Paper Ornaments 2--Paper Ball Ornament

For the second ornament this week, I decided to share with you one of my favorite paper ornaments--the paper ball ornament. This is so easy to do and once again, uses your favorite paper scraps.

Ornament #2--The Paper Ball Ornament

Materials
Paper strips of 1/2 inch width
Hole punch or awl
Two brads to fit the size of the hole you punch
Piece of embroidery thread or fishing line for the hanging loop.

You will need 12 to 15 strips of paper that are 4 to 4.5 inches in length.

Preparing the Ornament

• Stack all of your pieces on top of each other, right side up.
• Punch the entire stack of strips with two holes, 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the top AND bottom.
• Place the one brad through the entire stack at the bottom hole.
• Place the other brad through the entire stack at the top hole.
• Tie a loop around one of the brads at this point.

This is your finished ornament as you put it in the Advent Calendar. You should be able to place many of these to fill up your bag.

Assembling the Ornament

• Carefully, start separating each layer of the ornament from top to bottom. Because each of the ends are secure, the ornament should start taking a rounded shape.
• Continue separating the layers until all layers are separated.
• Start shaping the ball so that it has an even shape. You can use fewer or more layers depending on how full you want the ball to be. I prefer to use 12 layers and have some space showing between the different segments/sections of the ball.

Once again, the beauty of this ornament is that you can use a variety of paper and paper scraps to coordinate your holiday tree. Also, these make great gift tags if you tie them to the bow of your present. You can write the name of the recipient on the back of the flat ornament and allow the recipient to make their own ornament for their tree. These are fun in larger sizes hanging from the ceiling as party favors.