Home for Christmas

Hi! My name is Cindy Spence and I am super excited to be a guest design team member for Paper Maniac. I have been inspired by all the neat products that are out there and have been working nonstop to make all different kinds of ornaments.


Today I am going to show you a really unique way to use your shaped satin ribbon. This has turned into one of my absolutely favorite ornaments.

Start with using a small to medium sized balloon; however big you want your ornament.

Tape an end of the satin leaves ribbon to the balloon using a small piece of tape.

Then just work the ribbon around the ballon any way you want, using as much ribbon as you want. Just be sure to leave enough room on one end for an opening for our bird later on.

Tuck the end piece under a piece of ribbon.

Next apply Stiffy fabric stiffener to the ribbon.

Unfortunately, I am an impatient person and I wanted the ribbon a little stiffer. I know if I had waited for the ribbon to completely dry, I would have reached my desired results. Instead, I decided to also apply Mod Podge to the ribbon. What can I say? I'm an experimenter. This definitely worked in obtaining the desired stiffness of the ribbon I was looking for. However, it does make things a little more difficult when it comes to removing the dried ribbon from the deflated balloon.

After the dried ribbon form is completed, add rafia to the inside of the ribbon form.

Finally, add your bird. I had taken this little wood bird form that I had lying around the house and painted him into a stylized cardinal.

Affix the bird to the inside of the ribbon nest with hot glue. Attach additional leaf ribbon to the top to use as your ornament hanger.

I hope you enjoyed this little ornament. I will be back in a few days with something new. I just started a blog for this guest designer gig, and I would love it if you came to visit and left me a little note!