DIY paper Christmas ornaments

It's fun and easy to make these traditional paper ornaments, and there are lots of tutorials out there. I posted a how-to in 2006 and decided to make more for my tree this year. This time I didn't glue these modules into a star (which looks great; see the old post). I like them as simple individual ornaments, too.


To make cutting more uniform, here's the template I drew.
Large ornaments
Small ornaments

Print out a page and cut along the inner lines with an X-acto knife. (I freehand it.) Then cut out the squares.


Bend the center flaps inward.


Moving outward from the center, bend the next pair of flaps around to meet on the opposite side. Secure them with glue or tape.


Keep alternating the direction of the flaps until each pair is joined.

If you like, glue the points of six ornaments together to make a lacy star.

How to make 3D paper ball ornaments

I love 3D paper things. Love. And when I saw a little picture of what appeared to be paper balls in a CB2 catalog, I thought, "I am going to make those."

So the other day while Alex was writing a paper about mysterious things like polymers and flexible films and tactoids, I made a paper ball. Then I proudly announced I had created a tactoid and it was sitting on my desk. He giggled. Apparently a tactoid is not a paper ball.

These are made from 12 slotted flower shapes that fit together to form a sphere. No adhesive needed; the only ingredient is paper. I made a template in Illustrator and cut out the shapes with my Silhouette machine, but you could also print out the pages and cut by hand instead.

Download the PDF templates here:
Large ball (10")– print/cut 12 sheets
Medium ball (5")– print/cut 2 sheets
Small ball (3")– print/cut 1 sheet

Download a Silhouette .studio file here:
Small ball (3")– unzip the file; cut 1 sheet. (The shapes can be scaled up or down in Silhouette Studio if you'd like to change the size.)

If you want to hang your ornament, you might like to add the string before assembling the ball. I placed a piece of tape on the back of one flower so the hole wouldn't tear, then used a needle to pull string through, forming a loop on the front side. I secured the ends of the string on the back side with another piece of tape.

Use the slits to join petals together. Keep adding shapes, connecting as you go, so that every petal is connected to another petal on a neighboring flower.

It might be helpful to think of the first piece as the "north pole," and then add a row of five flowers encircling it. At this point, the ball is half finished.

Here's what it looks like upside-down:

Attach the next row of five flower shapes, and finally, add the "south pole" piece to finish the globe.

The colored balls are made from regular-weight computer paper (Astrobright from Office Max) and the white balls are made with cardstock. The big sphere is the size of a basketball; the little one is approximately a baseball. And the medium-sized guy is maybe a large grapefruit.

How to make 25 paper Christmas ornaments

Here's a roundup of ornaments you can make from paper.
Above left: I made with these instructions
Above right: I made with these instructions

(Update: this is now an old post; some of the links no longer work.)

More:
Printable snowflake 1
Printable snowflake 2
Paper snowflakes stapled together into something 3-D
Not 3-D, but nice snowflake cutting templates

Origami star
Ornament made with circle cut-outs
Flower ornament
Ball-like star
Ball-like... ball
Flower ball
Geodesic ball
Multi-colored balls made this way, but fastened with wire
Many-pointed star
Mini star-shaped booklet
Glitter star ornaments
Moravian stars
Recycled paper ornament
Crystal ornament free download plus a gallery of inspiration
Huge spiky starOrigami Christmas tree 1
Origami Christmas tree 2
Kirigami Christmas tree 3

Happy folding!

DIY paper teardrop ornaments

I made a few more ornaments for my mostly paper-decorated tree. It's been super gloomy outside, so the corner of the living room with the tree is too dark for picture taking. Imagine these on a silver Christmas tree, instead of hanging from the wooden skewer I taped temporarily to the window sill to obtain maximum natural light. Ha!

To make these paper teardrops, download the template and print it on colored paper.

Cut out the drops, then fold them in half lengthwise with the printed side facing out. Cut out the hole in the middle.

