12 Days of Christmas - Day Six

Day 6.....This is the halfway point. That means Christmas is only 8 days away!!! Oh, crap! Excuse my language, but I thought I was doing so well until I counted the days! Oh, well, I will just keep plugging along. My gifts that have to be mailed will be in the mail by Friday, I hope, since that's the last day that First Class Mail can be mailed with a guarantee to get there by Christmas. I'm working madly, just ask my hubby. I've got him working madly, too. I can't say what he's working on, just in case, but he IS working hard.

 

Today's project is a fun one, and if you have some heavy duty thread and some buttons, it won't cost you a thing!  All you need is paint chips! The long ones with the different shades going from light to dark.You will need 2 small buttons and 2 large buttons in colors to go with your paint chips.

 

 

You can use any color you like (and these don't necessarily have to be for Christmas). I chose reds and greens. My paint chips were about 7" long and I cut them 1 1/4" wide. Stack them up, alternating the red and green. I have a Crop-a-dile (that's the tool with the pink handles above) so I can punch through all the layers at once, but if you don't have one, then punch them 2 or 3 at a time, being sure to line them all up with the first one you punch.
 

 

Now you take the heavy duty thread and cut a piece about 6 or 8" long. Thread it through one of the small buttons, with the "stitch" on the front of the button and the thread ends going out the back. Cut a pieces of thread about 14" long and thread it the same way through the other small button.

 

 

Take one of those buttons and stick the two thread ends through the holes in one end of the paint strips, from front to back, so the button ends up on the front side. Put the ends of the thread through the holes in one of the large buttons and tie them in a square knot. Trim the ends of the thread to about 1/2" long.

 

 

Now do the same thing to the other end of the strips, only don't rim the ends of the threads yet. After you tie the knot on the front of the large button, take the two ends and tie an overhand knot in them to form the hanger.

 

 

Now it's time to start spreading the strips open to form the ball. Start with the bottom strip and pull it out to the middle. You have to do this carefully by turning the ends at the buttons. Then do the next one and move it over next to the first.

 

 

One strip at a time, pull them all out to form a ball. Adjust the spacing until they are evenly spaced and you have a nice ball shape.

 

 

It's hanging from my oven door because I don't have much room in this little motor home, and notice the name of the oven....Holiday! How apropos is that?

These balls can be made in any size, although if I were to make them tree ornament size, I would probably use a 1/4" paper punch and use brads to hold them together. Then you could wrap a piece of heavy duty thread around the brad on the top and tie it to make the hanger. I also think they would be really pretty made out of 12"x 12" card stock with pretty designs!

Well, that's today's project. Hope you will try it out. And remember to have some joy this season as you make and take gifts to your family and friends. Joy is what the season is about!

See you tomorrow!