I’m going to be honest with you: I waited until the last minute to make this ornament and write the tutorial. Well, it seems the last idea I had was not so hot. Things can look so fantastic in your head and then you go to make them and turns out it’s actally crap.  I don’t want to give you a crappy present, so I thought I’d just fess up instead. I had a good run for a while there. I hope you liked the week (-1) of tutorials. I really loved making them.

If you are jonesing to make another christmas ornament there are a few hiden away in my archives that you might like: The one on the left is my tutorial for a half eaten gingerbread man ornament. And the one on the right are tutorials for some woodland ornaments I did for Sew Mama Sew’s Handmade Holidays a few years back. The pinecone is still one of my favorites.

This week was so busy I forgot to remind you about the advent calendar coloring pages I did last year. I posted one everyday of advent for you guys to download.  I also put the whole coloring book in PDF form back up on etsy in case you’d like to make some coloring books for gifts (St. Nicholas day is this weekend).

I love you guys and I hope you can forgive me for re-gifting.  We all have crappy ideas now and then, right? I know I’ve had my fair share.

a paper christmas tree ornament

This as simple as it gets. A few scraps of paper, one seam and in minutes you’ve make a pretty, handmade ornament. I used paint chips (in lovely martha stewart colors) from the hardware store because I had them on hand, but cardstock or thin cardboard or old christmas cards would all work well.

Cut out one star and three to five strips of paper.  If you’d like to use the same measurements I used, you can download the pattern pictured below. If you would rather do it freehand, cut progressively longer strips for the tree, as wide as you like, and cut a good size trunk.

You are going to sew a seam down the middle of everything on your sewing machine. Sewing on paper is really not that much different than sewing on fabric, except that you use a slightly longer stitch and it’s ok to use a dull needle. If you are anything like me, there is one in your machine right now! Make a bunch of paper tree ornaments with that perfectly dull specimen and then do yourself a favor: take it out! And get a nice, new sharp one in there for the rest of your christmas sewing.

First make sure you have about three inches of slack from the bobbin and past the needle before you begin sewing. Then place the star under the presser foot of your machine take one stitch forward and then one stitch back (a little sewing dance!) to secure the thread and then sew down the middle of the star. Before you get to the bottom nudge the shortest strip of paper under the presser foot and sew down the middle of it.  And so on, with the rest of the strips and the trunk.

When you get to the bottom of the trunk, sew back and forth a few times to secure the thread again. Tie the ends on top of the ornament together, so it makes a loop for hanging. Snip the thread ends on the bottom of the trunk and you’re done!

variations

I included a pattern for a snowman in the PDF pattern as well, but a million other things are possible: candy canes, bells, santas, pretty much anything you can think of to cut out and sew together!

a christmas present for my lovely readers: a week of handmade ornament tutorials!

• monday: straw and pompom garland
• tuesday: paper christmas tree ornaments
• wednesday: felt dove ornament

I will be accepting advertisers  on Elsie Marley starting January 2011. If you would like to reserve a spot please email me and we can discuss the specifics! Thanks! elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com

It’s Handmade Holidays all month long at Sew Mama Sew (if you didn’t know already).  They, so kindly, asked me to be on their board and come up with a few ideas for their amazing blog.  After crossing out many bad ideas, I came up with these little plush ornaments. They are simple to make and you can find all the tutorials here: woodland ornament tutorials.  If you make one, be sure to show it off on the Handmade Holidays flickr pool! Only 33 days until Christmas.

I actually had this done early–one whole day early, but I’ve been too busy sewing to post.  I had a couple different ideas, but spent too much time thinking about them and not actually making them.  This is from some old martha stewart magazine and with two little babies in the house we are flush with baby socks (though not all in red and green, so I picked up some second hand ones).  I even had some mini clothespins on hand! I picked up a bunch of little vintage ornaments to go in each sock. This is my favorite.

If you don’t have a calendar yet (this is usually the position I am in) I think this is a nice little grown up one you can download and print.

I posted about these little guys when I was working on them, but now they are all sewn up and ready to be wrapped.  Five presents down, many many more to go.  My sister (hi judith!) picked up this little tree at her local thrift store for me last summer, but I hadn’t taken it out of the box until today.  It’s a perfect little charlie brown tree! I can’t wait to put it in my daughters room and help her decorate it.  We went to Target the other day and had to go around and around their christmas display a hundred times. I liked christmas before, but christmas with a 2 year old is going to be ridiculously fun.