Things Hanging from My Ceiling

I got a new toy last week, a giant punch which makes 3 inch holes. Of course, the object is not to get 3 inch holes, but rather 3 inch circles. Can I tell you how very satisfying it is to punch giant circles from pretty paper? Of course, I had a purpose for all this paper punching. The goal was to make ornaments, of which I made two kinds.


The first ornaments were made by folding the edges of the circles up towards the center, forming a triangular surface surrounded by three flaps. Eight circles are required for each ornament. I used a different paper for each circle/side. After folding all of my pieces, I applied glue to all of the flaps of one piece. Then, I gradually built the ornament by pressing flaps of additional circles to the first, adding more glue and more circles until I created the shape in the photo above. Clear as mud?


My fancy papers are printed only on one side, so the next ornaments require four circles per ornament. I started by gluing pairs of circles back-to-back. When dry, I cut a straight line along the radius of each new circle. Then, I slotted two circles together, the results of which are shown above. The final step is to pop the circles so that they're perpendicular to one another.


I made the third ornaments last year. I cut the same papers into strips using my paper cutter. I kept the width of the strips the same, but cut them to two different lengths. Then I stacked the strips, face up, into piles of eight and attached them at each end with tiny brads. Some stacks were all of the same pattern, some were of mixed patterns. Finally, I fanned the strips around to create a sphere.


Here are the results of my efforts. Lovely effect, isn't it? I just finished the eight-sided ornaments last night, so still need to hang them with the others. They were all quite easy to make, and it's nice way to spend an afternoon. Some tea, a Christmas movie, and a pile of pretty papers...

Wonder what else I can hang from the ceiling? And what am I going to do with these? Saw them on my last trip to the craft store and couldn't resist...



*All tools and materials available at Michael's.