DIY striped paper ornament | How About Orange

December 15, 2010

DIY striped paper ornament

My Christmas tree needed more orange (of course), so I made this little thing. It appears to be a spaceship which has crashed into a circus tent. To make your own circus spaceship, you'll need two colors of regular paper, scissors, needle, thread, pencil, ruler, and two beads.

1. Cut the paper into strips that are 3.5" long and 0.5" wide. (This makes a small ornament about 3" in diameter.) Cut 9 strips of each color. Cut two 0.75" circles. Tracing around a penny works nicely.

2. Fold the paper strips in half. A crisp fold isn't needed; just a light crease will do.

3. String a bead onto a length of thread. Then push both ends of thread through the needle so the thread is doubled.

4. Poke the needle through one of the circles to string it next to the bead. Then string on all the paper strips near one end, alternating colors.

5. After all the paper strips are added, begin threading the opposite ends onto the string. To do this, start with the strip you put on first (the one next to the paper circle). Take its loose end and push the needle through it. Continue threading on the paper strips in order. They'll naturally begin to fan out as you go.

6. Add the second paper circle.

7. Pull the needle off the thread. Feed the bead onto one of the loose ends of thread, then tie both ends of thread in a knot to hold the bead on next to the circle. If your ornament hangs a little crooked, thread the needle again and push both ends of thread up through the underside of the bead and out through the top so both ends of thread emerge. Tie off a loop and hang that spaceship.

My ornament has a bit of a gap on one side where the papers meet at different levels. I'll put that toward the inside of the tree, and no one will be the wiser. You could also try stringing a piece of a drinking straw inside of the ornament to act as a spacer and help it keep its shape, as suggested by a smart commenter!

83 comments:

Unknown said...

I think I need some teal and green circus spaceships! The problem is that I don't have a tree. I need them anyway. :D

Unknown said...

That turned out really nice!

Jessica Jones said...

Thanks, NN. MPA: yes. You definitely need spaceships.

Grandma G said...

I bet Josie would love a spaceship!

Mum

Naturally Carol said...

Georgeous!

Unknown said...

These are awesome, and your tree looks so cute!

Piper said...

Love the tree skirt. I'm SO doing that next year.

Momichka said...

great idea!!!
i love the little touches - the 2 beads, and the orange and white combo.
nice!

Katie Brown said...

so pretty!

SarahinSalem said...

This is adorable!

Unknown said...

class! :) *scurrying off to find coloured paper instead of sewing her quilt*

april's craft nest said...

now THAT is c.r.e.at.i.v.e!

Venus de Hilo said...

My cat is going to LOVE these!

Ursl said...

Ohhhhh, I love these spaceships!

:-)))

Mika said...

How did you get yours to fan out and stay like that? Mine doesn't fan out unless I force it too and even then they don't overlap nicely like yours :(

Charodeya said...

Thank you very much! It is beautiful thing!))

k. said...

super cute idea. thank you for sharing :)

Unknown said...

Nice and easy! thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

Have to say...GENIUS!!

Unknown said...

I love this and am wondering how many times I will stick my thumb with a needle if I try it. I wanna see a picture of the whole tree!

la.daridari said...

beautiful! thank you
Daria

Michela Brocca said...

Dear,

I have just recently bumped into your blog and I was flabbergasted by your pictures and creativity. I thought of you (and namely of the labels and fabric for jam jars I saw you made) when I saw the site of Pierre Hermè, a fabulous and tré chic patissier of Paris (I am Italian anyway). The fabric covers of his marmalades are auful and horrible. Why don't you contact him and show him what you can do? As a plus I can tell you he loves orange!! here is the site address: http://www.pierreherme.com/data/CAT_BtoB.pdf

Ciao and good luck!

Michela

Jessica said...

What a great idea! I'll definitely be trying these out. I've really gotten into making paper decorative things for Christmas this year - found a few nice things you can make and posted about it here:

http://knittingontrains.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-paper-crafts.html

(you're actually one of them!)

Liliane said...

Lindo! Gostei!
kiss

guurrrl said...

oooooh how lovely!!!!!

Michelle Johnson said...

Love it. What a great way to use up some paper scraps. Thanks for sharing.

hi-d said...

That is SO cute. Thanks for sharing!

I-Shüan said...

You just CAME UP with that!? Amazing!

I recently came upon your blog because I love orange too! You have so many inspiring ideas! Thanks for sharing!

Jennie Bee said...

Too cute! those came out really nice.

Stephanie said...

That is the cutest thing! And it goes perfectly with your tree skirt fabric (but you knew that). I love your silver tree too!

Lindsay Hosanna said...

Love this!! Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to give it a try :)

A Crafty Mom said...

Love it. You are amazing can't wait to see what you do next.

вεдτε said...

So cute! I really have to try this one too :)

JessaMae Photography said...

so quirky & fun!!

Kermen said...

I love orange! I adore you!

HRANDICA said...

This is crazy good idea and beautiful resul!
Greetings.

elizabeth said...

I am such a fan of yours! This ornament is brilliant, simple and complex all at the same time! Thank you for sharing with us.... my tree will wear quite a few of these this year!

karyn said...

So very cool. You make it look so easy to do.

Anonymous said...

Muito lindo seu blog estou te seguindo bjs

Anonymous said...

