Acute How-To: Mod and Flower Paper Ornaments

I don’t know about you, but my house is starting to look pretty Christmasy right about now. I always put up my tree and various holiday decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. This year I spent some time creating super simple and festive paper ornaments. I love the handmade touch they give to the rest of my holiday decor.

What you will need:

-cardstock paper – any color you like
-stapler + staples
-scissors
-floral wire {this can be found at the craft store near the artificial flowers}
-string

Steps for the “mod” paper ornaments:

*Cut four strips of cardstock about one inch wide.  Take two of the strips and cut them slightly shorter.

*Stack the two short strips in the middle with a long one on each side and staple the top.  Next, bring the two ends of the longer strips to meet the end of the shorter strips.  Secure with a staple.

*Punch a hole in one end and and string a piece of ribbon or twine through the end.

*A double or triple layer mod paper ornament will be done in the exact same way.  All you will have to add is another set of cardstock strips.  In the end you will have “short, medium, and long” and you will layer them so that the two shortest are in the middle and then the medium and so on.

*Punch a hole in the double or triple layer ornaments and hang them from the ceiling or your tree!

Steps for the paper flowers:

*Cut a piece of cardstock into two equal sized squares.  Fold each one accordion style and trim the ends so that they are somewhat rounded.

*Do the same folding and trimming with the second square.  Join the two strips with a piece of floral wire.  Twist the wire so that it is secure.

*Bring the edges of the folded pieces together and secure with a staple.

If you want to hang these from your tree, pinch a small hole into one “petal” and loop a piece of string through it.  I chose to hang my flowers on the wall by placing removable sticky mounting squares on the backs and sticking them to the wall.

I love the way that the flowers look against the wall – it is so festive and pretty…I think I will make several more!