ribbon wrapped christmas ornament

Today I am going to teach you a little known fact about Christmas that I’ll bet you’ve never heard before. The seven swans-a-swimming and the eight maids-a-milking were actually all given by my true love (and your true love, too) on the same day. It turns out that our true love liked to wait ’til the last minute. Which is SUCH a coincidence, because I just happen to be doing my Twelve Days of Christmas Ornaments Day 7 and Day 8 DIY’s on the same day, too.

My last few ornament DIY’s have been more non-traditional colors and style, so today I wanted to make one that was totally Christmas-y. :)

This one is simple, too. And, it’s a great way to use up some leftover Christmas ribbon that you might have.

You’ll need:

  • A smooth styrofoam ball (I used a 3″)
  • Narrow ribbon. I used a little more than one 9 ft roll of  3/8″ wide ribbon. That is about as wide as I would go for a 3″ ball…any wider, and it won’t lay as flat on the ball. I also used a foot and a half or so of another ribbon to decorate the middle of the ornament, and for the hanger.
  • Craft glue
  • Fine sandpaper
  • Some sequins, seed beads, and a pearl head pin
If the styrofoam ball has a bumpy “equator” around the circumference, sand it down lightly so that it’s smooth.

 

styrofoam ball ornament
Starting at one of the “poles”, draw a thin line with your glue to the opposite side of the ball. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect; you will be covering the whole ball anyway.

 

glue styrofoam ball
Then, lay your ribbon on the glue, making sure it’s smooth and straight.

 

glue ribbon to styrofoam ball
Do the same to bring it back up around the ball to where you began:

 

glue ribbon all the way around ball
Now bring the ribbon down right beside your first line, just slightly overlapping the edges of the ribbon that is already glued down. (Put some glue on the ball first.)

 

overlap ribbon at edge
Cross over the first line of ribbon at the bottom of the ornament, before bringing the ribbon back up to the top:

 

overlap ribbon at bottom of ball
Continue doing this, working your way around the whole ball:

 

keep covering styrofoam ball with ribbon
When the ball is covered, glue the end of the ribbon securely at the top of the ball (so that you can cover the raw edge with the hanger).

 

glue end of ribbon
Put a little glue on the back of a piece of coordinating ribbon, and glue that around the center of the ornament:

 

glue ribbon around center of ornament
Make a hanger by creating a loop with another piece of ribbon, and pinning it to the top of the ornament with the pearl head pin and a sequin:

 

ribbon ornament hanger
Just to dress it up a little more, I added some gold seed beads and red sequins to straight pins…

 

sequin and beaded pins
And pinned them around the ornament just above and below the red ribbon:

 

pin sequins around ornament
All done! Simple and quick, but very festive.

 

ribbon wrapped handmade Christmas ornament

 

10 Comments

  1. Elaine on January 1, 2012 at 12:10 am

    There are a thousand possiblities with this one. I could use up some old ribbon and have to go out and buy new ones! LOL! Thanks for the step by step instructions.

    • ornamentgirl on January 1, 2012 at 3:25 am

      You’re welcome! Yes, this is a GREAT way to use up old ribbon…and an even BETTER excuse to buy more. (as if an excuse is needed!) ;D

      • Marian on May 17, 2022 at 8:44 am

        Thank you so much will try this soon. I love all your work your very talented ?

  2. Joelle on December 10, 2013 at 3:11 am

    My mom has a vintage kissing ball that is similar with mistletoe attached at the bottom…I am going to attempt to do the same with this ‘ornament’!

  3. […] The Wrapped Ribbon Ornament tutorial (used to make the 'ears') can be found HERE. […]

  4. Janette E TURNQUIST on March 10, 2019 at 11:42 am

    Love all your ornaments. Just bought the rosebud pattern e-book I have made over 100 ornaments and try to create a difference in each one. I am looking forward to trying the rosebud

  5. Katherine Mullins on May 6, 2020 at 4:14 pm

    Itching to try it! Have to get some more ribbon for the project.
    Thanks for the great instructions.

  6. Glenna Powell on May 16, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    I think it is beautiful and I can’t wait to try it sorry so late just now opened my emails

  7. Susan Muscio on May 20, 2021 at 5:29 pm

    This is so pretty and easy looking to do. Do I need to try this out.
    Thank you Staci

  8. Soly on May 21, 2021 at 12:49 pm

    Me encanta, es preciosa y fácil de hacer, muchas gracias por enseñar tus diseños

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