Align the sides of two pieces and glue them together. Keep gluing in more pieces until the ornament is as full as you like. I used 16 pieces for these, but you could add even more. Then string the ornaments on thread.

More ornaments to make

If you are not yet sick to death of making Christmas decorations, here are more projects with instructions:

Paper evergreens at Martha Stewart (shown above)
Styrofoam ornaments by Kathleen George
Flying felt birds at Disney Family
Very time-consuming garland at Craft Stylish
Fabric Christmas trees at The Small Object
A paper wreath from Real Living magazine
Clay ornaments at Living Creatively
Snowflake ornaments at Domino Magazine
Papercraft elves at macula TV
Paper bag gingerbread towns for kids at Family Fun

(Image from marthastewart.com)

Easy paper ice cream ornaments

I added some more DIY ornaments to our Christmas tree. I'm having trouble adjusting to the thought of winter; can you tell? These ice cream cones are made from tissue paper and a grocery bag.

To make the cones, cut circles from a brown paper bag. Mine were about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut each circle in half. Shape the semicircles into cones, cutting off any extra paper you don't need (the section that's sticking out in the photo.) Secure the cone with hot glue.

Wad a couple pieces of tissue paper into balls. I used chunks that were roughly 6" x 12", folded them in half, and crumpled them up.

If you plan to hang the ice cream cones, thread a needle with a doubled piece of thread. Poke the needle down through the top of the ball that will be the top scoop, so that a loop of thread sticks out of the top. Secure the loose ends on the underside with a dab of hot glue and trim off the excess.

Line the inside rim of the cone with hot glue and push the bottom scoop into the cone. Spread glue on the underside of the top scoop and add it to the cone. Let the glue dry for a minute and hang it on the tree.

How to make 3D paper ornaments

Here's a Christmas ornament you can make with colored papers or magazine pages. I'm not sure what to call it. A funnel ball? The instructions:

1. Cut out 10 paper circles (any size, as long as they're all the same). Text weight paper will be easier to work with than cardstock.
2. Cut each circle along the radius.
3. Put a small piece of double-stick tape on each side of the cut near the edge of the paper.

4. Flip the circle over so the taped side is down; then pull each flap across the circle toward you and twist to form a cone. Press the taped ends down to secure. You should end up with two cones that look vaguely like a fortune cookie. Do this to each of your 10 circles.

5. String the double cones together with a needle and thread. Make sure they're gathered snugly in a ball and tie a knot. Use the trailing ends of the thread to make a loop for hanging.

Here's one made from magazine pages. If you like recycled crafts, give it a whirl. Or try a felt version!

Paper flower ornaments

I was trying to think of other ways to make easy ornaments from paper and created these last night while watching CSI reruns. They're made from cheap computer paper. How to:

1. Cut one piece of 8 1/2" x 11" paper into 1" strips (oriented landscape so you end up with 11 strips).

2. Stack them and staple them once in the center, then fold the stack in half to form a little book. (If the strips are too long for your stapler to reach the center, either trim them a bit shorter or swing your stapler open and staple the stack on a magazine or cutting mat. Then bend the staple closed.)

3. Put a little piece of double-stick tape at the tip of the first "page." Then bend it inward toward the center and stick it down. Repeat for every "page" until you have a circular flower shape.

4. Hang with invisible thread. (Yeah, there is such a thing! You can buy clear thread at a fabric store.)

Of course I had to do an orange one.

Paper ornaments

I saw these easy instructions for making paper decorations and had to give it a try. It would be fun to make a bunch out of multi-colored Christmas wrap and hang them on your tree. (The backs are white, unless you use two-sided paper.)

How to make paper lantern ornaments

Well, kids, I had tons of ideas for other ornaments and decorations and lovely new things I wanted to make before Christmas. But my ambition did not quite correspond to the amount of free time I have. Too many graphic design projects to finish before we head out of town this week. But during my internet travels I did come across these nifty paper ball decorations, complete with instructions. Nice work, anonymous blogger at The Creative Place.

