Chenille Stem Star Ornament

Like last year, this year also our Christmas tree was up on Dec 1st. The decoration is in progress. With a new baby at home I hardly get time to make ornaments. But my 4 yr preschooler is ensuring we are doing some or the other Christmas related craft almost every 2 days. I am not getting enough time to post all of them but I will definitely try to share these ideas as and when time permits. In my daughter's preschool class they asked every child - Who do you want to gift on Christmas and what?My daughter,who is usually Daddy's girl and a big sister to her little brother, replied 2 star ornaments for my Mom. Lucky me!! And who else will she ask how to make them? So here I am helping my kiddo to make 2 star ornaments to be gifted to me.

Jokes apart I really admire her eagerness to learn and create when it comes to crafts. She is a different kid when she is doing crafts.

Supplies you will need:
-Chenille stem or pipe cleaner- red (or color of your choice)
-Pencil -Golden wire or bow ribbon
-Star shape cookie cutter
-Fish line or mono filament
-Safety scissors
Instructions :
Step 1 Make a loop with pipe cleaner using pencil as shown.  
Step 2 Continue wrapping the pipe cleaner around the cookie cutter to get the star shape. Secure the end and cut-off any extra pipe cleaner.
Step 3 Wrap the golden ribbon or wire around the star shape so it looks filled and beautiful.  
Step 4 Hang the ornament with mono filament or fish line. You can use ribbon also if you prefer that.  
Note :  My daughter made this ornament herself with very little help. Some kids might need some more hand holding depending on how much practice they have for crafting. Some kids might find the ends of pipe cleaner a little sharp, parents please supervise little kids for this craft.

Quick and Easy Handmade Christmas Photo Ornament

Like many of you I have already set up the Christmas tree and the lights are already twinkling. Every year I decorate the tree in my own way. Yes, you guessed it right - most of my ornaments are handmade. This year I made one with my daughter. She was more excited about this quick and easy Christmas photo ornament. Excited because it was her photo that I was about to put. The photograph we chose is the one where she is mere 6 months old and giving that perfect smile. I suggest you let your child pick their favorites if they are old enough to do so. Let me walk you through this project quickly.

Supplies you will need:
- Card stock white
- Child's photo
- Scissors
- Glue
- Paper Quilling strips : white and red
- Glitter
- Ribbon : Golden color
- Paper quilling tool or barbecue stick

This is a very easy project.Cut the photo into a 2" diameter circle and the outer card stock into 2 pieces of 2.5" diameter circle.

The lace is glued using all purpose glue. As it is a circle, making little pleats make the work easier and neater. I have used the easiest of the paper quilling shapes - the coil. Alternate red and white quilled coils are used to make the border.You can use any shape you like.You can have a look at our older posts on Paper quilling for basic shapes. I added glitter to the coils to make them more festive.

Follow the step by step illustration to complete the project.


Give the ornament to your kid to hang it on his/her favorite spot. Every-time my daughter looks at this ornament she is so delighted and says " Mommy made it", "Nice".Believe me it is the best compliment you can get for your craft project.

This project is worth a shot this Christmas. Happy crafting and Merry Christmas to you all!

Tip: Photo ornaments are better with pictures of close up faces.