I’m not one for flashy Christmas decor. It’s a little ironic because when the giant inflatable snow globes and Santas start to pop up all over the neighborhood, I love it! As Christmas nears, I love driving around with Dave while listening to Christmas music and trying to find the houses with the most outrageous lights and props displays. All of this ends the minute I enter my own house. The craziest Christmas decorating I do is probably putting up a tree with colored twinkle lights. Out of control, right? Well that’s why I’ve decided to put a little more effort into my decorating this year. I wanted decorations that were totally Christmas-worthy but could also be used year-round.
These ball ornaments are incredibly cheap and easy to make. All you need are some styrofoam balls, an old catalog (or newspaper, or fabric), a hot glue gun and some string. In the tutorial below, I’ll walk you through how I made one out of the pages of a catalog!
1. Get your glue gun plugged in and heating up. Make sure you’re working on a surface that won’t get ruined if the glue gun decides to attack (as it does from time to time).
2. Rip out a few pages from your catalog and roll the first one up into a long strip. Once the strip is rolled, twist the entire thing from end to end.
3. Put a dot of glue on the tip of your styrofoam ball and press one end of your twisted strip into the glue. Hold it there for a few seconds until the glue has cooled and the end is secure.
4. Drag a line of glue around the tip and twist your strip around, pressing it into the glue as you go. You’re going to repeat this for the entire ball. When you get to the end of a strip and you start with a new one, overlap the 2 ends so the thickness of your “coil” stays consistent. When you get to the bottom of your ball, trim off any excess length from the final strip.
5. Once your ball is fully wrapped, cut some string long enough to hang your ornament. Tie the ends together to make a loop and double the knot. Poke a small hole in the top of your ornament and put a dot of glue inside the hole. Push the knot of your string loop into the glue and let the glue cool completely so the string is securely attached.
6. Hang and enjoy!!
I really love these because of how versatile they are. You can make multiple sizes, use different fabric/paper styles and do all sorts of fun decorating with them when the holidays end!
What kinds of ornaments and decor will you be making this year?
Ok Sonoma behind on reading my blogs but I have seen these all over Pinterest and I thought “how cute” I am so glade to see that I am following the creator of these beautiful ornaments.
Aww yay! Thank you so much! 😀
These are so fun! Just found you on Craftgawker….off to look around some more, I love what I am seeing so far!
Thank you!! I’m so glad you found us! 🙂 Gotta love that Craftgawker. 😀
Lovely! I’m always on the lookout for diy ornament ideas. I think I have more ideas than I am actually able to make… but hey, a girl can dream, right?
Thanks for the tip!
I’m so glad you like it! A girl definitely CAN dream haha – there just aren’t enough hours in the day!! 😛
Your ornaments look so nice! I share your enthusiasm for making something out of (practically) nothing.
Thank you! 🙂 Yess it’s so great when you can make quality decor with stuff you’ve already got in the house! If I only have to buy 1 or 2 cheap things to complete a project, I’m happy. 😀
Oh, these are so pretty! An excellent idea for all recyclers and for those with kids. There’s no way children could waste or damage something too precious or too pricy while doing this kind of work. Truly, creativity has no limits.
Thank you!! They really would be great for kids.. who wouldn’t love tearing pages out of old magazines and crumpling them up all in the name of Christmas?? 😀
Hi Tiffany! That is such a great idea! I just posted it on my german blog: http://schoenstricken.de/2012/11/diy-weihnachtskugeln-aus-stoff-und-papier-basteln/. I hope that is fine for you. Best from Berlin, Jessica
Thank you!! I’m honored that you’d want to re-post! 😀
great idea! did you use the same technique to make the fabric one?
thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you! I did use the same technique for the fabric except I cut longer strips so I didn’t have as many seams between strips! 🙂
anyway you could make a video of the paper twisting? I’m trying and can’t get it so neat looking and sometimes I rip the paper.
I will try to start doing videos to include with tutorials. When I twist the paper, I sort of crunch, roll and twist at the same time. If you just roll it into a tight tube and then try to twist, it will probably rip. If you twist it a bit loosely and crumple the paper while rolling, you’ll get a “neater” twisted strip. I hope that helps!
This project is SO amazing. And your photography is to die for. I want to pin everything here! 🙂
Aww thank you so much!! I’m so glad you like it! 😀 I’m so honored you want to pin us!!
I love the look of these ornaments! I can’t wait to try this week-end!!
Yay!! I’m so glad you like it!! 🙂
I love your project !! could you please tell me what hot gun do you use ? with so many hot guns on the market and so many different opinions I am rather confused which one I should choose 🙂 cheers
I’m so glad you like it! 😀 I’m not really sure what brand the glue gun is, it’s just a super standard super OLD one that my husband actually owned before we got married! Any old glue gun should do the trick.
thanx for your reply 🙂 still could you tell me if it has got a name? 🙂 if you are happy with the one you got from your husband – bless him 🙂 than it’s worth trying to give it a shot 😉 all the best in 2013 – lots of creative ideas too 🙂
wow! those are fantastic! I am going to have to create some of those in the near future
I’m so glad you like them! 🙂
This is a great idea, both stylish & up-cycled. A great combination!
Thank you!! 🙂
Just made a half dozen of these for our tree. They were so easy and a GREAT way to get extra mileage out of all the JCrew and Nordstrom holiday catalogs that keep popping up in our mailbox. Thanks for the tutorial, glad I found your site!
Yay!! I’m so glad you made some!! Would love to see pictures if you have a link! 🙂
Awesome blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about here?
I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get opinions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you!
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These are soooo cool. Will make for Xmas, but I had an idea and wondered if you have ever tried it. I would love to have an assortment of larger balls hanging as a mobile kind of thing and wondered if I could use a plastic bowl as a base and by making two, I get a ball??? Any thoughts on if that would work???
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O estas bolas tan chulas de papel de colores doblado y pegado sobre una antigua bola de navidad. Offbeatandinspired and fully wrapped, cut some string long enough to hang your ornament. Tie the ends
Get your glue gun plugged in and heating up. Make sure you’re working on a surface that won’t get ruined if the glue gun decides to attack (as it does from time to time)
It’s one of the wonderful posts I have ever read. Thanks you very much.
Regards
Gouri
Always go for offbeat and stand with something different than what ordinary people do the only one can seriously achieve something in life.
My grandpa used to do boxes and cans this way. I still have mine he made me from 45+ years ago before glue guns and Pinterest. I love your oranaments. I wish he was alive to help me