Ribbon Fan Ornament

Making Christmas Ornaments has always been a great way to get in the Holiday Spirit for me and I was pretty excited to be participating in this Handmade Christmas Ornament Blog Hop, hosted by Diana over at "The Girl Creative".

Just look at all the cute and creative ornaments that the participants have come up with!

This year I wanted to make something simple and fast since I am on a time crunch because of my crazy schedule.

I still wanted the ornaments to look somewhat elegant though, because I always dream of having one of those fancy designer trees where all the ornaments coordinate!

Of course purchasing ornaments for these type trees can be a huge financial hit to your pocket book especially if your tree is big...and who has tons of free cash hangin' around during the holidays??!!
(Not me, that's for sure!)

I thought about what craft materials that I already have on hand and that I would have a lot of and the first thing that came to my mind was ribbon.

I am swimming in a sea of ribbon!

I started playing around with some of my really wide fabric Christmas ribbon and this is what I came up with...a fan ornament!

I decided to make a few different one's for experimentation since I have no clue what kind of "theme" tree I might decide to do...

These were so fast to make, you could make a whole slew of them for your themed tree in no time at all!

I was pretty happy with the outcome considering it was so fast and easy.

I have been collecting lots of jewelry pieces, beads, buttons and nick-nacks over the last couple of years from all the yard sales and thrift stores hubby and I visit and what a perfect way to compliment these ornaments than with some pretty embelishments!

For one of the ornaments I actually used some lace ribbon that was not stiff enough to hold the fan shape, so I added a coat of fabric stiffener to it and wah-lah! I was able to make it stand up and the lace perfectly complimented my Mardi-Gras themed ornament.

There are so many possibilities of what you can make and so many cute ways to embellish them.

Here is one where I used a button from my stash for accent:

Here is a collage of the steps in making these ornaments:

(NOTE: If you click on the photo collage, you can see a larger version of the picture for clarity)

Here are the supplies and tools I used to make this project:

List of Tools/Materials used:

Ribbon (I used 81/2" - 9" of each for the fan base)
Ribbon, Offray Ribbon Treasures, Cloth, 2-5/8" wide, Christmas Pattern
Ribbon, Gold Braid (Brand unknown, scrap piece from stock on-hand)
Ribbon, Lace, Black, Yellow/Gold, 3-1/2" wide, (Brand unknown, scrap piece from stock on-hand)
Ribbon, Sheer, White, Gold Trim, Wired Edged, Gold Patterned Swirl, 2-1/2" (scrap, stock on-hand)
Ribbon, Nylon/Lace, Old Gold, Scalloped, 5/8"
Ribbon Trim, Beaded, Red Cord/Gold Beads (Brand Unknown, scrap piece from stock on-hand)
Trim, Gold Cord
Decorative Trim, Bead, Gold, Plastic
Jewelry Piece, Old Earring, Holly w/Bell and Gold Bow
Jewelry Piece, Jester Face from Mardi Gras Costume Jewelry
Button, Faux Gold w/Pearl Inset (from stock on hand)
Scissors, Heavy Duty, Cutco
Scissors, Med. Size, Westcott (from WalMart)
Glue Gun, Multi-Temp, Ad Tech
Jewelry Tools, Cutting Dikes & Pliers
Rubber Finger-Tip Protectors
Paper Clips (to hold fan bottom while glue dries)
Paper Weights (to assist with some gluing tasks)
Glitter Glue Pen, Gold, (from set), Advantus Corp, (from Ross)
Glue, Fabric, E6000 Fabri-Fuse
Glue Sticks, Multi-Temp, Full Size, Ad Tech
Fabric Stiffener & Draping Liquid, Aleene's
Foam Brush
Plastic Container (for ease in applying fabric stiffener)
Ruler
Toothpicks (for help in precise gluing)

I hope you liked my project and are inspired to create some ornaments of your own!

Be sure to check out all of the other great Christmas Ornaments in this blog hop by clicking on the link-up below!

Thank-you for visiting my blog!
Hope you'll stop by again soon!

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine Pin/Brooch - Craft Lightning Valentine's Edition

It's that time again!

Another round of Craft Lightning and this one is in celebration of Valentine's Day!

For those of you who are new here..."Craft Lightning" is a craft that you can make in 15 minutes or less (minus drying time) and it is hosted by the awesome Carolina from 30 Minute Crafts and Angie from The Country Chic Cottage!

I wanted to make something that could be "worn" on valentine's day, but with a time constraint of 15 minutes, I wasn't sure what I could make that would fall into the "wearable" category.

After perusing the local craft store for inspiration, I came up with the idea of a Valentine's Day Pin/Brooch.

At first glance, it might appear as if this pin had to take more than 15 minutes, since there is a crocheted backing on it, but that is where my inspiration came from...I was shopping at JoAnn's and spotted these adorable crocheted doily pieces in a bin!
They had several sizes and two colors, white and ecru or off white.

I immediately thought of valentine's day and of course a pin seemed feasible if I kept it small.

As you may know from my previous posts...I am a hoarder of all sorts of household items that can be recycled or upcycled into crafts, so I used a plastic food container lid for the backing on the pin.
(Just a note here...if you are going to put a lot of jeweled pieces or heavy pieces on the brooch, you might need to use a heavier backing than I did...such as thick cardboard, metal or wood)

I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper to attach to the plastic on the side that was going next to the lace doily, as I didn't want the red plastic to show through on that side.

A bar pin was added to the back of the plastic piece.

I layered a piece of dark red felt on top of the doily and then added the bling!

I have been collecting tons of jewelry pieces at yard sales, flea markets and estate sales just waiting for the perfect project to come along to use them!

The piece I used here was a vintage "clip-on" earring.
I removed the clip from the back using some of my jewelry making tools, so that the piece would lay flat.

For the final touch, I added some metallic red cord around the heart and some shiny gold/bronze ribbon behind the doily and my Valentine brooch was ready to wear!

I would like to thank Angie and Carolina once again for allowing me to be part of their great Craft Lightning Series! It's always so much fun!

Hope you enjoyed my post and if you'd like to make a pin yourself, here is a photo summary of the steps:

Here is a photo of the tools and supplies I used with a detailed list following:

Tools/Supplies Used:

Darice Crocheted Lace Doily, 100% Cotton (Purchased from JoAnn's)
Felt (Dark Red)
Plastic Food Container Lid
Old Jewelry Piece
Bar Pin, 1.5", Gold, Jewelry Craft
Heart Stencil, Assorted Design Template #TMP-4, Pioneer Photo Albums Inc.
Scrapbook Patterned Paper - Bitty Scrap Pads, Heritage Post, Provo Craft
Ribbon, Sheer, Bronze/Gold, (wired)
Metallic Cord, Red
Paper Weights (to hold down pieces while drying)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Aleene's Jewel-It Embellishing Glue
E6000 Glue
Fons & Porter Mechanical Fabric Marking Pencil
#2 Pencil
Chain Nose Plier
Round Nose Plier
Heavy Duty Cutco Scissors (Used to cut plastic lid and the wire ribbon)
Small pointed Scissors
Toothpicks (to help with gluing the metallic cord around the heart)


Thank-you for visiting my blog!

This project/post is linked up to the following sites/link parties: