Paper Poinsettia Ornaments

The boys and I have Christmas fever. We can barely focus on our school work these days. Luckily, I had planned out this Christmas ornament craft ahead of time. We make homemade Christmas tree ornaments every year - usually out of scrapbook paper. This year we're making these gorgeous Paper Poinsettia Ornaments, both for our tree and to give away as gifts. The boys are so excited to give them out, and working on them a little each day is scratching that Christmas itch - along with copious amounts of Christmas music and the eating of many a Christmas cookie. 😊

Our Paper Poinsettia Ornaments turned out fabulous!

We mixed and matched different shades and patterns of red paper to really make the ornaments pop.




Here's what you'll need:
several sheets of various red colored and patterned paper (one scrapbook sized page will make about 2 flowers)
a printer
a pencil for tracing (see note below template)
sissors
a glue stick
red and/or yellow pipe cleaners (1 per flower)
red curling or mylar ribbon (6 to 8 inches per flower)
glue gun (optional)

Start by printing and cutting the template below. Trace the cutouts onto the back of your pretty red paper and cut 'em all out. Each poinsettia will require 6 large petals, 5 to 6 small petals, and one circular base.

For each petal, cut an inch up from the bottom, put a generous amount of glue on the back of one end and glue it over the other end to create a pucker at the bottom. Hold that pucker closed for several seconds to secure while also bending the petal back at the middle. Poinsettias are an open flower and you'll want the petals to tilt out instead of in. Allow the petals to dry.




To the base, glue a six inch piece of curling ribbon to make a loop for hanging. Let dry.

If you have smaller children, you'll want to do this preliminary glue prep for the petals and bases beforehand. It's a little tedious.




To prep the center of the flower, cut a pipe cleaner in half and then in half again to get 4 equal pieces. Curl in the ends of each piece. Then, twist all four pieces together at the middle and separate out the little tendrils.




To put the flowers together (this is the fun part), glue the large petals, one at a time, onto the ribbon side of the base overlapping them a little as you go.




Now glue the smaller petals in the center, also, overlapping them a little as you go.




Glue a pipe cleaner center smack dab in the middle. This is where you may want to use a glue gun if you have one. Pipe cleaners need a lot of glue to stay secure.

These paper Poinsettia Ornaments turned our little fake Christmas tree (we call it our "humble" tree) into something spectacular. Aren't they just gorgeous on the tree?

Here's that template:




Note: If you're using 8 1/2 x 11 inch colored paper, you can load the paper right into your printer, making sure to print the template on the back side, and then cut out the petals for use. No tracing! If you're using scrapbook sized paper, you'll need to print out the template (card stock is best) and cut out 1 large petal, 1 small petal, and the base to use for tracing.

Happy Christmas crafting!

Summer Fun: Flower Power Wreath

Looking for something to keep the kiddos busy? This wreath is totally kid friendly, but feel free to hog this one if you need some mommy creative space. 😉

My door was without adornment since the wind had turned my Usnea wreath into a wonky mess. Plus, the boys were jonesin for a project, so I had them try their hand at the paper flowers I used for my Easter garland this past spring. I pulled the scraggly Usnea off of my wreath base and the boys and I re-did the wreath with our handmade flowers.



The boys did a great job with this craft and the wreath turned out super cute.

We started the project by tracing our petal templates. We used a combo of colored construction paper and printed scrapbook paper.



I taught the boys how to glue their flowers together and they went to town. See my Easter garland post for directions and templates for these flowers.



I used a glue gun to affix the flowers to our paper plate base. See my nature wreath post on instructions for making your own wreath base.



I promptly hung up our masterpiece on my naked front door. Ezra was so proud when he showed his daddy our handiwork.

Hope you're inspired to get those kiddos to work with all of that vacation time on their hands. 😉

Nature Wreaths

My boys have been little nature scavengers lately. They've turned our kitchen windowsills into a natural museum, including a jar full of chicken feathers (our neighbor's lost a chicken to a bobcat).

Mateo, my eldest, came back with several big bunches of some scraggly looking plant. Apparently it hangs all over the Oak trees around here. He jumped and climbed and received several scratches and scrapes to obtain his prized bundles. That's the kind of kid he is. 💖 I asked my neighbor about the plant (she is quite knowledgeable about all things natural and country out here). She told me that the plant is called Usnea, is non-toxic, and even has herbal uses.

Mateo's hard earned bundles bulging out of a bowl on the windowsill were begging to be used in art class. The plant is quite dry and scratchy and sticks to itself wonderfully, so I decided we would make wreaths.

I made a prototype first. I cut the center out of a sturdy paper plate with an exacto knife type of tool. I used a hole punch to make two holes on top to loop a ribbon through, and there you go, I had myself a frame to build on.

I took small sections of the plant and wrapped it around the plate gently pushing the plant into itself to stick it together. I overlapped each layer a little for good stick and good coverage. This is a totally great plant to work with.



















At this stage I was ready to bring in the boys. I prepared their plates, they picked ribbons, and we got to wrapping. This is a good floor activity. The plant is messy and a quick vacuum at the end of our project was all that was needed to clean up.

Mateo loved making his wreath. Ezra was a slightly different story. You know you've missed the mark just a bit when your youngest asks you if you can do his for him. 😜 After some more instruction, and hands on help, Ezra got his done too and was very proud of his wreath.

Here's my finished wreath on the door. Pardon my fingers. I had to steady the wreath to get the shot - windy day.