When Kayo was five years old, he made a Christmas tree ornament in school out of a Styrofoam ball, ribbon and some fabric (photo below). Amazingly, after over 20 years, it still exists, is in pristine condition, and currently adorns his mom’s tree. Every Christmas, without fail, someone in the family will take notice of that ornament and the story behind it gets told. I think it’s really beautiful when the trimmings on a tree and decor in a home have history and stories worth talking about. My mother-in-law’s tree is just like that and I’ve always been a big fan of it!
While our little tree at home is not as grand as Kayo’s Mom is (not yet, at least!), I would love for it to tell stories as well. And instead of it looking perfect and department store bought, I would love for it to look like it’s been put together by imperfect hands, by people, by excited little children, by a family. So this year, I decided to take some of our old and broken ornaments, remodel them and give them a brand new charm.
I looked around the internet for ways to dress up Christmas balls and found several easy ways. I also tried to imitate the ornament Kayo made, but I must admit, I did not find it easy to make at all! There was a little too much math involved for me to bear! But I did make two in that style and even if they’re not as good as five year old Kayo’s ornament, I’m proud of them!
Materials I used are the following: assorted fabric, ribbon, glue gun and glue sticks, old Christmas balls (or styrofoam balls).
Click on these links for different tutorials on how to wrap your old Christmas balls with fabric:
1. Easy DIY Wrapped Ball Ornament from offbeatandinspired.com
2. Fabric Globes from onekingslane.com
3. DIY Fabric Ornaments from shanty-2-chic.com
The last one by Shabby-2-Chic is the easiest to make and it’s what I did with most of my ornaments. Here’s how in photos:
What’s interesting is, I used fabric of old skirts and sweaters that had patterns and colors that had the “holiday look” I liked. I also used a couple of my favorite handkerchiefs that I barely use now. If you like for it to be more special and personal, you can even use fabric from your grandparents vintage clothes or you’re children’s old baby clothes. But it’s perfectly fine to buy new fabric for this project because the mere fact that you’ll turn it into an ornament yourself is already a good story to tell.
I made several ones in different sizes and no two are exactly alike. I think they make our little tree look pleasant and playful at the same time. Exactly how I want it!
Try it out! Trim your trees with lovely stories you can tell year after year. Have a very merry, crafty Christmas! 🙂
Check out the other projects in our 12 Crafts for Christmas:
No 12: Paper Crafts on Wreath
No 11: “Oh What Fun” Paper Mobile
No 10: DIY Advent Calendar
No 9: Christmas Themed Art Display
Love, love, love the fabric balls! We’re doing something different today, and sticking scraps on the balls. It should be fun, though! 🙂
Yey! Can’t wait to see them! 😀