Thursday, November 29, 2007

Christmas Card Ornaments

This is based on a geometry lesson I did back in my teaching days. It's a great way to use up old Christmas cards. I also did a couple with tea boxes.


Materials:
Christmas cards, or postcards, or tea boxes (I used Celestial Seasonings--so pretty!)
Cereal box to use as template (or card stock--something heavy & stiff)
scissors
glue (stick, dots, or white glue)
compass
ruler
pencil

darning or embroidery needle

yarn or ribbon to hange the ornament

Determine how big you want the ornaments to be. The green ones I did are 3 inches in diameter when completed. The circles I drew for those are 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Essentially, you're just putting together a bunch of circles. You don't have to use a compass, but here are the geometry directions:


So this is the back of one of the Christmas cards. I made a template of a circle (with cereal box, but you could also make the circles with the compass). I also made a template out of the triangle. After I drew them all in, I scored the triangles with the compass tip because you'll be folding them.
Next you cut out all the circles, bend them and start fitting them together. When it's assembled, poke a hole (I used my compass, but you could also use a hole puncher) to fit the ribbon to hang up your ornament. Finished ornaments pictured below. The one on the right used 4 circles fitted together. The others all used 8. You could also do 6.


MERRIE CHRISTMAS!

6 comments:

Alexa said...

I have always wondered how to do those. I can see using all kinds of scrap goodies, trashy tabloids, and whatnot to make those.

Hali Chambers said...

Thanks for stopping by, Alexa. I love your work and your blog ROCKS! And yes, lots of possibilities. I have my eye on an empty tissue box. It's next! I had a heckuva time uploading the photos, and I'm glad my directions made sense. :-) H.

Margot Potter said...

Hali

These are inspired...and I love the recycled part.

Fabulous just like you!

xoxo
Margot

Hali Chambers said...

Thanks, sweetie! You're the BEST! :-) H.

Katia said...

wow i have to do thisfor a geometry project that my teacher assigned :P and its so much fun. i havent finished yet cuz i didn't know some of the stps and this actully helpped :) thank you!

Hali Chambers said...

Hi Katia!
So glad I could help. This is one of those activities that makes math FUN & PRETTY! :-) Hali