This just in: A shortcut to making these. Thanks, Whitney!

(Image from The Creative Place)

How about orange ornaments?

Here's a paper ornament I made the other day during a coffee break with my downstairs neighbor. They're hanging in my office windows. The ornaments are, I mean—not my neighbors. That would be creepy. To make your own:

1. Download the template here.
2. Print it on colored paper.
3. Cut out each shape, score it on the dotted line, and fold it in half so the printing is on the outside. (It's easiest to cut out the middles after the shape is folded.)
4. Use a glue stick to adhere the side of one piece to the side of the next piece, and so on.
5. Trim off any parts that hang over or don't match up properly.
6. Poke a hole through the top and thread some string through to hang.

Good news: no serial killers.

Last night was the little gathering of blog readers at my house. There were nine guests, and each person turned out to be very, very wonderful. A large knife was brandished at one point, but it was only used for cutting cake. Whew. We all managed to fit at my long dining room table and ate desserts, made some paper ornaments, and compared thumb flexibility. One person had heard a theory that the further your thumb bends backwards, the more artistic you are. I'm not sure we arrived at any conclusions, but we had a good time. Guys, thanks so much for coming over!

Greetings from Kuwait

A reader from Kuwait wrote to show me photos from a dinner party that she and her sister organized. The girls invited friends to come, and they all made paper ornaments based on the tutorial I put here. Look at their work! Amazing! To see more photos, visit their blog here (it's in Arabic, but if you can't read it, you can still look at the pictures.) I was thrilled to hear from far-away How About Orange readers. Does anyone else outside the U.S. want to say hello? Leave a comment and mention what country you're from. It would be fun to share where we all are and exchange greetings. (Access to this site is blocked in China. Hello to you anyway, Han and Ming. Miss you!)

Cheap, homemade Christmas ornaments

Our Christmas tree has a few purchased ornaments on it, but most are paper things I've made. For a recap of the tutorials:

Modular balls
Flowers
Teardrops
Snowflakes
Ice cream cones
Striped bulbs
Retro foam ornaments
Origami garland (not on the tree at the moment, since it's in the process of getting longer.)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Make your own Christmas decorations

Here are tutorials for a handful of unique holiday decorations. There's plenty of time left to make them... along with shopping and wrapping and mailing and cooking and hosting and visiting. No problem. Right? Try your hand at these projects:

Felt Christmas ornaments at The Purl Bee
Paper bag wreath at Bloesem Kids
Helvetica stockings from Teal & Lime
Amigurumi bear ornaments (make pandas, koalas, and teddies) using this pattern by All About Ami

Origami diamond ornaments

I tried out Emma's directions for how to make an origami diamond from two squares of paper. Each half is folded separately and then the two pieces are glued together. The folding was easy but the gluing was a challenge! Getting all the peaks and valleys aligned at once took some fiddling, but the result is really cute.


After making these, I decided to hang them on our Christmas tree. I poked a hole in each end with a needle, then threaded a piece of wire through. I bent the bottom end of the wire into an acute angle so the gem won't slip off, then wrapped the top end of the wire over a pencil to form a hook.


If you already know you're going to make these into ornaments, you could make your life easier by adding string or wire to the top half before gluing the diamond together. Or leave the hanger off and put them in a bowl on the coffee table.

Find the tutorial here at Design and Form!

Paper gem Christmas ornaments

I love these DIY gems created by Kate at Mini-eco. Get a template for making all the paper shapes here, then create a mobile, a garland, or hang them on your Christmas tree. They'd look mighty fine on my aluminum tree, now wouldn't they? Hmm...

Felt ball ornaments

I tried making yesterday's project out of felt. Equally cute, I think. And more durable, too. To make them, follow these instructions, but use felt and a hot glue gun instead of paper.