I found these little organza bags in the wedding area of the dollar store (six for a dollar). I thought I could do something with them, so I picked them up. I also have this jar that I had put some dried rose petals, little pinecones, leaves, miscellany and a bag of storebought potpourri someone gave my wife.

I placed some of the interesting items in each of the bags. Because they are orgnanza, you can clearly see what is inside each of them.

Simply hang them on the tree and you are good to go. If you don’t have a ton of ornaments, making a ton of these wouldn’t break the bank and I think they’re pretty classy looking.

Ex amore victoria!
Ryan

I first saw this type of paper bead in a library book, but instructions for making paper beads abound on the web. In fact, there are a number of African groups, including these women in Uganda, that make paper beads to earn a living and get out of the slums. If you don’t want to roll a lot of paper yourself, you definitely could order some from them.

Once I saw these beads, I thought, “Wouldn’t those make an awesome garland for a Christmas tree." Here we go:

Find full color adds in magazines and slice them into triangles. Mine were 2 inches on the base, but you can experiment with width and length. Once I had them rolled, with about an inch left, I added a strip of glue and finished rolling. Any excess glue was rubbed over the surface as it dries clear.

I used a knitting needle to wrap the paper around, but the Ugandans use a sewing needle. It depends on the size of the hole you want. I’m going to string these onto twine, so I need a pretty big hole.

Here are some different beads that came from various ad spreads. You want a lot of color.

You can put 2 coats of varnish on these for a wood bead look, but I was happy with them and since no one will be wearing them, they didn’t need the extra protection.

And here they are strung and placed on the Christmas tree:

I’m going to do some experiments with homemade paper in the future as well, so stay posted.

Ex amore victoria!
Ryan