DIY paper medallions | How About Orange

April 09, 2010

DIY paper medallions

I felt like making something pretty.

We're going on an official date tonight, so to set the mood, I've stuck these in secret places for Mr. Jones to find when he gets home from work. Granted, he's not the sort of guy to get wildly excited about small, cute paper things, but I hope he will at least appreciate the sentiment. I don't have the ability to handmake him an iPad, so this will have to do.

To make make a mini medallion:
1. Cut a 3/4" strip off a piece of 6" origami paper and accordian fold it to create tiny pleats.

2. Join the ends together with a bit of glue or double-stick tape.

3. Cut a couple sizes of cardstock circles to layer for the center.

4. Press the pleated circle flat and glue your center circles onto it. It will want to pop back up, so set a quarter or something lightweight on top until it dries. Or hold it down with one hand while you surf the internet with the other, my chosen method.

5. Cut more paper into ribbon tails and glue them to the back.

To make larger medallions, cut wider paper strips and splice several accordian-folded pieces together.

56 comments:

stephanie said...

these are so sweet.

s a n s k u :) said...

cute & sweet. happy date night!

Puwi said...

GREAT IDEA!!!!!
love your artwork..

have a nice weekend..

cheers,
puri

Grandma G said...

What a lucky hubby you have! And you're pretty dern lucky yourself!

Love you two,
Mumsy

P.S. Have a fun date. I shall expect a full report. Or a partial one. ;)

P.P.S. Are you going to make him wear the medallions???

Jessica Jones said...

Yes. Pinned to his sweater. Both of them.

BB said...

ohhhhhhhhh thank's !!! very nice this tutorial ! :-)

Melissa said...

How lovely!

KillerB said...

Absolutely adorable, of course he'll appreciate finding those hidden medallions!

Have a great date night!

nicole said...

great tutorial...can't wait to make some with my kids.

Whitney @ Whisker Graphics said...

Love these! So many uses for these guys. Birthday girl badge, gift tags, name tags, potty training awards, and on and on. Thanks!

Have fun on your date. :)

Aundria B. said...

So sweet! Enjoy your date night :)

Kayla said...

These are adorable! And I agree with Whitney, you could use them for LOTS of things! Very cute!

bichonpawz said...

Have fun on your date night! They are a necessity!! Love this idea of the little medallions....will have to try this on our next date night!

kristin said...

you are lovely...i'll be making some of these. thanks

Michaela said...

it's so a cute idea, thanks for sharing
have a nice day
Michaela

Ruth said...

these are so sweet! I love the wordings.

SallyF said...

wow so simple but so effective, thanks for sharing.

Caroline @ The Feminist Housewife said...

What a cute idea! I might use it for a pin that says "birthday boy" or something...I think it would look much prettier than the tacky ones I see around...haha! Thanks for the inspiration!

Katy Pickel said...

These make me happy.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Keep writing this untroubled english! It's so annoying when google translator trans so stubit text, because text is writing like ''i just dont luv this text u shouldn't write lik thiszzz.''
:DD sorry my bad english thats why i use translator... ^^

Ps. my word verification is orange ^^ :DD :))

Jane H said...

http://yfrog.com/j2photo27fj

Just made one for my friend's birthday. Thank you!

kimberj said...

Wouldn't that be the ultimate guy blog? One with a tutorial on how to make your own Ipad!!!

Jana said...

Who wouldn't love to receive one of these?! So simple and so fun!

hi-d said...

That is so sweet. Thanks for sharing...

Micah Noel said...

These would also be great to make cute or funny award ribbons. Thanks for sharing!

dianna said...

Love those colors!
He wore them?.....Love THAT even
more*!*

Rose said...

yay, thanks for the tutorial. i've been looking to make these for ages! happy date night

Su-sieee! Mac said...

I'm going to make me some of these sweet medallions soon for my honey. Thanks for the tutorial!

iHanna said...

