Christmas paper ornament tutorial

Its that time of year (already!) to start thinking about Christmas gifts, decorations, and wrapping. Christmas is already less than 6 weeks away!!!

*gulp*

These paper ornaments make a great addition to any Christmas tree, can be used as a pretty tag or "bow" on the top of a gift, or can be strung together to make a beautiful garland. You can use what you already have available at home and they're so easy to make that it's the perfect afternoon craft project to do with your kids.

Lets get started:

Supplies needed:

* construction paper, scrapbooking paper, or any cardstock weight paper you have at home. You can even glue wrapping paper to a piece of heavy weight paper to make your own unique design!

* scissors

* pencil

* string, twine, or floss (I used baker's twine)

* glue

* juice glass (or a paper punch if you have one which is what I used and makes the process go a little bit faster).

Step 1: Trace 8 circles on your paper using your glass and cut them out (or just punch 8 circles out).

Step 2: Fold each circle in half making sure that the pattern you want to show on the ornament is on the INSIDE of the fold.

Step 3: Glue the backs of each folded circle to another folded circle (making sure that you glue the sides together that you don't want to be seen).

When your finished gluing it looks like this:

Step 4: Tie your string into a hanger by putting a loop at top and a knot at the bottom. This will help ensure that the string doesn't slip through your finished ornament.

Step 4: After you glue all 8 pieces together lay your string down the spine of your ornament, then glue the final two paper ends together to form a circle around your string.

 

Enjoy your beautiful paper ornament!



Layouts

A few more recent layouts to share.

ATC step by step

I recently started to get hooked onto making ATC's (artist trading cards). The definition of ATC straight from Wikipedia is:

Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards,[1] or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm),[2] small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.[3] The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.[4] Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold.

What's great about them is that they come together quickly, you can try new mixed media techniques out on them without the fear of ruining or wasting a canvas or other large item, and that they really are beautiful miniature pieces of art.

Here's a quick step by step for you:

The ATC below was made using a masking technique which utilized the "trash" from the back of some paper tape and some spray ink. When I separate paper tape from the backing I always save the backing paper to use later for projects just like this.

Step 1: Remove the plastic backing from your paper tape.

Step 2: Wrap it around your ATC and secure with removable tape on back.

Step 3: Spray your ATC with a few different colors of spray ink or mist, then remove the backing.

Step 4: Finish off your ATC.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing some layouts

Some recent-ish layouts that were published in Scrapbook News and Review magazine.

:)