Sunday, November 22, 2015

recycled ornaments

Hi friends.  Today I want to show you some ornaments I've been working on.  I started with cereal boxes and cracker boxes.  I love being able to create something pretty from an item that would normally be put in the trash or recycling bin.  

I found instructions on line showing how to create a nice 5-pointed star by folding a square.  So that is how I made my pattern, which I cut from cardboard, so it was easy to trace.  And I traced it many times.  And cut them out.  You need two sides for every ornament.  Of course, it would have been much easier with a star die.  I forgot to check if I had one. 

I then had to score from each star point to the opposite valley and fold the stars to make them 3-D. 

I made small loops with crochet cotton for hanging the ornaments.  I prefer to use ornament hooks rather than a large string loop, so I kept my loops small.  I taped a loop inside one star point.  (I forgot to take a picture of that.)  Then a piece of newspaper was scrunched into a ball and sandwiched between the two sides.
I used a lot of masking tape for this, taping each side of every star point, trimming tape so that it was neat.  

The next step was to coat one side with mod podge and attach a square of newspaper, trimming and gluing the edges over the masking tape to the other side.  I repeated this on the 2nd side of the star.  Then I gave the star a good coating of mod podge and let it dry.  This helps to strengthen the star and make it a firm,  

The next layer is the decorative layer.  This can be designer paper, wrapping paper, old book pages, music, fabric, paint, or even napkin decoupage.  For this star I chose fabric.  It was applied in the same manner as the newspaper, except the 2nd side was first cut into the star shape, so there was no overlap. 
Then I gave it 2-3 coats of glossy mod podge.  Once it was completely dry, it was finished.  I really like how it turned out.  I've also done a couple using a bright shiny filler paper from the dollar store.  Because they are already shiny, they don't need a final glaze finish.  The one on the right is silver paper, but reflects the light differently from different angles, giving an iridescent coloring.  For the top one, I used tiny torn pieces of pages from a book that was falling apart.  This one still needs glaze on it.  I think I may try one that uses just a single piece of book page on each side instead of the tiny pieces.  That would be much easier. 
There are just so many possibilities for finishing these.  Of course, you could purchase ready made paper mache stars, so you didn't have to make them from scratch, but I love creating things from trash.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If you made some of these, I'd love to see them. 





 


2 comments:

Barb Finnical said...

I just love these! I was at Michaels yesterday and they sell these for almost a dollar each on sale. Thanks for sharing this great idea!

Linda (Lindyloo) said...

Hi there Melody
I have just come here from Splitcoaststampers where I found your lovely yearly birthday wishes. I have messaged you to explain the long delay in replying so won't bore your readers here
Your stars are fabulous. I'm like you and love to recycle as much as I can to create or reuse.
I don't know if you have them in the US, I'm sure you do, but we have hanging stars of various sizes in shops here in Wales UK that are woven from twigs and then painted shabby chic style.
Well I found some fab tutorials online to make tightly rolled tubes from newspaper that can be woven the same way and either preprinted or painted to suit your needs. They are fab and look just as good as the twig ones (sometimes better as they don't snap). I have in the past spray painted some gold for Christmas. They look wonderful hanging in threes down a wall.
OK I've chatted enough..I'm off to check out the rest of your lovely blog. Have a great day. Best wishes Linda (Lindyloo27) xx