Twiddle-Lee

Finally… I started crafting for my upcoming craft show! I’ve only just started, and I only have five weeks to go… I work better under pressure though. ;0) Anyway, I told myself I will try to use up all the supplies I have on hand instead of going out and buying a bunch of stuff; and I just so happened to have everything I needed to make these cute snowball ornaments!

They were pretty easy to make, and fun too! I took photos along the way, so I’ve decided to post a free tutorial for you on how to make them. Here’s what you need:

~Styrofoam balls (I like the larger 2.5″ ones best, but I only had two of those on hand, the rest were about 2″)
~Silver wire (sorry, I don’t know what gauge I used – I just used what I had… make sure its thick enough to hold its shape well, but thin enough to curl with your fingers)
~Joint Compound (you could probably use other items such as spackling – but my hubby had a huge bucket of the compound on hand! They both can be found in the painting section in the hardware store. PS the compound dries to a grayish color, so if you don’t want glitter, you may have to paint it white.)
~Mica Flakes (can be found on my website Rags-n-Tags or Crafty Avenue)
~Leaves and Berries (I got my little picks in the holiday floral section at JoAnns)
~Wire cutters, needle nose pliers, and a palette knife

First, cut a piece of wire about 7″ long; then use your pliers to start a curl at one end. I used my fingers to continue to curl it into a spiral shape. I’m sure there are special tools to do this, but I kind of like the messy bent shape using my fingers gets; makes it look more handmade! he he This spiral will be your “hook” to hang the ornament.

Next, insert the other end of the wire through your styrofoam ball from top to bottom. Don’t worry if you can’t get it straight through the center. No one will ever know! Bend the bottom of your wire into a little U shape hook, then push it up into the ball. You should now only be able to see the top wire with your swirl hook.

Next, prepare your berries and leaves by cutting them apart. Leave just a small section of the stem.

Use your palette knife to apply the compound to the top of your ball. Apply it rather thick so that you can’t see the texture of the styrofoam. Don’t worry about getting it smooth – how often do you see a perfectly smooth snowball? When you have the top covered, push a leaf stem into the top of the ball, then two of the berries. Leave the leaf sticking up for now (unlike the photo) so that you don’t get any compound on it by accident!

Finish covering the rest of the ball with the compound. (If only I had three hands to take a better pic of me applying the compound! lol)

While its still wet, sprinkle a generous amount of mica flakes over the entire ball. Be sure to do this over a bowl or a large paper so that you can collect what falls off and reuse it. I didn’t “push” the mica flakes into the compound, I just sprinkled mine on. If you’re picky about stray glitter falling off your ornament, you might want to pat it into the compound a bit. Then, hang your ornies to dry!

Don’t they look so pretty all lined up in a row!? (and notice all those bags of candy wrappers… hmmm, I wonder what those are for?) Let them dry overnight. Then, you can curl the leaf down to make it look nice. :)

I had more styrofoam balls than I did leaves, so I went ahead and put compound on the rest of them and left them plain without glitter or berries. Perhaps I’ll paint them bright white and put a snowman face on them or something! 

I hope you enjoy making these, I sure did! Happy Crafting!!

~Kristal