DIY Award Ornaments

Hi fellow crafters!

My name is Jodi and I am the owner of Fancy Pants Designs, a paper crafting company and my team blogs about all of our creative products here! I am also the proud owner of a new blog, (meaning very new!) Make a Pretty Life, where I am looking forward to sharing even more of my ideas (diy, home decor & paper of course) on my very own blog!

Enough about me…I am thrilled that Kari asked me to participate in this fabulous line up of ideas.

Today I am sharing ways to use paper mixed with other crafting products to create an ‘Award Winning Ornament’. I’m really into award ribbons lately, and I thought this was a fun way to create custom and very pretty tree decor! I created a larger one that I thought was perfect for larger trees or as a tree topper should you theme your whole tree this way and a smaller ornament for the smaller trees! Being a paper crafter and memory keeper, I was sure to add a photo to one of the ornament ideas as well!

My supplies list is really pretty simple:

scrapbook paper and embellishments of your choice
leftover lace/fabric/ribbon scraps
glue gun

With a little help, the kiddos could easily jump in on creating these ornaments!

To create the top part of the ornament I used scrapbook paper and made accordion circles. Here’s a tutorial on how to make these if you haven’t done them before! It’s actually part of a cute Christmas Album, but if you scroll through the pdf you will find the accordion tutorial! Christmas Album with Accordion Flower Tutorial

For the larger ornament, I created a 5″ accordion circle (you can use a pretty border punch along one side of these to add a more delicate or unique look), and put it together. Then, using my Silhouette, I cut a 4 1/2″ circle to place on top of the circle and adhere my accents to! Then, I used a 4″ doily and, using some of our Merry Little Christmas ephemera, I created the top.

After it was all done, I hot glued it to the accordion circle and started on the ‘tails’ of my ribbon.

To create the ‘tail’ portion of the ribbon, I just started layering papers, cards, ribbon and other embellishments until I got the look I wanted.

I used scotch tape to hold things in place as I added, then I stitched them all together with my sewing machine.. just a couple rows of stitching to keep things in place! I also added a little jingle bell set for some extra sparkle and sound!

The second ornament used the same process.

For the topper I used one of our crafty products- a filter embellishment- it’s just like a coffee filter, but has different edges that make them a bit more fun and a cork label! I added my photo and chipboard accent, then stuck the brads into the cork label. I had some cute paper behind it, but decided that it need some sparkle and, I just happened to have picked up this super cute “mini tinsel” at my local craft store so I wrapped it around the cork label and added a bow at the top! Using the same process, I started layering paper and ribbons for my ‘tails’. This one was smaller and not quite as full…a bit more basic!