I was very crafty this holiday season! I am lucky to have a huge family and lots of friends, but it gets expensive buying all those gifts. So this year, I decided homemade and heartfelt was the way to go!
Many friends and family got married this past year or are getting married this year, so I made ornaments out of wedding invitations, wedding programs, save the dates, shower invites, etc. I saw them on Etsy and decided that instead of buying them, I could make them. I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!
Materials
- Clear, filleable ornaments (I found them in four packs at Michael’s, and I preferred the big, glass ones over the plastic ones)
- Charms for top (optional)
- Invitation
- Paper cutter
- Yarn or ribbon for tie on top
Directions
Remove top from ornament. Take metal pieces from top apart and put the charm on. Put metal pieces back together and set aside.
Cut invitation, program, etc into 1/4 inch strips. For strips that had nothing on it, I set them aside and only used them if I wanted more filler in the ornament.
On a diagonal, wrap each strip around a pen. I wrapped multiple strips around a pen at once, but you need to make sure not to crease the paper. I was surprised at how easy this step was. Hold the strips around the pen until the shape holds.
Put twirled paper into ornaments. I put the most important strips in first since they generally stayed near the edges. I liked my ornaments a little fuller, so I normally used the whole invite, but you can use less depending on your preference.
Put the metal top back on and tie ribbon on top.
I made these for almost everyone for the holidays– here are some of the finished products:
And I think it was a success!
My brother and sister-in-law opening their ornament.