December Creative Weekly :: Ornament Central

Anabelle O'Malley

One of my favorite ornaments to create around the holidays is a tussy mussy. Originally, these were delicate floral bouquets that were held in small silver cones. Suitors often brought them to young women when they were courting. But, now they have evolved in many different ways. I decided to create one that holds a variety of Christmas themed elements. The Sleigh Ride collection was perfect for doing so. My tussy mussy is an ornament that could be hung on a tree, a door knob, or any other place that needs a decorative touch.

To create this project, I cut a cone shape from the Sleigh Ride paper. I rolled it up and adhered it with strong double sided tape. The cuff at the top was made with a fan-folded strip of paper that was hot glued onto the cone. Then, I embellished the front with some chipboard pieces and a vellum tag. I tucked some holiday floral picks inside and added more Sleigh Ride chipboard. I finished off by adding a couple of small chipboard circles to decorate the pink berries on the pick.

Ashley Cannon Newell

Handmade ornaments can add just the special touch to your holiday tree. Not only is it a fun activity for the entire family, but it holds such a sentimental handmade quality value. With just one 12 x 12 sheet of paper, a trimmer, and some glue, you can easily assemble your own handmade ornament too. Here's how:

Trim a 12" x 12" piece of patterned paper into 1/2" strips and fold one end towards the middle.
Fold the other end towards the middle and secure with adhesive. Repeat for all strips.
Adhere all folded pieces together.
Add adhesive to the middle.
Assemble each folded piece separately until the shape is complete.
Add cord to hang ornament.

Naomi Atkins

I wanted to make a dimensional paper ornament, so I decided to make a snowflake ornament with a few "extras"! Crate's Sleigh Ride collection is just AMAZING, and all of the little extras in this collection are fabulous! I made six diamond shapes from one inch strips of paper, and then glued them together. I used the leftover four inch strips and made smaller triangles to go inside for extra dimension and also, to make the ornament more sturdy. I then added glitter glue and some course glitter to the top. I then die-cut a snowflake from the awesome silver and white striped foil/vellum sheet from the Sleigh Ride collection. I then added half a doily, a chipboard snowflake, some vellum tags and a Sleigh Ride fabric brad. I punched the brad through all the layers, including the chipboard snowflake so it would stay together well.

For the second ornament, I made a mini book. I love this concept because I bought little framed ornaments for each of the kids and once I had five, that became unrealistic to do every year. I made a page in the mini book for each child, embellished and sewing it a bit, and used gold thickers to show each child's age. I then sewed this red and white ribbon to the top to hang it and then clipped it closed with a gold glitter clothespin from the "On Trend" collection. It's now ready to hang! For all of the pages, I sewed some pieces of paper, embellishments and also, a doily on most of them. I added touches of gold to almost every page so it had a cohesive look. It was so much fun that I think I'm going to make one every year! I will treasure opening the "first" every year as well!