Christmas Tree Ornaments

1. Drum Ornaments

By Nina Grover

Cut cardboard tube into 2″ lengths. Cover both ends of each section with circles of brown paper. Tape string securely to edge to form loop for hanging. Cut one piece of 1 1/2″ wide ribbon or fabric and two pieces of 3/8″ ribbon long enough to go around tube and overlap 1/4″. Glue widest ribbon around center of tube. Now glue narrow ribbons around each end to form rims of drum. Space four drops of glue evenly around inside edge of top ribbon. Space four drops of glue around inside edge of bottom ribbon so that they are placed halfway between drops on top ribbon. Zigzag string tightly from glue on top to glue on bottom around drum (see illustration). Pin string at glue points until dry. You may glue cotton swabs or toothpicks to top of drum for drumsticks. The drums can also be decorated with rickrack, braid, sequins, or beads.

2. Eddie Elf

By Roberta Fairall

You will need: two bright-colored paper cups, yarn, scissors, stapler, and felt tip marker.

For elf’s legs cut yarn into two 5″ pieces. Now carefully cut out bottom circle from paper cup. Place paper cup upside down and hold yarn legs inside cup. Then with yarn in the middle bring bottom sides of cup together and staple in the middle, securing yarn legs. Leaving cup upside down, cut side sections as illustrated. Fold cutaway sections in half and staple in holes for arms as illustrated. Staple circle for head over staple holding legs. Then paint on face and use yarn for hair. From another cup, cut out hands, shoes, and hat, and staple them to elf (see illustration). Staple piece of looped yarn to back of elf’s hat and Eddie is ready to hang on the tree.

4. Pasta Ornaments

You will need: assorted pasta, white glue, waxed paper, and a lot of imagination.

Supermarkets or Italian delicatessens have many exotic shapes of pasta. After selecting the ones you wish to work with, use the illustrations as guides for creating your own ornaments.

Construct each ornament on a separate piece of waxed paper to avoid gluing directly to your work surface, and set it aside to dry. (Paper peels off when ornament is dry.)

White glue works best to join pieces of pasta, because its water base melts each piece slightly and forms a “welded” joint. Use a toothpick to dab small amounts of glue on each joint. Joints are strongest with broad points of contact, so where pieces have little contact surface, add smaller pieces to act as braces. Elbow macaroni is best for bracing.

Dry ornaments are fragile, but they might last several seasons if stored in boxes between layers of tissue paper. Broken pieces can easily be restored with more pasta. Store extra pasta with ornaments for future repairs.

5. Candy Cane Carnival

Candy canes can be used for a variety of decorations. To attach canes together use white glue if the wrapping is left on the canes or frosting if they are unwrapped.

Cut out and decorate different kinds of faces, hands, and feet shapes and attach them to canes. See how many candy-cane characters you can make. Tie strings around canes for hanging on tree.

Illustrated by Pat Hoggan