Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Christmas in July Braided Trim and Bow Ornament

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It's Christmas in July and time to start creating those pretty ornaments you've had in mind for so long! How cool would it be to wrap a styrofoam ball with decorative braided trim and top it off with a beautiful Bowdabra bow for a lovely Christmas ornament! It's so easy to make and yet very dramatic in design!

Materials:

Instructions:
Begin by cutting a six inch length of ribbon from the roll, folding in half and tying ends into a knot.

Find the center of the styrofoam ball and add a dab of glue there. Use the end of the scissors to press the ribbon knot down into the styrofoam ball .  .  . 
for the hanger.
Next, apply a generous amount of glue around the base of the hanger and begin placing the trim down following the bottom of the hanger, making sure the edge in the design is as close to the hanger as possible.
Continue applying glue around the ball and then adding the trim, making sure the trim is as close to the edge of the previous row.
Continue wrapping the trim around the ball after applying glue .  .  .
being very careful with placement of the trim as the area gets smaller and smaller. You'll have to tighten it up a bit!
To finish, squish together the end of the trim in a circle while gluing it down, and then cutting off the excess.
                            
To complete the ornament, let's add a beautiful Bowdabra loopy bow to the top!

Here's How:
Using a Mini Bowdabra, insert a 18" piece of bow wire folded in half into the Mini Bowdabra, tucking ends under. Then, crease the end of the ribbon and place into the Mini Bowdabra. Fold the ribbon at the 2" mark and press into the Mini Bowdabra. This is your first loop.


Next, fold the other side at the same 2" loop width. 

Continue folding loops one side at a time down through the center of the Mini Bowdabra, creating 15 loops on each side for a total of 30 loops. Cut off excess ribbon. 
                            

Scrunch down the loops with the Mini Bowdabra Wand.  


While the bow is still in the Mini Bowdabra, thread the two loose ends of the bow wire through the loop at the other end pulling tightly, tie in a knot and gently pull bow out.


Then take the bow wires around to the back tying in a couple of tight knots. 

  Tie the bow onto the hanger with the bow wire adjusting the wire through the center of the bow.  Make a loop with the two wires for hanging, tying the ends together into a knot and cutting off excess wire. And finally, fluff the bow, arranging the loops and stand back and admire your beautiful creation!
                                   
   
How cool is this!
Perfect to make for Christmas in July and the Christmas holiday season!




Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!






















Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Decorative Woven Basket with Lid

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A decorative handwoven basket - especially one with it's own lid can be quite charming and rustic! And when you include decorative fabric to the weave, it really adds a stylish touch to your creation! Does this sound like you want to know more?

Hello and welcome to our monthly Creative Craft Hop! I'm so glad you're here! We have two wonderful hosts - Donna @Modern on Monticello  and Sara @Birdz of a Feather who take turns every other month! The talented and creative Donna is our host this month!  


I'm so glad you're here! If you're coming over from Donna (our host) @Modern on Monticello, wasn't her Americana Inspired Wreath gorgeous! I'm putting that one on my "to-do" list! 

But first, let me tell you about how I made a decorative woven basket w/lid that included using colorful fabric flower material! I love that the basket can be used as a storage solution or as a decorative addition to your home! The colors blend in perfectly!

Supplies:
  • Plastic Container
  • Fabric sample - 21"x18" (Spoonflower)
  • Plastic (clear sturdy)
  • Floral wire - 3mm 16"
  • Wire cutter
  • Chalk pen
  • Glass
  • Braided trim
  • Jute cording 4mm
  • Macrame cording 5mm
  • Fabric-Tac glue
  • Quick Hold glue (from maker's of E6000)
  • Hot glue gun/glue
  • Scissors/ruler
  • Mod Podge (matte)/brush
  • Crystal ball for knob

 

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:
Let's start with a plastic container from my stash, and a piece of fabric sample from my stash too .  .  .

I'm going to cut two flowers from the material using a chalk pen and .  .  .

glue them onto the bottom of the plastic container - inside and out. While the glue was drying on the flowers, I cut the stem wire in half to eight inches .  .  .
and used a glass to curve the stem wire in order to make the container round.

Once that was done, I added a decorative trim around the base of the plastic container in order to glue on the stem wires.


I'm loving the look of the flower at the base of the container.

Began gluing on the stem wires to the decorative trim .  .  .

spacing twenty-five stems wires around the container.

When weaving over and under with any type of twine or cording, it's best to make sure you always glue on an odd number of stem wires so the weaving will look consistent. There are twenty five stem wires for this container.

Begin adding jute twine (purple) - securing one end with glue and then going over and under the wires - around the container. I think this jute twine was dyed purple because I could see parts of brown twine under the purple. Plus there were lots of fallen fibers on my work surface as you can see in the photos.

Once I was satisfied with the look of the purple twine, I wanted to add a few strips of material for a decorative look around the container. So I glued on the end of macrame cording to the purple twine and .  .  .
glued on 1" strips of fabric along the cording using Fabri-Tac. Pressing the material on securely.
Then began going over and under the stem wires .  .  .

around the container three times.
Once that was done, continued weaving the plain cording around and .  .  .
then alternating with purple twine, wrapped fabric and cording to complete the basket weaving.
Once the weaving was done for the basket, the top exposed stem wires were bent over inside.
Don't you just love this design! You know purple is my favorite color!

For the lid - I measured a plastic top over the flower design and .  .  .

used it to cut out a sturdier piece of plastic for the center of the lid.
Then added Mod Podge to the plastic and .  .  .
added the flower. Let dry.
I had to add a piece of cardstock (purple check) on the bottom of the plastic flower since the hot glue was not adhering to the plastic. While the flower was drying began curving the stem wire which was left over from the basket on a smaller glass jar. 
Once the mod podge and cardstock was dry, began gluing on the stem wire.
And adding cording to the center, going round and round .  .  . 
to cover the cardstock and the beginning of the stem wires.
Remember I mention to make sure to have an odd number of stem wire to weave? I had 12 and needed to add number 13. It was quite easy to do. I used an ice pick to insert under the cording on the circle and pushed the stem wire in.
Then continued weaving the twine, fabric covered cording and plain cording over and under, to match the container. 

Once the weaving was complete, the stem wires were cut off and glued to the cording.


 A crystal ball (knob) was glued to the center of the lid for I must say, a fabulous look!


I'm really loving this look and hope you do too!


And don’t forget to check out all of the creative crafters with their wonderful handiwork and inspirations listed below!