instructions Designed by Melissa DiRenzo thesweetescape.ca YOU WILL NEED 3 -diameter foam ball Christmas sweater Hot glue gun and glue sticks 3/8 -wide satin ribbon Elastic thread: metallic Note: A child s sweater works best because the small sleeve fits snugly around the foam ball. If you are using an adult-size sweater or are taking a swatch from the center of a sweater, measure to determine how much you need to wrap the ball; add an extra 1 to both the top and bottom edges. Lay the foam ball on top of the sweater portion you ve chosen. Cut the desired portion. Turn the sweater piece wrong side out. If the sweater piece isn t a tube, sew the edges together to form a tube. Using a needle and thread, take small, evenly spaced running stitches around an open edge of the sweater tube to create the bottom. End stitching next to starting point; do not knot or cut thread. Gently pull thread ends to gather bottom edge. Knot and trim thread. Turn tube right side out. Slide the foam ball inside the sweater tube. Trim open edge to 1 from foam ball. Using a pencil, poke a hole in the top of the foam ball. Fill hole with hot glue, then use the pencil to gather and poke the extra sweater material into the hole. Pull firmly on the sweater material to make it fit snugly around the ball. Tie satin ribbon bow. Secure bow to top of ornament with a drop of hot glue. Tie elastic thread through bow to make a hanging loop. MakeItYourselfMagazine.com/FallWinter2015 1
instructions Designed by Jenny Kolenda blueskyconfections.blogspot.com YOU WILL NEED 18" piece 18-gauge floral stem wire 4"-diameter foam ball Foam glue Glitter: silver Plastic coffee straws 2 1"-diameter wooden beads 2 wooden beads of varying sizes Spray paint: gold 24-gauge floral wire Wire cutters Needle-nose pliers Wooden skewer Push the piece of 18-gauge wire through the center of the foam ball. Leave the same amount of wire extending at the top and bottom. Thinly coat the foam ball with foam glue. Evenly cover the foam ball with silver glitter; let dry. Cut coffee straws into thirty 3"-long pieces. String straw pieces and wooden beads on a wire and spray paint gold; let dry and remove from wire. Cut a 2-foot length of 24-gauge wire. String three straw pieces onto the wire; bend into a triangle (Diagram 1). Wrap wire lengths together with one twist together. Note: If you run out of wire during this project, cut another length and bind the ends of the new and existing lengths together with a wire wrap. Referring to Diagram 2, feed the wire back through the designated straw. Referring to Diagram 3, string two more straw pieces onto the wire and bend into a second triangle. (Diagram 3). Wrap wire lengths where the triangles meet. Referring to diagrams 4 7, continue feeding the wire back through a designated straw, adding straw pieces, and wrapping the wire at intersections until you have five triangles, which forms the ornament top section. Note: Because the top section is the base for the remaining triangles, mark the top center point with a piece of tape or string so you can keep track of it while forming the rest of the ornament. In diagrams 11 16, the top section is dark gray. String two straw pieces onto the wire, creating a triangle that mirrors a top section triangle (Diagram 8). String two more straw pieces onto the wire, creating a triangle that mirrors a second top section triangle (Diagram 9). Referring to Diagram 10, feed the wire back through the designated straw. Add one straw to connect the two triangles formed in steps 8 and 9 and create a third triangle. Note: At this point your ornament will start to take a three-dimensional shape that can t be shown in these diagrams. Referring to diagrams 11 16, continue feeding the wire back through a designated straw, adding straw pieces, and wrapping the wire at intersections until you have 15 triangles, which forms the ornament middle section. Center the glittered foam ball in the straw shape with one wire end at the top center. To hold the ball in place, insert a 1"-long wooden skewer piece into the hole the wire made. Referring to diagrams 17 20 (the bottom of the middle section is dark gray), continue feeding the wire back through a designed straw, adding straw pieces, and wrapping the wire at intersections until you have five triangles, which forms the ornament bottom section. Cut loose wire pieces and wrap wire to secure. Add a 1" gold bead to the top center wire. Add the remaining three gold beads, largest to smallest, to the bottom center wire. Bend the bottom wire around the smallest bead and feed it back through the other two beads. Bend the top wire into a hook for hanging. MakeItYourselfMagazine.com/FallWinter2015 2
NEW STRAW WIRE WRAP DIRECTION WIRE TRAVELS DIAGRAM 1 DIAGRAM 2 DIAGRAM 3 DIAGRAM 4 DIAGRAM 5 DIAGRAM 6 3
DIAGRAM 7 DIAGRAM 8 DIAGRAM 9 4
DIAGRAM 10 DIAGRAM 11 5
DIAGRAM 12 DIAGRAM 13 6
DIAGRAM 14 7
DIAGRAM 15 8
DIAGRAM 16 9
DIAGRAM 17 DIAGRAM 18 DIAGRAM 19 DIAGRAM 20 10
instructions Designed by Rachel Smith; thecraftedlife.com YOU WILL NEED ¼ -square mirror tiles 2"-diameter foam ball Crafts glue Crafts paint: green, brown, red, pink, silver 2 3" aluminum jewelry wire pieces: gold Glue a row of mirror tiles around the center of the foam ball; let dry. Using the center row as a guide, add rows of mirror tiles until the ball is covered, except for a small opening at the top for the wire ornament hanger. Paint a green triangle on the mirror tiles; let dry. (If you need help painting straight lines, use painter s tape to outline a triangle shape.) Add a brown rectangle for the trunk and red, pink, and silver dots for ornaments. Bend the doubled jewelry wire pieces into a ½"-diameter loop. Twist the wire ends together to make an ornament hanger. Push the twisted end into the top of the ornament. MakeItYourselfMagazine.com/FallWinter2015 11