Leaf Ornaments

I had collected leaves for a few weeks planning to make some leaf ornaments.  After pressing them for several days in some phone books, it was time to spray paint.  I spread them out on some garbage bags on my balcony.

Then I readied the spray paint and sparkles.  This is another ornament that requires quickly sprinkling sparkles onto wet spray paint.

It seemed to work best in batches again, so I would spray about 4 of the leaves, sprinkle the sparkles then move them to a clean, or dry spot so it wouldn't stick to the wet spray.

Let it dry, before flipping over and doing the other side. Twenty minutes is plenty of time

The finished leaf looks great. I brought them inside to dry overnight and the next morning they were ready to be tied with ribbon and hung on the tree.

 

Present Ornament

Some of my favourite ornaments when I was a kid were simple wrapped blocks of wood.  My dad is a carpenter and he'd give us some left over scraps to wrap and put on the tree.  I wanted to recreate those but the only thing I could find was Styrofoam.  So I cut them up into 2" blocks

 This whole block made 12! The wrapping paper should be big enough to wrap the block so for these guys I guy rectangles slightly larger than 6 x 8".  Spread white glue on the back of the paper and quickly wrap the present.

 

The sides will probably need slightly more glue to stick.  Once it's finished, let it sit until the glue is dry.  These took overnight before they were completely dry.  Then, all you have to do is wrap it in some ribbon and make a loop for the tree.

Here's the difference between using the glue on the paper and just wrapping the present with a bit of tape.  On the left, it's glued and the edges are clearly defined.  On the right, it's taped and the paper is loose and it doesn't look as neat.  I prefer the glued one even if it is a bit messier.

The finished ornament

Fabric Christmas Ornament Instructions

Since I've been posting pictures these ornaments, I thought people might like to know how to make them.  They don't take very long and can get addictive.  You will need a 3" styrofoam ball, a surprising number of straight pins, and 2.5" squares of fabric.  It's best if there is both patterned and solid fabric.

The quantities are: colour A - 10; colour B - 16; colour C 16.

First thing to do is take a square of colour A and pin all 4 corners to the ball.  It's not going to lay flat but do your best to get the corners evenly spaced on the ball.  Take another square of colour A, stick a pin in the center and pin it at the center of the square on the ball.  Fold the edges down and pin the corners.  Turn the ball 90 degrees and repeat with another square.  Continue until 4 squares have been pinned.

Repeat with colour A on the opposite side of the ball.  Once that is complete you can move on to color B. Stick a pin in the center of a square and place it about a 3/8" down from the top of a triangle.  (You can choose this to be longer or shorter anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2".  Continue this, at the same distance down from the top, on the remaining three triangles.  Next is the corner triangles.  These are a bit farther down, about 3/4".  Repeat so that opposite side of ball is completed with colour B.

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The final round is done with colour C.  Repeat same step as colour B, on both sides of the ball.  I tend to place all of the triangles are placed the same distance down from the triangle underneath.  About 3/8" -1/2".

Congratulations!  You have finished the hard part of making a fabric Christmas ornament.  Now you can use ribbon or coordinating fabric to cover the center of the ball and make the hanging loop.  Whatever you choose will need to be about 9.5-10" long and you can chose to glue it with hot glue or pin it.

Here is the finished product!  Enjoy! These are great as gifts at Christmas.  I try to have a few of them finished for the Christmas season so that whenever my husband and I are invited to a Christmas party I can give one as a host gift.

Finished Christmas Ornament