These beautiful DIY paper baubles are super easy to make from any leftover paper you have lying around…and because anyone can make them, they’re one of our favorite DIY Christmas decorations.
You can use these leftover paper decorations to hang individually on a tree, create a simple mobile or string them together into a garland.
They can be made in any size and decorated as simply or as intricately as you like.
Make These Christmas Paper Baubles DIY Style With Leftover Paper
What you’ll need
- Any pieces of leftover paper – try magazine pages or paper bags
- Scissors
- Paper Glue
- Paint or marker pens for decorating the paper
Step 1
Take a rectangle of paper of any size, and cut it in half.
Then cut each half into three so you end up with six roughly even rectangular strips.
It really won’t matter if they’re not perfect.
Step 2
Cut both ends of each strip into a curve to create lozenge or oval shapes and then decorate the paper.
You could try potato stamping like I have here or use coloured pencils or crayons.
The final decorations will have more impact if you focus your design on the edges of one side and the middle on the other.
You’ll then get a lovely flash of colour from the edges of the side that faces the inside of your bauble.
The materials are free so you get to experiment and try things out!
Step 3
Next you need to glue the tips of each strip together to create six teardrop shapes.
If your paper is a bit thicker it works well to curl them around something while you glue the tips – this stops the paper from creasing and keeps that lovely shape.
Step 4
Glue the tips of the teardrops together in two sets of three.
Then attach these two pieces together by slightly overlapping their tips (overlap them by about 1cm).
You can now go around and attach the centre of each ‘petal’ to its neighbour with a dot of glue.
To maintain the shape it’s best to attach them at their mid-point rather than too close to the top of the curve.
Make as many as you want and you’re ready to hang them up and decorate your home!
Once you get in the right mindset, it’s amazing what you can make with simple things you have lying around at home, or can dig out of the recycling bin! It’s also incredibly relaxing.
Why not get some friends round for some mindful crafting and see what other shapes and decoration ideas you can come up with?
Art Star founder Jo Hill is on a mission to make it easy for you to create beautiful and sustainable paper decorations for your home.
Making the everyday a celebration with colourful paper star kits, freestyle papercraft kits and joyful paper bunting! Find her at @art_star_london or at Art Star’s website.
Try some of our other festive DIY makes
- DIY Crafts At Home
- DIY Wrapping Paper
- How To Make Origami Stars
- DIY Christmas Cards
- How To Make Natural Place Settings
