Paper Ornament Tutorials by Leah Farquharson

Leah Farquharson made some darling paper ornaments and she kindly agreed to make a step-by-step photo tutorial of a couple of them so you can make them too!

First up, this adorable bird ornament!

Leah says, "This sweet birdie will sing sweetly on anyone's Christmas tree this year!"

Here's what you need to make one:

1 sheet of Dear Lizzy Christmas Sleighing Song Paper (35200)

1 sheet of Dear Lizzy Christmas Tidings & Tinsel Paper (35204)

8" of Dear Lizzy Christmas Premium Ribbon - Song (89387)

1 pack of Dear Lizzy Christmas Remarks Dimensional Stickers - Joy (42170)

1 .03 Brown Precision Pen (62316)

Chestnut Pigment Ink Pad (59512)

1 small red button

8" of brown embroidery floss

needle

crackle medium

Pebbles Chalks

banner die cut

scissors

liquid adhesive

Cut two bird and wing pieces facing opposite directions. I started out by sketching my bird, and when I settled on what I liked, traced it on my paper, facing opposite directions.

Ink around the outside edges of your pieces with a brown ink pad.Chalk around the edges of each piece about 1/4". I love how easy Pebbles Chalks are to work with, this ages look is easy to pull off! 

Apply crackle medium to the entire surface of all of the pieces and allow them to dry.

Once the pieces are dry, attach a folded 8" piece of ribbon as a hanger to the back of one of the main bird body pieces using liquid adhesive.

Cover the entire backside of that piece with liquid adhesive, stick the two bird bodies together, then place them under a heavy book to make sure they dry flat.Thread brown embroidery floss through the holes of a red button. Trim the excess floss and glue the button onto the bird body as the eye.Write "peace" with a brown Precision Pen on a banner die cut from solid green paper (the backside of Tidings & Tinsel Paper). You can either cut one out by hand, find, download, print, and cut one out, or die cut one using a die and machine or digital download. Then attach the banner to the bottom part of the bird body.

Apply glue to just the "shoulder" portion of the wing and attach it to the bird body. Attach the opposite wing in the same way, only slightly off, so that both wings will show from one direction.Embellish with "Joy" dimensional stickers.

All done and ready to hang!

 

Next Leah shows us how to make a "Paper Kissing Ball":

Leah says, "Who doesn't love a pretty little kissing ball around Christmas time? The Dear Lizzy Christmas papers were perfect to create this one!"

Here's what you need to make one:

1 sheet of Dear Lizzy Christmas Comfort & Cheer Paper (35203)

1 sheet of Dear Lizzy Christmas Jolly Jingle Paper (35216)

1 sheet of Dear Lizzy Christmas Sleighing Song Paper (35200)

12" piece of Dear Lizzy Christmas Premium Ribbon - Song (89387)

8" piece of Dear Lizzy Christmas Premium Ribbon - Sleigh (89388)

1 pack of Dear Lizzy Christmas Details - Tradition (78036)

10" of brown embroidery floss

needle

scissors

3" scalloped circle punch or die cut

3" circle punch or die cut

hot glue gun and extra sticks

 Grab your 3" scalloped circle punch or die cut and start punching/cutting! You should have just enough room to make 9 scalloped circles out of each of the two papers (Comfort & Cheer and Jolly Jingle).

 

Following the steps in the photo below, cut each scallop in half. Then trim one scallop off of each half. Roll the piece into a cone, and hot glue, overlapping one scallop. Make sure that the pattern you'd like to show is on the inside of the cone. 

 

Note: The easiest way to trim the pieces is to gently fold the half scalloped circle in half and trim from that point out to the scalloped edge, as shown below:

After all of your little cones shapes are made and gathered into a pretty pile, it's time to start assembling!

Start by hot gluing two together, one of each color.

Alternate, adding one after another,

until you have a total of twelve to close the circle.

Now start on the second layer, making sure you alternate colors, and hot glue them slightly more toward the center, since we're starting to form a ball.

Hot glue a total of eight pieces in this second layer.

Add two more cone pieces to round out the top, but leave a space open to glue the ribbon hanger.

Cut a 12" piece of Song ribbon and knot the end.

Hot glue the ribbon between the top two cone pieces last added.

Hot glue one final cone shape in the top to finish the ball.

 

Repeat steps nine and ten to create the bottom of the ball, filling in the bottom.

Now let's create the embellishments! Using a needle and brown embroidery floss, run a stitch through the top of an 8" piece of Sleigh ribbon, and punch or cut a 3 1/2" circle from Dear Lizzy Christmas Sleighing Song Paper.

Pull the floss to gather the ribbon.

Knot the floss to create a ribbon flower and trim the excess floss.

Slip the ribbon flower over the the hanger on the ball and secure with a little hot glue.

Cut the paper circle into a spiral.

Roll up the spiral and hot glue the bottom so it will hold its shape. The rosette is complete!

Attach the rosette to the top of the ball and tuck a felt holly leaf from a pack of Tradition Details underneath. Apply a bit of hot glue to secure.

Pretty as a picture and ready to trim your tree! (Or your oldest son's finger!)Who's gonna spend their Saturday making lots and lots of these pretty paper ornaments? Me me me!

Thanks so much for these tutorials Leah and happy weekend everyone!

Comments

[Jen Chesnick]

Leah I love the tutorial! I've been wanting to make those ball ornaments.

[cindy tobey]

Gorgeous ornaments Leah!

[Olivia]

So sweet! Love these ideas, can't wait to try creating my own versions :)

[Maryangella]

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautifl! And such a fun project to do with our children!!!
Thanks for sharing this with us :)

[camille petrocelli]

Leah, I think that is the prettiest tutorial I've ever seen...the background paper, the glittery numbers, all the little details made this an even more wonderful project to follow...thanks again...you are amazing!!!

[Becky Williams]

These are fantastic, Leah!

[Sasha "sweet thang" Holloway]

Cool.

[Andrea MacDonald]

These are fabulous Leah!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

[Rebecca]

Thanks for sharing the fun tutorials. I really enjoyed!
Thanks,
Rebecca