Bookpage Ball Ornaments

I'm the type of person who likes to switch up her holiday decor every year... This can get expensive! Not to mention having to find space to store all the new stuff I but every year...

This year since the interior has been slowly getting a new, lighter, more rustic/French country look, of course my holiday decor had to follow suit! 

The first step was picking up a new tree! I'd been craving either a white or flocked one for a while now and after weighing the pros and cons, I decided a flocked tree would be a better investment cause I probably wouldn't be "over it" in a few years.  Of course, the one I picked out was much fuller and a bit taller than the old tree.  Couple that with that fact that I wanted to keep the ornament colors pretty muted and monochromatic in whites, silvers and golds and that left a big gap in my ornament stash. 

While I have picked up a few new ones that will work with any color scheme, I figured it couldn't hurt to make some new ones out of some very old, inexpensive ornaments I haven't used in about 6 years....

So, first up was simple Bookpage Ball Ornaments!  

While super messy, these weren't hard to create by any means. 

Here's what you need: 

-ball ornaments to repurpose

-ModPodge 

-paint brush

- something to cover your work surface

-old books (sheet music would also be amazing but I didn't have any handy) 

-scissors

1. Remove the hanging hardware from your ball ornament. A step that might be good to do, but I didn't take, would be to give your ornaments a light coat of white paint so that no color will show through- I didn't care too much so I opted out.  

Start ripping the pages out of the old romance novels your mom got from a small town library closing sale, specifically for you to use for projects. Cut each page into strips.  

Depending on the size and shape of your ornaments, it might be helpful to rip smaller pieces so they lay flatter on the round ornaments, up to you.

2. Dip your paintbrush in the ModPodge and apply a think later on your ornament.  Lay your page strips on the glue areas. Add more glue and strips,overlapping and changing directions of piece placement as it suits you! 

 

3. Once everything is nice and covered, give the whole piece a nice light coat of ModPodge to make sure everything is nice and stuck down and seal it like a top coat. You can either buy glossy or matte ModgePosge, mine is matte. This worked well for me since I wanted a more vintage look, but either would work! 

Tip: I worked on several at a time. I would do half the ornament, then let it dry and then do the other half and continue that way. 

4. Once ornament is dry, put hanging hardware back on and hang on your tree! 

I really love them and will be making many more to add to the other trees around the house! 

I know these have been around forever but they are perfect for this year's decor!

Check back tomorrow for more DIY decor!