How cute these are! Thanks for sharing them Jess!

Multiductus said...

This is beautiful and so simple! It would be also a perfect and original replacemnt for gift bows and tags :)

Larissa Holland said...

those are so cute, I would be happy to find stuff like that from my hubby around the house. Fat chance is all I'm sayin. Happy anniversary? If not, happy date night!

sharon santoni at my french country home said...

just stumbled upom you, so many great ideas! how generous you are!
I'll be back

Jessica Jones said...

Dianna, no, no. I was kidding my mom about him wearing them. I'm sure he'd be mortified. That's the trouble with typed words—sarcasm is so hard to detect. I think I confuse people a lot when I make jokes. Sorry, everyone!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Aww, those are so, so pretty! I think my kitty needs one. =) Thanks so much for sharing this, I'll be linking.

Shirin said...

Such a sweet little idea!
You're so funny.. hehe.. If only we could DIY an iPad out of paper. Maybe an i(note)Pad. Not quite as exciting though.

Jolie Goodnight said...

Oh my. Your blog is amazing! I just ran across it again today and I love it.

Susan said...

All day I've had the idea of making something like these in fabric.I've been twisting and turning it over in my mind while I work and now while I'm eating dinner and reading blogs it was like 'wow!" thanks so much will be making some of these in fabric for an upcoming event and thinking of you helping me out with the 'how to"

carolyn said...

These are really sweet -- enjoy your night! (I mean, I hope you had a great time -- just looking at the date!)

Mokinita said...

Whow, that is just too cute.
It's a very simple gesture, but with a lot of sentiment.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Monica

Emily G said...

you are adorable and funny

Meeks said...

Your blog is one of my favourites, so I have given you a blog award! Congrats! And keep up the great work!
Meeks

http://jugglingmotherhood.com/2010/04/13/blogger-awards/

Veterinarimom said...

I think I'm missing something -- I cut a 3/4 inch strip, 6 inches long, and pleated it as shown . . . but when I try to flatten it, either the ends rip apart, or the pleats get all stretched out and it ends up looking like a wad of crumpled paper. Any suggestions? It's a really cute idea and I'd love to be able to make some!

Jessica Jones said...

I made really tiny pleats. Maybe you need more pleats in that length of paper? Or else just fold a second strip the same way you did the first one and use a chunk of it to add some length to your first strip, splicing them together.

The Late Afternoon said...

these are so adorable, I had to try them out myself. thanks for the post!

Staci said...

These are so cute! I wonder if they could be done with fabric, maybe with interfacing of some sort on the back to hold the pleats? I guess it can't hurt to give it a try!

Amie Hartman said...

Very cute idea!

styledarling said...

Oh sweet!!!!! My 5 year old son would FLIP over one of these...thanks for the fabulous idea!!! :)

Erica W. said...

This is such a wonderfully cute idea! I can't wait to give it a try.

Amber@ClassicHousewife said...

OH neat! I'm tucking this away in my brain for a rainy day. =)

Coleen said...

Too cute. Had to post them to my Facebook fan page: vintageterrace2 giving you the credit of course. Found you thru scrapscene.

jackie kersh said...

these are adorable!

Unknown said...

I have to ask - where do you get your papers? I'm in love with the designs you used here. Also, I'm in love with your blog. I'm on break from school now and have basically read through all of your archives. Awesomeness galore!

Unknown said...

Oops, I forgot to check "email follow-up comments" to me =)

Jessica Jones said...

Hi Tina,
These are origami papers from a pack that's a pretty common design. I've seen this pack in various art stores, including Dick Blick, if there's one near you. Possibly Michaels or other craft stores might have it, too. The manufacturer is Aitoh.

maria f. said...

First time I have visited you - first post I read and you crack me up. Have you since discovered how to craft an ipad?!?!?

Jessica Jones said...

Unfortunately I have not. :) We had to resort to purchasing one.