DIY: a Christmas flower

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I am a big believer that Christmas decor should never adorn our four walls until after Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean the crafting remnants are absent from our tabletops and countertops.  So, this weekend, the crafting begun, just in time to kick off the Thanksgiving spirit, which really is a precursor to the holiday season.

I won't be doing a lot of crafting in the ornament department this year, as they are aplenty, sitting patiently in plastic crates in our attic, marked down to 75% from last post-Christmas sale 11 months earlier.  But of all the things I found, I did not find a single tree topper worth bringing home.  So, I am making one.

Source: issuu.com via Elle B on Pinterest

Inspired by this little number in Emily Henderson's Holiday Guide, I set out to make my own, in the classic red color palette to go with the rest of our decor, peppered with some pink to update it and give it a bit of texture.

Using her very brief description in the magazine, I decided to improvise the rest.  The result was surprisingly amazing.  I love.

Here's a description of how I made it.

>>Punch a bunch of 3" circles out of cardstock paper in coordinating colors of choice.  I used 5 different colors in white, pink, magenta, red and deep red.  I varied it up a bit more by having more circles in deep red than the light colors.  I put them all in a box and mix them up, and from there just haphazardly pick them up as I go along, not being picky of what I pick of the bunch.

>>Purchase a white 5" styrofoam ball from craft store.  

>>Cut the ball in half.  I used a bread knife from our kitchen because that was the closest thing within my reach that would do the job. It's a little rough around the edges, but that's okay, as it is going to get covered up.

>>Using the same breadknife, I sliced into the half-circled ball a bunch of criss-crossed patterns, in haphazard directions, about a quarter of an inch deep, like so.  Don't overthink it, just let it happen.

 

>>I turn the ball around, and glue a few paper circles on the back of the styrofoam dome, overlapping each other, in varying colors.  

 

>>This is when the fun starts.  With a hot gun, I apply some glue on the edge of the circle and while it is still hot, insert it into the ball through the cuts.

 

>>Continue to do so until the entire ball is covered.  

>>As much as I love it, it looks a little small, so I turned it back around and hot glue another round to the back to make the circle a little bigger. 

 

>>Clip on a couple of doves (right onto the "petal" in the middle and top of the circle) and voila! you got yourself a tree topper.

   (Since it is so light (made of styrofoam and paper after all, I don't believe that it will need anything to secure it to the tree, and should be able to hang onto the tree branches.)

So here's the dilemma, I have an extra half of the styrofoam ball, along with way too many paper circles because I overestimated how many I would need, and plenty of hot glue.  So, I decided to make another one, not knowing how I would use it.  

But after I finished it, it came to me that it would make a really great "wreath".  And to make it hang, I took a cardboard circle, tie a piece of ribbon onto it for hanging, and hot glue it onto the back of the wreath.  

Voila, hang it on the wall for a touch of festivity to coordinate with the tree. 

Enjoy!