Day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas!

Well it's time for the 12 Days of Christmas!!! Can I tell you I just love Christmas! I love to make gifts and give them to the people I love and those I work with or go to church with, or anyone! My mama raised me that it's better to give than to receive, and I believe it. So here's your first project of this year. They are ornaments made from Styrofoam balls and pop bottle lids.



You will need:

Styrofoam balls the sizes you want your ornaments

Fabric scraps big enough to cover the balls

Pop bottle caps

Glue and scissors

Embroidery floss (I used metallic red and green)

A drill with a little tiny bit

String or heavy carpet thread.



Start with the pop bottle caps. You need to drill 2 tiny holes in each one. See the picture for placement. Spray paint them gold or silver and let them dry overnight or until really dry.

In the meantime, take one of the Styrofoam balls and place it in the middle of a piece of fabric big enough to go around it with an inch or two extra. Pull up the four corners and hold them in one hand. With your other hand, kind of gather the sides in and hold them, too. Now, you have to pull all the fabric as tight as you can around the ball and tie it with heavy thread or some string. Wrap it a couple of times so that it's good and sturdy. Trim the excess fabric off to about 3/4" in length. Do the same with all of the balls.

When your bottle caps are good and dry, loop a 10" piece of embroidery floss through the holes and tie it in an overhand knot, with the threads coming out the top of the cap. This will be your hanger. Fill the cap about 1/2 full with craft glue and place it over the trimmed fabric nub on your Styrofoam ball. Make sure it covers the string or thread you used to tie the fabric. Hold it in place for a few minutes until the glue starts to set and the cap stays in place. Check them every once in a while to make sure they don't lift up.

Let them dry overnight, then hang them on your tree or use them to embellish packages or plates of cookies...anything! These are really fun for kids to make, but they may need a little help gathering the fabric around the ball. I usually do that and then let them tie them real tight.