Easy, Sparkly & Fun!
Perfect ingredients for a Christmas tree ornament! This is a simple, satisfying project to work on together these dark and cozy afternoons.
This neat idea was shared with me by my dear little friend Abby (8), whose mother Lisa is one of my best friends. Abby is a crafter like me, and after making these ornaments with her church group recently, she made sure to tell me all about them. In fact, she showed me how to make them last week! I couldn't wait to tell you all here. :)
This craft requires some patience, but is nice methodical handwork. It would be easy to keep the materials in a small basket (or in my case, a tupperware container) and keep them handy for those quiet afternoons leading up to Christmas. A perfect craft to work on while listening to read alouds or maybe while watching a holiday movie.
So, on with the craft! Materials you need: styrofoam balls (the smaller the ball, the quicker the craft), sequins, sequin pins, thin ribbon and a pair of scissors.
It's as easy as this: place a sequin on the ball, and secure it into place with a sequin pin. Repeat until the ball is completely covered, then pin a small loop of ribbon at the top.
Once I started working on mine, the older two boys immediately started in on their own. We found it easy to work with a tupperware lid as our craft tray.
This was our first try and we kept it pretty straightforward, but you could use various colors and patterns to snazz up the design, even layering two sizes of sequins for texture. You might spell out a loved one's name - writing it in marker first, then using one solid color to outline the name before filling in the rest of the space as described above. (How about a set of these bearing the kids' names? A lovely gift for the grandparents at Christmas.)
And here is the final result:
From left to right we have Bookworm's, Crackerjack's and mine.
This craft took a little under an hour to complete. Crackerjack (7) didn't have a lot of patience for this (hence the smiley face instead of a fully covered ball), but Bookworm (11) really enjoyed it. (Bookworm, by the way, is eager to learn knitting this winter. Calling all knitters for help!) As I mentioned before, you could keep the children's work-in-progress in a small container and pick up where you left off as time allows. These sparkly little balls would look beautiful on any tree, but perhaps most lovely on the children's own Blessings Tree.
Many thanks to my sweet friend, Abby, for showing me this wonderful craft! And for a few more ornament craft ideas, please see my recent post at O Night Divine and today's post at Higher Up and Further In. (LOVE that felt gingerbread man!)
Happy Christmas Blessings to you!
Those are gorgeous. I was just thinking our tree needs more than just the glitter ornaments. Perfect!
Posted by: Jennifer | December 06, 2006 at 06:53 AM
I might just have to try this with my kids. I think they would really enjoy it.
I don't want to start a knitting vs. crochet flame war here :^) but I wonder if you might be easier for him to start crocheting before knitting. Knitting has always baffled me, but my grandmother taught me to crochet simple stitches when I was about 10. I didn't pick it up again until college when I literally just sat down and made an afghan. I guess it stuck!
Posted by: matilda | December 06, 2006 at 08:22 AM
Matilda, that's an interesting point. I have NO idea how to crochet, but I am familiar with knitting, so I figured we'd start there. My mother can do both, though, so maybe I'll have her teach me. Thanks for the tip!
Posted by: Dawn | December 06, 2006 at 08:26 AM
These are beautiful. We'll definitely have to try it. Thanks for sharing the idea.
Posted by: Katherine in TX | December 06, 2006 at 09:41 AM
I learned how to crochet first and then knitting and I couldn't ever quite figure out the two needle thing. Maybe the same would be true for someone who learned knitting first and then crochet. I don't know. Obviously your mom is exceptional!
Posted by: matilda | December 06, 2006 at 02:01 PM
I have seen these ornaments before and never realized they were so easy to make! I guess I wrongly assumed you used hot glue to attach the sequins.
I will have to give this a go!
Posted by: Lindsey @ enjoythejourney | December 06, 2006 at 02:18 PM
I used to make these ornaments with my grandparents :) Thank you so much for reminding me of wonderful times in my childhood.
Now that you've jogged my memory, I will be heading out right away to get the things needed so that I can make them with my own children!
My grandparents' anniversary would have been December 23rd, so what a fitting way to honor them this year :)
Sherry
Posted by: sherry | December 06, 2006 at 03:56 PM
Like Sherry, we had ornaments like this when I was growing up - obtained at a church bazaar. Thanks for the blast down memory lane.
Posted by: MaryM | December 06, 2006 at 04:19 PM
There are other shapes of styrofoam too, I found little bird shapes one year and cut wings out of thicker foil for them. They were really cute! I've also seen the balls made with a seed beed on top of the sequin, Bookworm might like to try that style!
Posted by: Jennifer | December 06, 2006 at 04:46 PM
Oh, I made these years ago in girl scouts and forgot all about them. Thank you for blogging this, I'm excited to get started on it with my children. I've tried to teach knitting and crochet to my children and they all could pick up crocheting around age 10 and knitting closer to 12. They could all do the crochet chain much earlier then 10.
Posted by: Ann | December 07, 2006 at 12:54 PM
Oh, I made these years ago in girl scouts and forgot all about them. Thank you for blogging this, I'm excited to get started on it with my children. I've tried to teach knitting and crochet to my children and they all could pick up crocheting around age 10 and knitting closer to 12. They could all do the crochet chain much earlier then 10.
Posted by: Ann | December 07, 2006 at 12:55 PM