Uh oh--I think I need to try these crazy space ships. I'm currently struggling through the spiky Polish stars, an overly ambitious project for some of my coworkers. Why not another?

Caca said...

this is so gorgeous and beautiful. You made it again!

Soulmaz said...

I made a white & turquoise one but it didn't turned out as nice as yours!! Although I was planning to hang it on my silver tree :(
I don't have a proper blog, otherwise I would have shared the photos :)

Beth said...

That's so cute! I love my paper ornaments and I'm amazed they've held up over the years.

emily said...

maybe somebody already said this but i just made one and I realized I could put a long skinny bead INSIDE so that there is no gap when you pull the thread taut to finish it up.

Cary said...

Love this!

Cassie {Hi Sugarplum} said...

you are so genius! what did i do before discovering your blog?!

Sara vs. Sarah said...

I absolutely love these! I'm making some tonight!

astrid said...

nice post! do you think this would be possible also with old christmas cards or does it work only with paper?

Jesa said...

I love these! I used someones suggestion to put a long bead in the middle and I used 20 strips of paper and mine came out perfect (no gap)!
I used them and another kind as an extra special gift for my mom. She thought I bought them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/okac/5294050973/

Selena Ze Arteest said...

Nice and elegant ornament! I should try it too ))

J P said...

Beautiful blog!

BirthdayPartyBabble.com said...

These are just perfect for my Asian Birthday Tea Party Theme. I'll use them as napkin rings. Thanks so much for the great instructions!

Anonymous said...

Wish I had seen this in time for Xmas... Next year. So
cute!

SKFitz said...

Hi there! I'm in love with everything on your blog. I just did a post over at kiwiactionhero.blogspot.com about making this ornament. I'm excited to try more of your tutorials!

Kathy McCreedy said...

this is SO darling! I found your blog through COLOURlovers and I'm SO glad I did! I recently put up a post about loving the color orange, and I just might repost it with a link to your blog, if you don't mind! Great ornament design, thanks for sharing it!

Anonymous said...

I also had a go at making one. I think they are right about a bead in the centre because it would help. I couldn't get mine to stay faned out either???
Good idea though.

Jen said...

Or a length of drinking straw. That might work. I am also considering wire. I tried it with beading thread, and can't get it opened properly. A spacer of some kind would definitely solve that problem.... Fun little evening project for me, while my teenager planted herself in front of my computer. Thanks!

Jessica Jones said...

Oh, I like the straw idea!

Anonymous said...

excellent in red n green christmas colours. Carmel

scrappingnomad said...

beautiful! I just wanted to let you know this ornament has been feature in the Ten Fabulous Christmas Ideas post at Freehand Scraps blog, which will be posted next week.

Julia Runge said...

Hope it is okay that i put a link to this idea on my DIY blog: http://juliarungediy.blogspot.com/ :o)
Love this idea, and your blog! :D
- Julia

scrappingnomad said...

Here is the link to the Ten Fabulous Christmas Ideas post: http://freehandscraps.com/blog/?p=1903

Thanks for the inspiration!

Meehlticket said...

My grand daughter and I made these this afternoon to hang from a chandelier... we ended up using construction paper and made only 16 strips... worked out great if we didn't pay any attention to the gap but used instead so they all turned out like spirals. Thank you for sharing this fabulous, fun idea.

Anastasia said...

Hello!

I featured your tutorial in my blog http://goodthings88.blogspot.com/2011/12/diy-christmas.html

Thanks so much, I had a lot of fun making it :)

Happy holidays!
xoxo

Anonymous said...

I made 2 and I don't know what I am doing wrong, but it's not working for me after the 2nd side starts to make it come together.

Anonymous said...

I love these and made 2 of my own but I find it too difficult.Mine don't look as nice as yours: (

Anonymous said...

This is such a pretty project! I was really sorry to see it plagiarized at http://blog.kucnemajstorije.rs/?p=261 :(

See also http://blog.kucnemajstorije.rs/?p=245

Jessica Jones said...

Thanks for letting me know; I found a few more, too.

Noelle C said...

I really like this. I think this would look great with red and white strips. If you put a bead between each paper as you thread, you'll end up with a nice holiday swirl instead.

Miss Adventure said...

Can you post more photos of the steps please?

Sofie said...

Oh, I really like this one! Great work!

Eliamar -Brasil said...

Gostei muito, amei! parabéns.

CommeUneLibellule said...

waouh, very nice! Thank you for sharing your tuto, I think I will do one or more fore the tree - or just for the pleasure!

Grimsie said...

Really nice ornement, I did it and I'm glad of the result. Thanks for sharing the tutorial

Doris said...

This was great! I made one with silver glitter paper and b&w striped scrapbook paper, and it's beautiful! I didn't have a straw, but I put a few beads in the center.

Du fil et mon... said...

Thank you ! Beautiful, sweet, etc ;;;love from France

Anne said...

Not sure what I think for ornaments, but make them tiny for earrings!! Should be fun!

DaisyKreates said...

this is so adorable!! thank you for the sharing the detail descriptions!

Unknown said...

Thank you for the lovely post. I will try this in my classroom.
Show my students this geometric shape. Lovely.

DaisyKreates said...

This is way cool! Thank you for sharing the idea!!
Making one right now :-)

Christy o said...

So pretty

Anonymous said...

one question, '' mean cm?

Jessica Jones said...

" means inches.