Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » diy wednesdays: modern paper ornaments

it’s official. we drove by a real-life christmas tree lot today, which means that it’s time to get cracking on our holiday decorating. these paper ornaments can be hung just about anywhere (from a tree, in a window, from a chandelier) and they are super simple to make. all it takes is some paper and a stapler to make any room feel festive. just click here for more photos and full instructions.

happy decorating!
-derek & lauren

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Various colors of paper or cardstock, cut into 1″ x 11″ strips. We used 5 colors of cardstock plus silver and gold gift wrap.
-X-acto blade
-Metal ruler
-Cutting Mat
-Stapler
-Thread or monofilament for hanging

Using your X-acto blade and straight edge, cut a few sheets of each color paper into strips that measure 1″ wide by 11″ long.

Lay out your color combinations. We used 3 colors per ornament, repeating the middle color on the outside of each one.

Cut the center strip down to 6″ long. The following concentric layers will consist of 2 pieces, each measuring 7″, 9″ and 11″, respectively.

Make sure the tops of all the strips are flush, and then staple them together. Then line up the bottom edges on the opposite side, so that they are flush, and place a staple on that end. We kept it nice and simple, but there are a bunch of different configurations you can do by playing around with the lengths of the strips and different placement of staples. Now just find a favorite spot to hang them. Ours are clustered above the dining room table.

These are fabulous! I spent so many evenings as a kid making paper chains with my mum for christmas, think I’ll make some of these using just white paper : )
thanks for the inspiration. Could get out of hand (think Will Ferrel in Elf!)

emil, for a nonpermanent solution, you can use those plastic 3m hooks that peel off with no damage (smallest size, clear plastic) — attach them, hang ornaments with fishing line, take them down whenever. we’ve used them to hang things temporarily from the ceilings at school.

they are with the framing supplies usually at art stores like michael’s or hardware/framing supplies at any department store. they are good for temporarily stringing up holiday lights as well.

I love this idea so much!
I thought 1″ wide was too small, so I made mine 2″, with lengths going from 6″ to 12″. It looks really nice and it has so much possibility in terms or colors and sizes! I will make some tiny one and will try to find bigger construction paper to make really large ones…

I love how simple and effective these are. I saw these back when you posted them in November and not only have i made christmas ones, I’m going to make some to decorate for my mum’s 50th birthday! thank you so much for sharing your ingenious and easy art with us!

I did those right this afternoon ! For the first one I took measures (and took the trouble of converting them into centimeters , ha ha !)but for the others , no need and I also used remnants of paper to make tiny ones . I tied them all at different length on a dried branch which I hanged from the ceiling . I love the result . It was fun and fast to make . thanks for sharing this tutorial !

I’m so glad you reminded me! I’m a very old lady now, but used to make these, back in the 40’s, out of anything I could think of! Adults can try this with heavy duty aluminum foil, too, and/or add dots of glue and sprinkle some glitter on the glue dots. Lovely!
And try it with scraps of wallpaper and heavy wrapping paper, too! I must do this again!

Oh these ornaments are so wonderful, I have to thank you for posting this!

I had plane tickets to visit my family in Hungary over the holidays (I live in Sweden) but had to reschedule and ended up unprepared for christmas and no time to do something big.

This idea was so simple and right up my alley (I love the retro feeling they give) and gave me an alternative to the regular christmas tree.

Your idea prettied up my home over the holidays! =)

I love these! I meant to make them last year but ran out of time.

This year I plan to make them with my niece, something pretty to dress up her bedroom over the holidays! It’d be easy for me to prep the strips before she comes over, and then we’d have plentry of time for the fun of putting them together!

Thanks, thanks, thanks!

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