Sparkly Star Yo-Yo Ornament

I tried to replicate the yo-yo ornaments using a star leftover from my ribbon tree instead of a rhinestone. The yo-yo is made from the sparkly fabric I used for the pink star quilt. While I love the sparkly star, I don't think the non-round shape in the center works quite as well. I probably should have tried to make a star-shaped yo-yo, but that did not occur to me. Or maybe it's the odd number of ribbon loops that throws it off.


Yo-Yo Ornament Tutorial

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

This is the most amazing creation Amanda and Chris have come up with yet: a Christmas book cart made out of foam! One strand of bulbs even lights up! They went to a Christmas parade where one of the floats for the library had book carts. When Amanda told me about the book carts in the parade, I mentioned Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart contest. Little did I know, this would inspire them to pimp a book cart for me for Christmas.

Tiny books on one shelf:

Tiny magazines on the other shelf:

It's going to work with me to join my rowdy librarian glasses.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

In addition to ribbon, Amanda really likes buttons. (Hmm, perhaps inspiration for next year's ornaments?) This little felt tree reminded me of the sequin tree ornaments I made last year, so I really should have thought of it myself and made one for her, but I'm sure I don't have quite the collection of buttons Amanda does.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

The tag on this ornament said "Merry Christmas...from your favorite article of clothing." I think it's so adorable that I want to keep it out all year even though it says "Merry Christmas."

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2010

This year Amanda decided to re-read my letters to her for ornament inspiration. The tag on this ornament said "Because you mentioned it in ALMOST every letter." For awhile I was going to Joann's every weekend, so of course I had to relay my fabulous fabric finds! I love my mini bolt of fabric, and I think I'll keep it out all year.

Snowman Gift Tags

These snowman scraps were too small for the cathedral window ornaments, so I glued them to little cardboard circles for gift tags.

Ornaments for Julie

I made these ornaments for my sister in 2008. Two years later she finally sent me pictures, since these were pre-blog ornaments.

She had two Christmas trees and one had a red and gold theme. The orange and blue ornament is for the other tree. She loves the Tigers, so she really likes orange and blue.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Christmas Stars

I've made felt versions of these stars, but this is the actual method suggested in the tutorial. I used fabric leftover from my tree skirt, which I also used for ornaments in 2008.

Felt Christmas Stars

More felt stars! These are just so cute and easy! I modified this tutorial. I am sending a couple to a friend for her son and daughter and I embellished them further by adding their names in gold glitter glue.

3D Ribbon Tree

This is by far my favorite ornament this year. It doesn't hang though, so I suppose it's more of a decoration than an ornament, but it's still adorable. I am very pleased with how it turned out. My original plan was to use a styrofoam cone as the base, and just pin the ribbons on. However, when I went to the store to buy one, I discovered that the styrofoam cones were flat on top instead of pointy. I could have worked with this if the cones were smaller, but they weren't narrow enough. So on to plan B. The base of this tree is felt. I stitched a little tree form and stuffed it. Then I took folded 2" lengths of ribbon and stitched them around the base of the tree, working my way up. I used a soda can to create the base of the tree topper.  It is 4.75" with the star.

Woven Ribbon Tree

Oddly enough, I got the idea for this ornament from a belt. The back is felt. I sewed the vertical green ribbons to the felt at the base of the tree and then sewed up the sides once I'd woven the horizontal ribbons through. The ribbon along the edge is hot glued down.

Cathedral Window Snowmen

I made six of these little cathedral window snowmen.

Make some for your tree with the Cathedral Window Ornament Tutorial.

Ribbon Wreath

A slight variation on the ribbon and rhinestone ornaments.

Learn how to bunch ribbon with this tutorial.

Ribbon Bunching Tutorial

To bunch ribbon like I did for the ribbon and rhinestone ornaments, you will need a ribbon, needle, thread, and scissors. Use your preferred method to keep the ends of the ribbon from fraying. I melted the ends of my ribbon instead of using Fray Check or nail polish and really liked the results.

Tie your thread to the edge of the ribbon to stop the knot from being pulled through the ribbon when bunching, then use a running stitch to sew from one edge of the ribbon to the other on an angle. This creates a zig zag down the ribbon as seen here:

The above picture is just for the big picture. Don't wait till the end of the ribbon to start bunching. Start bunching after you've sewn a few zig zags. This makes it easier to bunch.

When you get to the end, pull it tight and again tie your thread to the edge of the ribbon. If you are creating a circle, stitch the two ends together. Once you have a circle, you can glue on your embellishments, similar to the construction of the yo-yo ornaments.

This was 11" of ribbon that was 1.5" wide and it produced a 2.5" bunch.

To create a rhinestone ornament, you will need:

• 24" of 1" wide ribbon
• 3 4" pieces of 1/4" wide ribbon
• 1 6" of 1/8" wide ribbon
• 1 20mm rhinestone 
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun