{Handmade Christmas} Pinecone Ornaments

I love making Christmas ornaments and am always looking for new ideas.  I found this one in the December-January 2012 issue of Country Woman.

I'd actually seen these elsewhere but without instructions.  I thought they looked complicated but they really aren't.  And once you get the paper cut, it goes pretty fast.  I just put a Hallmark Channel movie on and away I went.

Here's how I made them:

Materials:

• Paper Trimmer
• 12-inch square scrapbook paper
• Bone folder or sturdy plastic knife
• Styrofoam egg
• 3/4 inch applique pins
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Artifical leaves/flower berry pick
• Thimble (optional)

With paper trimmer, cut scrapbook paper into 1 inch by 2 inch rectangles.  Along one length of each rectangle, fold in opposite corners to form a triangle.  Use the bone folder to make all folds lie flat.

On narrow end of of Styrofoam egg, pin the short points of four triangles to the center (seam side facing inward), forming a square.  Pin each remaining long point of the four triangles smoothly against the egg.  Stagger remaining rows.  Put triangles side by side with long points slightly overlapping.  Pin only the long points to the egg.  Leave short points anging free.  Short points of the triangles should align with the joining seams of the previous row.  Continue pinning rows until about 1-inch square of egg shows at the top.

 Fold over ribbon to form a hanging loop.  Pin ribbon ends to center of open area on top of egg.  Secure with hot glue.  Using a needle nose plier/wire cutter, make a hole in egg to insert your pick (shorten the pick to a half inch or so.)  With glue gun, add your pick to the hole you just created.  Hang on your Christmas tree!

 I made six of these cute pinecone ornaments - one for myself and the others as gifts for family and a friend.  {I had already mailed the one to my friend which is why there are only five in the photographs.}  Of course, deciding which one I wanted to keep for myself was hard, but this one is going on my tree.

There are so many fun papers to pick from.  I even got a little fancy and made one with stripes.  It was a little tricking getting the folding just right and the pinning straight.  {Never mind figuring out how to cut the paper the right way!}  I think it turned out pretty great even with that added degree of difficulty.

 I can't wait to give these as gifts!

I'll be sharing this tutorial at these parties.