Ornaments MWL: Made With Love

  Welcome back! 

The holiday spirit is in full swing at my house, work and life in general!

 

     At this point my mind has been on overload from all the craft projects i've been doing. From holiday gifts to work lesson plans it's all about the CRAFTS! I can't complain though.... i'm crafting all day, coming up with new and fun ideas and getting paid for it. While it's not a bad gig, I still have a lot more to get finished before Christmas arrives.

    Now for this post's point: ornaments! MWL has a truthful meaning. The acronym  MWL stands for Made With Love as you could have gathered from the title of this post ( ha ha). Besides the fact that i'm on a budget this holiday I also love sentimental gifts. Even when I was young I always made corny, cute gifts of scrapbooks and poems for friends and family. 

     I also enjoy receiving personal, sentimental gifts. To this day my favorite gift I have received is from my girlfriends. A handmade quilt filled with pictures of myself and my friends from over the years. Every time I cuddle up with it I think of them and remember how lucky I am to call them not only my friends but truly my sisters.

     I decided to make ornaments as gifts and for my own tree. And this is how I did it...

You'll need:

• Scrabble letters
• newspaper
• yarn or string
• corks ( wine or champagne)
• ribbon
• hot glue
• modge podge

( Alternative for modge podge: SAVE the $$$ and combine equal parts glue and water, easy as can be!) 

      The first ornament I made was the coaster ornament. I began by cutting a piece of newspaper and folding it accordion style until I had a folded strip. Once you  do that you can begin wrapping it into a tight circle so it looks like a coaster. Be sure to slip a piece of yarn or ribbon through the newspaper once you've finished rolling it into a circle. This will be the way your ornament will hang. You can make these big or small they just have to be big enough to hold your scrabble word. I chose to do LOVE. 

     Once the circle is complete, secure with hot glue. Soon after, apply your modge podge or my alternative solution. This will allow the newspaper to stay put and it will dry clear. Once the modge podge coat has dried, hot glue the scrabble letters to it. 

Wrap this ornament in a pretty box and decorate a brown paper bag to wrap it in and give it to someone special!

        The next one I made is the cork ornament. As stated above, you can use a wine or champagne cork. For mine I used a champagne cork because that is what I had in my house. This ornament is very simple and cute.

     Take the selected scrabble tiles you wish to use. I chose Noel. Hot glue each piece onto a side of the cork. Press firmly and allow to dry 3-5 seconds to ensure that is has stuck. insert a tack or metal wire to the top of the cork. Use yarn or ribbon to tie to the top in a circle. Hang on a tree or use for garland decorations!

Another ornament I made ( use felt, newspaper , ribbon or burlap for the back) :

SO easy... glue on scrabble tiles to ribbon, punch a hole at the top and string yarn through to hang. Almost instant ornament!

Happy Crafting!

DIY Yarn Ball Ornaments

Happy Holidays!

   Like many of you, I got my tree this past weekend! The past couple weeks I have been searching the web for cute but easy DIY ornaments. I came across a few good ones but decided to put my own twist on them.

   Outside on our balcony we strung  twisted stick ball lights I got on sale a few weeks ago at Target. They are perfect for the cold months and add a touch of earthiness to our lackluster patch of grass at our apartment complex. I got the idea to do these yarn ball lights for the tree because well, I have extra yarn around.

   I wanted something cheap that didn't look cheap! These ornaments/ light covers are perfect for garland, tree lights, strung on a string across a mantle or to placed in a bowl on  display!

What you'll need:

• Any colored string of choice
• white glue ( elmers)
• water
• paint brush
• balloons
• a bowl for mixing    

    First you'll need to blow up the balloons to about the size of a clementine or small apple. You can do larger or smaller depending on how big you want the ball to be.

    I blew up about 7-8 balloons but it depends on what you are making. You may need more or less! I'd say 5-6 are good for a bowl display, 10-11 for a garland or if you are stringing them across something.

    Next, put glue into a bowl and mix in water to thin it out. I used an entire container of white glue and added 1/2 cup of water. I had left over "modge podge" so I just dumped it back into the original glue container for another project.

    After the mixture is ready take your yarn and use a little of the glue and water mixture to adhere the yarn to the balloon. Begin wrapping in one direction and then go the opposite way. Add a layer of glue and continue wrapping until you get the effect you want. I left some space to create a “balled up” look.

    Lastly, apply a layer of the glue mixture that covers all the yarn. The glue mixture will harden overnight and create a stiff yarn ball. After 14-16 hours the yarn ball will be completely dry. You should then pop the balloon inside of the yarn ball. Discard the popped balloon.

     Now you are ready to decorate! Hang them, string them or place these balls in a beautiful, festive bowl.

Happy Crafting!