Sunday, November 29, 2009

Easy Ornaments!


This was based on an idea I saw in Family Fun magazine, and I made a few minor changes just to suit my own taste. Ready for my fancy schmancy tutorial??? One warning: don't be hating my awesome red plastic-y cheapo tablecloth. I just save it for crafty/messy things.

Here we go!

Supplies you will need:

1. Empty cardboard tube(s) - from wrapping paper, paper towel,
or toilet paper (Don't worry if it's ugly looking. Just peel
all the paper off and the rest won't matter as long as it's intact.)
2. Heavy duty scissors
3. Elmer's glue, or similar
4. Spray paint, in holiday colors
5. Embellishments, optional
6. Pipe cleaners, or ornament hooks


STEP ONE:

Lay your cardboard tube on the table and press on it with your hands, making it flat. Just enough to make a crease run down each side. This helps it cut up easier. Next, cut a 1/4 to 1/2-inch slice off the end of the tube. That piece should look like a football shape when you lay it flat. Continue cutting a whole bunch of those slices. Try to keep them all the same width.


STEP TWO:

Gather a small group of your slices (I did mine with 6). Glue them together so that their points all meet together evenly in the middle. If you use SMALL amounts of glue, they will hold together better during the drying process. If they are wanting to pull apart, keep pinching and be patient, once you complete a formation, they stay put pretty well. Let them dry completely.


STEP THREE:

Spray paint them your favorite Christmas colors! Be sure to flip them over and get both sides, as well as in all the little crevices.


We did red.... and silver. There's a white one
in the front (below) but it turned out horrible.
Good luck if you want white. Not sure if it was my
paint or what...

Let those dry REALLY WELL.


STEP FOUR:

With that same glue, you can add little embellishments to the centers. We used fake jewels and shaped sequins. There's not a lot of "surface area contact" here, so you might want a little MORE glue this time. But be patient again, after they dried they seemed stuck on there quite well.

We also cut some pipe cleaners in half to twist it on to the ornament and form the hook at the top. I'm sure regular wire ornament hooks would be a little more sophisticated.


We made a WHOLE BUNCH!!! Aren't they adorable?



13 comments:

Alena Jo said...

I love them! Awesome idea, Amy! It's brilliant. I'm always feeling bad for just throwing away, or recycling, the paper towel roll cardboards. I always look at them and think, "There's gotta be something I could make with these, that I'm not..." Here's my answer! My kids would love to make these, too!

Deb said...

So cute. Thanks for the tutorial. I think we'll give those a try this weekend.

Tandee said...

Those are way cute! You did a great job! I'll have to try them with the mounds of paper towel rolls I have saved for no reason at all. =)

Melinda said...

They are so cute! We will have to give that a try, since we've already done too many of the other types of ornaments we decided to make!

Sara Hollobaugh said...

Very cute! THanks for sharing!

Frozen Cacti said...

Those are so cool and what a great way to reuse/recycle. Thanks for the tutorial!

Kathryn said...

Cute! I think that they look like a pointsetta. This make a almost no cost great kids craft.

Julia @AllFreeChristmasCrafts said...

Amy,

This project is adorable and perfect for the whole family. We would love to feature your tutorials on our site, AllFreeChristmasCrafts. If this is something you'd be interested in, feel free to contact me at jlitz (at) primecp (dot) com. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

How smart an idea! This can be used for a lot of projects! Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Wow, just made 6 of these out of old toliet paper rolls. Did not have red or silver spray paint, had some leftover gold. Also, did not have any foil covered wire, had ribbon. And for embellishment, we used old plastic shank buttons that had a design on them. Glued it all together, spray painted it, put a ribbon in it, ready for the tree. Christmas in August? Neat idea, for the kids.

Karen said...

I want to make some of these like this and then try gluing tissue paper behind and hang them in a window with a ribbon hanger. Can't wait to try these.

Lagene said...

Great project, I stepped this up a notch & made a wreath, see on my blog.
http://inkymema.blogspot.com/2011/12/poinsettia-wreath-toilet-paper-rolls.html

Stephanie C said...

we use to make candelabras out of the aluminum foil, waxed paper, paper towel rolls or saran wrap boxes..
don't remember all the details, but we used the tubes as candles. cut holes in the boxes and inserted the rolls... we must have either painted them or glued colored construction paper around them and cut out cardboard "flames" to top them off with.
of course, this was over 50 yrs ago!