Ribbon Quilling Comb Ornament

Welcome to our Wrapping Up the Holidays Link Party!  I'm thrilled to be joining a group of talented ladies for an awesome link party highlighting Christmas ideas ranging from Tree Trimmings, Gift Wraps & Cards, Recipes, Holiday Traditions and Family Activities!  
We thought it would be fun for all of us to share an extended link party celebrating all that's Christmas from November 15th to December 24th.


Handcrafting my Christmas décor is one of my favorite traditions this time of year and I'm so excited to be sharing with you how to make a ribbon quilling comb snowflake ornament.  You might know that quilling,  the coiling and shaping of narrow paper strips to create a design - has been around for many, many years and that beautiful paper quilling patterns and designs can be created with a quilling comb technique. But instead of using paper, I'm using ribbon to make an ornament.  And I'm also creating a "comb" out of cardboard and skewer sticks so that I can use a larger width ribbon and a simple quilling technique to make a lovely ribbon snowflake. A regular quilling comb just wouldn't work for this size.

Materials Needed:
Ribbon - 3/8" & 1/8" wide
Cardboard corrugated flap
Skewer sticks
Hot glue gun
Scissors/embellishments

  

Let's begin by making the quilling comb:

1.  Cut the closing flap off of a cardboard box making sure the corrugated openings are large enough for skewer sticks.

2.  Insert pointed ends of skewer sticks into every other corrugated hole or channel.  Press the flap with the pointed stick ends down on a flat surface so none will be protruding out.

3.  Continue inserting sticks until flap is filled and your handmade quilling comb is ready!

4.  Next, cut approximately 60 inches of ribbon for each snowflake "ray" (depending on size of flap and skewers). Insert ribbon in between the first and second stick or prong and place a dab of glue on the ribbon end to secure  around the first prong.  Gently move ribbon sideways and back to make sure it is not stuck to the wood. 
5.  Next, wrap a long loop around the tenth prong, down and around the first prong and apply a little bit of glue on the ribbon.

6.  Wrap a second loop around to the right on the eight prong, down and back around the first prong, applying a bit of glue to the back and front of the ribbon base.

7 & 8.  Next, wrap a loop on the eighth prong to the left of the first loop and back down to the first prong, securing the ribbon with a bit of glue on the front and back. 

9, 10, 11.  Continue decreasing the loop sizes on the prongs, adding a right loop and left loop, wrapping down and around, as before, adding glue to secure.

12. When finished looping, apply a bit of glue to the bottom of the looped ribbon to hold the shape, cut off excess ribbon and remove from comb.

Voila! What a pretty design for a snowflake ray!

Now make five more!

Then take a strip of 1/8 inch ribbon and thread it through the open bottom loops of each snowflake ray .  .  .

gathering into a circle.  Tie into a knot and make a loop for hanging.

Add an embellishment to front and back center and your adorable

Ribbon Quilling Ornament is ready for hanging on the tree!

   Have fun linking up your favorite projects, both new or old and family friendly!Be sure to click on the links below to see the awesome holiday projects each host shares!
And please don't forget to visit, comment and share on social media!

When you link to any one of our lovely co-hosts your post will be seen on ALL of these great sites!

Beverly @Across the Boulevard

Sherry @ Olives & Okra

Keri @ One Mama's Daily Drama

Gail @ Purple Hues and Me

Monroe @Sew Crafty Crochet

Marci @Stone Cottage Adventures

Mary @The Boondocks Blog

An InLinkz Link-up

Folded Ribbon Wreath Ornament

I had so many holiday crafts that I wanted to make this season but time has run out for me.  My hubby and I are leaving for Aruba tuesday morning - meeting up with friends to spend time together, celebrate a couple of birthdays and other life happenings.

We won't be back until just before Christmas so this is my last project I'll be posting before the big day.

Plaid ribbon is so pretty and is a huge part of this season's holiday décor.  I just had to make something using plaid and I wish I could have found a ribbon in a festive purple plaid but no such luck.  Folded ribbon crafts are popular too, usually done in lovely pine cones, eggs and cone trees.

Here's an easy way to use folded ribbon, applying the technique to a cardboard shaped wreath ornament.

First thing you need to do is cut out a cardboard circle in the shape of a wreath.  I traced the mouth of a plastic cup that was 3" in diameter and then drew another circle 1/2" in and cut out. 

Next, cut out two different ribbons in the same length as the width of the ribbon.  I'm using 2.5" wide ribbon, so I cut out 2.5" ribbon squares. I cut out more than needed, but only 14 red and 7 plaid for this size.

Fold the red ribbon square, matching points, dab a little glue on (I used Fabri-tac glue) and .  .  .

fold again, dabbing a little more glue between.  Don't worry about the uneven edges - at least I didn't.

Dab a bit of glue on the bottom edges of the ribbon and begin gluing on the folded triangles at the outer edge of the circle, with bottom side points meeting until .  .  .

the outer edge is covered.

Next, glue on the plaid triangles between, and slightly lower than two red ones until .  .  .

you're completely covered on that row.

For the last row, begin gluing the red triangle directly below the first red row and between and below the plaid row. In other words, the red triangles should line up and if you had space for more of the plaid, they should line up too.  Since this is the last row, make sure placement is also on the edge of the cardboard.

Once all the ribbon triangles are attached, embellishments such as bows or berries can now be added.

A hanger can also be glued on the back.

 I love how this shows the ribbon folds at an angle and that it's not laying flat.

So pretty!

Have Fun  

and

Keep Crafting!

I'm wishing you Joy, Love and Peace this holiday season.  Be kind to one another and have a Very Merry Christmas!

Ruffled Foam Sheets & Glitter Christmas Tree Cones

I've made my share of decorated Christmas tree cones.  I think someone could easily do a post on 1001 ways to decorate a cone tree.  

To add to this, I'm showing you yet another way a cone tree can be decorated using foam sheets and glitter.  This is totally a diy craft starting with making the cone out of poster board, cutting out circles of foam sheets, turning the circles into ruffles using an iron, sprinkling the glue coated edges with glitter and finally gluing the ruffles on the cone tree with hot glue.  That's all it takes to make this easy and elegantly looking tree. 

To start, it was hard for me to take pictures of making a cone for this project since I was alone at the time, but you can go here to see how I made one out of poster board. After making the cone, I started cutting out circles using a 2 1/2" circle punch but found the circles too small so I

traced around the mouth of a 3" plastic cup and cut out around 100 circles at first. I know, very time consuming, but I turned on the Hallmark channel and watched and listened to a marathon of Christmas movies.

Then, I sandwiched the circles between sheets of parchment paper and applied the iron for about 15 seconds. 

Heating up the circles made the foam pliable and easily shaped by cupping it in the palm of my hand and forming what looked like ruffles to me

Using a brush to apply white glue to the edges .  .  .

and then dipped them into glitter

and allowed to dry.

Once dry, the ruffles were glued onto the cone starting at the base.

It's amazing to see how each ruffle would intertwine with the other when gluing them on.

The ruffled Christmas tree cones turned out to be very impressive looking.

Besides using them at Christmas, they could easily fit in as wedding and party décor!

The tallest finished tree measures 24" and the smaller one, 15 inches.

What  glorious ruffled Christmas trees!

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Holiday Crafting!