Crafty Ornaments: How To

I had the best of plans to make this post a video post. Not only because I'm incredibly witty and gorgeous when I'm crafting, but also because it's just plain easier to explain the whole process in moving form than it is to struggle with the written word. For some reason, though, we cannot find our Flip! How do two responsible adults lose a video camera? It's ridiculous! Some intense searching will happen tonight, I assure you.

Anyway, lots of decorating posts are floating around in blogland today, so I thought I'd add mine. We made these crafty ornaments last year. The story goes: I was browsing the net, drooling over Anthropologie, as usual, when I came upon their holiday decor section. Among the many (many, many) pretty things to bling out your tree where these artful, felt & yarn ornaments. Problem was, they were like $50 each. At that rate, our tree would get more gifts than we would on X-mas.

Unacceptable!

But after some planning and quick trip to Michael's, we were set with all we needed to make over 12 ornaments for the price (or less) than one!

What you'll need . . .

• Several skeins of yarn in different colors
• Styrofoam balls in different sizes
• Beads, sequins, buttons, etc.
• LOTS of pins (see below)
• Felt, if desired
• Ribbon
• Scissors

STEP 1: Take one styrofoam ball & wrap it with yarn.

• How? Tie one end of the yarn into a knot and use the T-shaped pin to anchor it to the styrofoam. Start at the top of the ball and wrap tightly the whole way around until it is well covered.
• Cut the yarn at the end and tie it into another knot. If you can, take out the original T-shaped pin and anchor both ends with it. If you can't, just use another pin.

STEP 2: Take the smaller pins and embellish with your buttons, sequins, and things!

• There's really no wrong way to do this part. I used the sequins to inspire the "theme" of each ornament. I used the heavier metal & stone beads to class it up. And I mostly created patterns & repeated them.
• The best part? If you don't like something you did, just take it out! And if you are using buttons and other pieces with large holes (that the pins tend to slip through), just put a sequin ahead of where the pin anchors everything.
  

STEP 3: Finish everything off with a pretty ribbon.

• Depending on the size of your ornament, take a few inches of colored ribbon and loop it at one end . . . then secure it with another T-shaped pin.
• I'm sure there are fancier ways to do this part, but our ornaments look great & were secure on our tree despite our cats' many attempts at taking them down.

This weekend, we're looking forward to breaking out the X-mas gear and going wild. I think we even have some supplies left over from last year's ornament fest. This project provided us with a great way to spend an afternoon -- and the mint-chocolate chippers and hot chocolate I made sure didn't hurt anything.

Is it Friday yet? I know I'm working for the FREEKEND!

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