Poinsettia Ball Ornament

For this ornament I started with a small styrofoam ball. Punched out Boho Blossoms flower, just using the 6 petal flower one which conveniently happens to be on the edge. Lay your punched out flowers on your foam piercing pad mat and press down as hard as you can in the direct center of the flower with your Empressor stylus. This will curl the flower up perfectly, it's so cool! I secured each of these onto the styrofoam ball with decorative pearl pins. For the hanger I wound some silver cording around a large silver brad and pushed it through the top, securing with some tacky glue so it doesn't just pull out when you hang it.

Birdcage Ornament

This was my ornament that I made for tomorrow but I was too happy with it to wait until then. This looks really pretty in real life with all of the Dazzling Diamonds sparkle and it really does look like a birdcage. It was a bit hard to photograph it to do it justice.
I was making a lantern ornament with the strips the other day when this idea came to me. I used Brushed Silver cardstock cut in strips 5 1/2" x slightly narrower than 1/2" wide. The ends were secured with rhinestone brads. The bird is from the Sizzlits Birds & Blooms set hanging from silver cording. I stamped the flourish and flower from Patterned Pines in Bashful Blue and sponged edges. For the embellishment on the bottom to hide the brad prongs I used the Sizzix die cut Swirls Scribbles and covered it completely in Dazzling Diamonds. Supplies are by Stampin' Up.

Sweet Centers Christmas Lollipop

This was a quick ornament to make, using the Sweet Centers treat cup, a large scallop circle punch and a popsicle stick that I painted white and wound some red grosgrain ribbon around. I got the idea from a craft kit lollipop ornament that used wound up ribbon as the pop part and adapted it for the treat cup. It was my son's idea to make it look like it had fluffy icing on it so I added some Liquid Applique and heated it with the heat gun to puff. You could attach this to a card or hang it from your Christmas tree.

Bella Bleu Ornaments

The Bella Bleu designer series paper by Stampin' Up is so beautiful and elegant, I think it works well for Christmas ornaments with the blue and the silver. For the first one I punched 8 scalloped circles and folded them in half (use your bone folder for a nice, sharp crease), glue them all together and insert a loop of cording before adhereing the last two sides together. Adorn with pearls or beads from the Pretties Kit.
The second one is a quick stocking I drew and cut out using a wooden stocking ornament template, adhered a snowflake from the Sizzlits snowflakes set and secured with cording and a rhinestone brad.

Paper Christmas Tree

This was inspired by today's Featured Stamper on SCS, Rachel Hope. The tree project was from the December 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living. I used a wood skewer, a chopstick would work too. Cut out one each of a 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6" circle. Fold each circle in half four times, making nice creases with your bone folder and insert onto skewer, securing with a bit of glue after each addition. You can adjust the pleats a little bit as you go. To make the tree stand upright in the pot, I wadded up a brown paper bag, wrapping around the skewer, packing the brown paper in tightly until that little tree wasn't moving anywhere. Decorate as desired.
I used Stampin' Up Merry Moments designer paper, white satin organza ribbon and felt snowflake from last year's holiday mini and a 2" standard flower pot. The string of lights I had in my stash, no maker known since I had thrown away the original packaging.

Accordion Pleated Flower Ornaments

For the pleated flower I used a 12" strip of double sided Christmas paper (Merry Moments by Stampin' Up). I used the scallop border punch on the long edge and then cut the strip at 1/2". Fold this strip accordion style and then carefully bring this around into a circle, securing ends together with adhesive. I then glued this to a 1 3/8" circle and then onto a scallop circle and sandwiched a loop of gold elastic cording bewtween those two layers. You can come up with two very different looks from the same piece of paper depending on which side you choose to display as seen in the top photo. A great family project, this would be easy and fun for kids to participate in.