German Bell Christmas Ornament & Tassel DIY

It was fun showing the ladies in my craft class how to make a German Bell ornament and tassel during our "Let's Get Crafty" session recently. It's so simple to make but looks rather elegant.  Here's how:  

For the ornament:
Using wrapping paper glued to cardstock as a decorative pattern:

1.  Cut the paper into a twelve inch square for a large ornament or for a smaller version, a six or eight inch square. 

2.  Fold (make crisp or sharp folds) the square in half, open and turn in opposite direction (ninety degrees) and fold again. Open square.

3.  Fold diagonally into a triangle, matching corners.  Open and turn in opposite direction (ninety degrees) and fold diagonally in half again.  Open square.

4.  Take a corner edge and meet the center crease line and fold. 

5.  Take the opposite corner edge and meet the center crease line and fold creating a kite shape.

6.  Open and repeat with each corner four times. Check each set of folds (4) to be sure no folds were missed.  The paper should take on a star-like shape.

7.  Push the middle center inward with your fingers forming four points while cupping the star-like shape together in the palm of hand.

8.  The four point come together to form a bell.  Glue the top three points together, leaving an opening to run a tassel or hanging cord through the middle.

9.  Make a small hole in bottom center for tassel or hanging cord.
                                                                                                                                                           
                         

To Make A Tassel:
Take crochet thread and wrap it around a piece of cardboard approximately 48 times.  The height of the cardboard will measure the length of the tassel.  So if the cardboard is three inches tall, the tassel will be three inches long. The quantity of times the thread is wrapped around will determine the thickness of the tassel.

 

Cut a piece of thread about 18" long and make a loop (slip) and place under the wrapped threads.

 

Double loop the thread through, pulling tightly at the top.

 

Remove the wrapped threads from the card and evenly cut the loops at the bottom.

 

Place additional thread at a fingers mark from loop and wrap around several times and tie into a knot. Thread ends into the eye of a needle and pull knot ends and needle down through the center of the tassel to hide the knot.

 

Thread the top tassel cording through the eye of a needle or use wire to run cording through the bottom hole, and up the center and out the top by the points.

 

Glue remaining point and side of bell and string on decorative beads and knot.

 

 

 

 

 

Smaller versions using 8" scrape book paper.

This is really a beautiful, and easy ornament to make for Christmas! 

 

 

 

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Holiday Crafting!

 

 

Linking to: inspire me monday

Cork Ribbon Flowers

I was in Michaels the other day and came across cork ribbon on clearance for seventy percent off.  Wow, what a deal! I remembered this past summer when it was featured on Michael's Makers website.  I guess it didn't go over well with crafters. Too bad.  I love cork and think having it available in ribbon opens up more possibilities in creativity.  Regular cork is just too bulky and stiff to actually make flexible things.  I've always wanted to make flowers out of cork.  I actually tried to make small ones using wine corks.  But I wasn't handy with carving and gave up rather quickly.  Now I had my chance.  I bought two different sizes of cork ribbon and didn't waste anytime putting my cork flowers together.

I made accordion folds in the ribbon and cut out five petal shapes of three different sizes.

.  .  .  and curled the ends with scissors.

Made a slit in the bottom centers and hot glued the ends together. 

Cut out an inch circle of cork ribbon and started gluing the largest five petals on .  .  .

Continue gluing each size layer of petals on.

First layer: 5 large petals

Second layer:  5 medium petals

Third layer:  5 small petals

Cut a disk from the end of a wine cork and glue in the center of the petals.

Now decorate to your hearts' content!

Next, I made wispy leaf-like flowers by freehand cutting and gluing to stem wire. 

Makes for quite an airy look!

What do you think about cork ribbon? 

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!

My Hometalk's Clipboard on 24 Incredible Fabric Christmas Tree Ideas

Have I got a great site for you to check out!  Liz from Hometalk recently asked me to curate a clipboard on Fabric Christmas Trees.  She was smitten with the Christmas Chalkboard Fabric Tree I did for my kitchen and thought I would love to put a board together featuring fabric Christmas tree ideas.  Who wouldn't want to do that?  I am so honored!  

I had lots of fun clipping away on Hometalk!  And my board really turned out adorable .  .  .  you'll find among them fabric Christmas trees made out of mixed media canvas, lace trees, grain sack trees, plaid fabric trees, duct tape trees, elegant velvet trees and there's even a 7 foot tree made out of vintage wedding gowns. How cool is that!

I love Hometalk!  It allows us, the DIY/Home Craft community, to share projects and ideas .  .  . and it's very interactive, giving us the opportunity to ask questions and give answers.   So hurry on over to Hometalk by clicking the graphic or check out my clipboard here and if you haven't already, sign up and start clipping away!!! 

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

Faux Lavender Seed Bead Flowers DIY

As promised in my post on wrapped rope on glass, here is an easy, and I mean EASY, tutorial on making cute little lavender seed bead flowers. 

You only need:

•   Seed beads
•   Green cloth stem wire (18 gauge)
•   Hot glue
•   Cool cup of water

1. Coat the end of the cloth wire stem with hot glue.  It might get messy but don't worry. 

 * Safety alert: always keep a cup of cool water to douse your fingers in when working with hot glue.  This helps to prevent glue burns!

 2.  Rotate the stem around so the glue settles somewhat evenly.

3.  Dip the glue stem into a small cup of seed beads (I mixed two purple bead colors together to mimic the colors of the flowers on the napkins) and twirl around, coating the glue with beads.

4.  Remove the stem .  .  .  the beads and glue will be soft to shape and manipulate. *Remember the water!

You can add more glue if you want to make the flower larger or to cover any missed areas.

5.  The glue will remain soft for several seconds  .  .  .  to stop movement of the glue and beads, I quickly plunged the flower into a cup of cool water.  You can also put all of your fingers in cool water and touch the beaded flower to set the glue and beads and to stop movement until completely dry.  That's it!  So easy!

Simply Lovely!

The wrapped containers with decoupage napkins tutorial can be found here.

Have fun making these!!!

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!