Ribbon Ornaments

When I first saw these in the Pottery Barn holiday catalog, I thought they were adorable.  But – I would want more than just one for my tree, and at $6 a pop plus shipping I couldn’t bring myself to spend $30 on them.  So, I decided to make my own!

Once I got going these were a cinch to make, and by using holiday ribbon from the $1.00 bins came out to about $2.00 per ornament – and I got to customize them as my own.

For instructions on how to make your own, click “more” below.

Here’s what you’ll need to make yours:

Supplies:

• Styrofoam balls (whatever size you desire)
• Ribbon in at least two colors (how much you need depends on the width of the ribbon itself – that is the wider the ribbon the more area it will cover in less length, count on at least one roll per ornament just in case to be sure you have enough (or more if you choose really skinny ribbon) )
• Anything else you’d like to embellish with – ric rac, felt, glitter, etc.

Tools:

• Hot glue gun
• Scissors

*I don’t really have to say, but please be careful when using a hot glue gun.  It’s so easy to burn yourself and it hurts!  Trust me – I have done it several times!  But we’ll save stories of my clutziness for another day.   If you don’t have one, I highly recommend purchasing one for everything from crafts to small repairs.  They are fairly inexpensive and can be found at every craft store.

Instructions:

1. With the ribbon you want to cover the majority of the ball, wrap once around the circumference and cut.

2. Using that piece as a guide, trim the rest of that ribbon to the same size, so you have pile of ribbon strips.

3. To apply the ribbon to the ball, work with one side, and then the other. Start at the “top” of the ball, and using your heated glue gun, apply a very thin line of glue along the side (shown by the dotted line) to one side only.

4. Follow along the line with one of the ribbon strips, holding at the top and stretching it taut as you “wrap” it around the ball.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 on the other side. Essentially, you’ll apply glue twice for each individual ribbon strip. Working with one side and then the other will add to the safety of you not touching the hot glue before the ribbon is applied to it…and makes it easier to ensure a straight line.

6. Continue with steps 3, 4, and 5 covering the ball with the ribbon in a bicycle wheel type pattern as shown below. Continue until the entire ball is covered. Don’t worry, if you run out of your main ribbon you can use another to add a little oomph anyway.

7. Once it’s completely covered, you can add a second (or third or fourth!) color of ribbon around the ball however you wish, as well as add any other embellishments your heart desires.

8. Finally, you will have found that the side of the ornament where you typically began each ribbon strip is slightly higher or pointed from the overlapping ends. This is the end to attach the loop of ribbon which you will use to hang the ornament. You can be as fancy or as simple as you like. The easiest way? Using a length of ribbon equal to how low or high you wish it to hang on your tree, simply hot glue one end of the ribbon over the top of your overlapping ends on the ornament, loop around, and hot glue the other end of the ribbon in the same place. Voila!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.