas ornaments for our first tree and for our families?
So, I set out to figure out how to do it… and here’s what I came up with:
What you’ll need:
- Scissors
- Empty glass ball ornaments
- Ribbon
- Hot Glue Gun
- Copies of your wedding invite/program/whatever
- Fingers
The first thing you’ll want to do is cut your invites into teensy weentsy little strips… keep going until your hand goes numb. I made mine vary in width… thought it’d look better and fill out the ornament more.
Next thing you’ll do is use your scissors to gently curl just the ends of your strips. I found (for my paper at least) that if I tried to use them to curl the strips like ribbon, it fell apart and the layers of the paper separated. So, I curled just the ends (more bowed the strip of paper than curled it), then wrapped it up into a little spiral and held it shut for about 30 seconds. Once you let go, it’ll look like the above picture.
Take your little roll and pull him apart, like so:
Once he’s nice and stretched out and curly, work him into the glass ball (you’ll have to remove the little metal topper first… careful, don’t cut yourself on the glass – some of them can be sharp).
Once you fill the ball up (how much you fill it is up to you), go ahead and re-cap it with the little metal doo-dad shown above. Again, careful not to slice your finger open. For reals. That shit hurts.
Once your ball is full and put back together, get your ribbon, and cut a length about 50% longer than your scissors, like so:
Next (and you’re going to love me for this), I’m going to teach you how to tie the perfect crafting bow (as in, this method won’t work if you’re tying it ONTO something).
Make an “M” with your ribbon (or an “E” or a “3″ or a sideways “W”)…
Take the two bunny ears and tie a knot. Genius, right? Turns out pretty freakin’ perfect. Tweak and pull until it’s exactly how you want it, then fold the little tails hot-dog style and cut a V out of them (are you liking the kindergarten references? I am).
Next, pick which “side” of your ball is going to be the front, and put a little dollop of hot glue right in the crack where the top metal doo-dad meets the ball… and glue on your perfect bow!
Boom. Check YOU out… you just made your very own little personalized ornament.
Now, you can make a set… or gifts for your bridal party or parents, family, etc!
Also, forgive all the shots of my rug. I didn’t decide to document this until I was already set up on the floor; and frankly I was far too lazy to move to the table, where I could have taken better pictures.
Happy crafting!
(budget-wise, 6 ornaments cost me $5.99, and I used leftover ribbon from the wedding, glue sticks were leftover… and obviously so was the paper… so these cost me $1/each!)
Tagged as:
christmas decor,
christmas ornaments,
DIY christmas balls,
DIY christmas ornaments,
DIY holiday decorations,
diy wedding,
DIY wedding invitation christmas ornament,
DIY wedding invitations,
how to tie a bow,
how to tie a perfect bow,
how to tie the perfect bow,
michael's,
michael's craft store,
michael's crafts,
pinterest
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Loving the kindergarten references! These came out super cute, and look so easy (but tedious… that’s a lot of strips to cut). Also, I love the colors in your rug!
OMG I love these! I’m thinking of something like this for our Save The Dates for our family Christmas!
this is GENIUS! I have so many programs left over! And RSVP postcards too since we had to order a minimum of 250!
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