Simple Patchwork Christmas Ornaments #Crafts

Want to make some easy, slightly messy and fun Ornaments for your Tree?

I am not a naturally crafty person!  I love DIY, lets just say DIY doesn’t share the love back. 😉  However, even my hand full of thumbs managed these beautiful ornaments with no problem!  Gather the kids around, spread out some newspaper on the floor (you’ll understand this one shortly), turn up the Christmas music, and make some beautiful ornaments (and some of the sweetest memories you’ll have!).

What you’ll need:

• Styrofoam balls (whatever size your tree calls for)
• Fabric of choice cut into aprrox. 1.5″ x 1.5″ squares (no need to measure – different sizes and shapes are perfect!)
• Glue (We used Aleene’s Original Tacky glue).  Go ahead and get the BIG bottle! 🙂
• Crochet hook
• Twine
• Scissors
• Small paint brush
• An old sheet

I bet you’ve got a majority of that in your closet right now!

To start with you’ll want to water down some glue.  Not too terribly much you still want it to have a little bit of consistency.  No science here – just “eyeball it”.  Stir well.

Next, take your ball and push the crochet hook down thru the middle.  Try to keep it as straight as possible :).  After your hook is thru the ball, hook a piece of twine to the end and pull back thru.  This should make the loop to hang the finished ornament with.

On each side of the twine (on the end with the two loose ends of twine) take the hook and make a groove for the twine to rest in.

Now fill that groove in with glue (non-diluted here) and press the “twine tails” into the groove.

Take the watered down glue and start spreading on ball.  Place the precut fabric on the glue and “paint” glue on top of fabric.  Load that fabric down with glue!  Hint:  I like to start by placing the fabric over the twine tails to help hold it in place better.

Continue until you’ve covered the entire styrofoam ball with fabric.

Here’s where the newspaper comes in handy… Hang your ornaments to dry.  We use an old sheet to cover our table and hang them from the edge of the sheet with clothes pins OVER THE NEWSPAPER – the glue drips as it dries.

After they’ve dried completely (I let mine dry overnight), trim the tree and enjoy your family!

These are super simple to make!  The ladies (ages 8-60ish) of the fam gathered around a table after Thanksgiving lunch and made a slew of these things!

I’d love to see how yours turn out!  Post a pic!