For me, when it comes to Christmas ornaments, it’s all about the personal touches. Some of my favorites are the ones my son, Kai, made. This year, I thought it’d be fun to add a touch of color and whimsy to our tree with these yarn-wrapped ornaments. They’re pretty easy and inexpensive to make (Merry Christmas to you, moms!), and they’re fun for kids to do too. And the best part? No messy glue dripping all over the table.
The best part about kid-made (or kid-assisted) ornaments is they don’t have to be perfect. In fact, the imperfection is what makes the ornament special and memorable. If some of the white foam board shows, embrace it! And little fingers aren’t going to wrap the yarn so tightly around. More than likely, they will wrap the yarn all around the shape with no pattern whatsoever, leaving a lot of white space from the foam board.
Don’t make it too seriously. Have fun making them together.
(Of course, if you need to get serious about some ornaments, do your very own set after the kids are in bed.)
Materials:
- Small spools of yarn (I found these small spools of 10 yards of yarn for a $1 at Michaels. These are great because you can get a variety of colors at an inexpensive price and you don’t have a lot of excess yarn left over that you’ll have to find storage.)
- Foam board
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Glue dots
- Tape
- Hole puncher
- Piece of paper
Instructions:
Step 1: Draw your shapes on a piece of paper. I found that simple designs with straight edges like a tree or candy cane are much easier than a star or gingerbread man, for example. It’s hard to wrap the yarn neatly around funky shapes. The straighter the shape the easier it is.
Step 2: Cut out the shapes.
Step 3: Tape the shape onto the foam board. Cut the shape out of the foam board. (This is a step for Mom or Dad.)
Step 4: Press glue dots on the bottom of the shape. Make sure the first glue dot touches the bottom edge of the shape.
Step 5: Start wrapping the yarn around the shape. As you do it, make sure the yarn overlaps the glue dots. Remember, too, that one side of the shape is the back of the ornament, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Also, if you run out of glue dots, you can always use tape.
Step 6: As you reach the top of the shape with your yarn wrapping, punch a hole at the top.
Step 7: Cut a 6” piece of string and thread it through the top of the shape and tie a knot.
Step 8: Finish wrapping the yarn around the top of the shape and glue in place.
All set and ready to hang on your Christmas tree!
A former magazine editor, Kelly Joy Ladd is now a professional craft designer, blogger, and artist in Orlando, Florida. Kelly is always creating something whimsical, bright, and colorful. When she’s not covered in shreds of paper, she can be found riding Splash Mountain at Disney World with her son and husband. Visit her blog at Handmade by Kelly.
Source: thestir.cafemom