Hi all!
Today I will show you how to make beautiful room decor using branches and balls of thread. This decor is much cheaper than store-bought ones, but in no way inferior to them in beauty.
We will need:
- Fresh willow branches;
- The branches are thicker;
- Aerosol paint in a can;
- Acrylic paint;
- PVA glue;
- Thick threads;
- Balloons;
- Acrylic lacquer.
Step 1.
Step 2.
We paint our thread balls with spray paint.
Step 3.
Then, you need to clear the willow twigs of leaves.
Step 4.
When the foliage is cleaned, we collect the rods into a bundle and, placing one edge of them against a flat tube or stick (in this case a mop was used), fix the bundle with tape. Then we wind the rods in a spiral along the stick, periodically fixing them with tape. Let the rods dry. It took me 3 days.
Step 5.
After working with willow branches, you need to remove the bark from the thicker branches. After which you can dry them the same way.
Step 6
The willow twigs have dried and now you need to remove them from the stick, and then paint them with aerosol paint, since painting them with acrylic will be very difficult and time-consuming (here the color is the same as for balls of thread).
Step 7
Thick branches, also after drying, must be treated sandpaper and paint them acrylic paint, and after drying, cover it with acrylic varnish.
Step 8
Now that everything is dry, we put our branches in a vase, distributing them beautifully and putting balls of thread on the ends of the thicker branches.
There you go! It turned out very amazing, in my opinion.
In every home where there are small children, the main task when decorating the Christmas tree is, first of all, its safety. These little playful creatures not only strive to remove all the shiny things from the branches, but also taste them, especially if they are teething. And here undeservedly forgotten retro jewelry can come to the aid of parents, in particular, Christmas decorations made of wood. They do not break, which eliminates the possibility of being injured by sharp fragments, and even if a child accidentally gnaws on such a toy, he still will not be able to bite through it and swallow the particles.
Shape and appearance wooden products can be very diverse: from simple snowflakes from twigs, to figurines of animals and birds. Everything depends only on the imagination and patience of adults who will create masterpieces, although older children can also be involved in the production of simple models. While dad is busy cutting and assembling, mom and daughter or son will paint the blanks.
So, what kind of wooden Christmas decorations can you make with your own hands to decorate your Christmas tree and give it an original look? We offer a brief selection of such jewelry.
My mother and I make delicate openwork balls from wicker
There is enough work for everyone in the New Year's workshop. Handicraft mothers can easily cope with the simplest preparation of balls and weave them from willow twigs. Such toys do not even need to be additionally painted; the airy structure of the balls will only emphasize their weightlessness, but if desired, the toys can be gilded or painted in different colors. To hang a wooden Christmas ball, just tie a small thread or satin ribbon to one of the sides. 
The ball will be neater and the vine will bend easier if, before weaving, the willow branches are first boiled for 30 minutes and the bark is removed from them.
Balloons made from wooden twigs
Another easy way do Christmas ball toys made of wood is useful if there is nowhere to get a vine. It can be completely replaced with ordinary thin twigs, cut or collected from any tree or shrub in a city or private garden. The toy is made in this way:
- First, a regular balloon is inflated.
- Then twigs are glued around it so that they touch each other.
- After the glue has dried, the ball is punched.
If the twigs are thick, it doesn’t matter, they can be easily cut into two parts.
Wooden balls from blank hemispheres
You can get very beautiful Christmas tree toys made of wood if you ask your dad to make blanks in the form of two halves of a ball. They are put together and painted to suit your taste. However, it is worth considering that such balls will have much more weight than openwork ones, and the branches under them may sag.
“Lighting” wooden stars on the Christmas tree
Wooden Christmas tree decorations in the shape of stars are no less beautiful from thin branches and vines. To do this you need:
- select five even twigs;
- cut them to the same length;
- fold in the shape of a star, fixing the ends at the points of contact with a thin wire;
- Wrap the inside of the star with willow vine.
If desired, the stars can be painted or varnished.
Charming round toys made from saw cuts
For those who like to draw, this manufacturing option is suitable Christmas tree decorations from wood cuts. You can find them after collecting firewood for the dacha, or you can make them yourself by sawing unnecessary tree branches of various thicknesses.
It is enough for the thickness of the round to be up to 1.5 cm.
The surface of the saw cut is decorated to your taste:
In order for such a wooden Christmas tree toy to last for many years, it is better to cover its surface with two layers of varnish. This will not only extend the life of the jewelry, but will also make it more attractive.
Charming wooden animals, birds and other figures
It’s not bad at all if you have a special machine at home, with which you can give wooden cuts any shape. Thus, Christmas trees, squirrels, horses, birds and even snowflakes are made from an ordinary block. 
They are sanded well so that the surface becomes perfectly smooth, and then a design is burned or painted on them. Although even without it, such a toy is very beautiful and looks as natural as possible. 
Handmade work is highly valued at all times, including today. A set of wooden Christmas tree decorations, made by yourself and beautifully packaged, will make a wonderful gift for the New Year holidays.
How to hang wooden toys on a Christmas tree?
The blanks are made, the paint has dried, the toys are ready, and then the question arises - how to attach them to the New Year's beauty? There may be several options for holders for Christmas tree toys. We suggest using the most common ones:
If there are no holes on a wooden Christmas tree toy, they are drilled or an additional small ring is first screwed into the figurine to attach the holder.
As you can see, making Christmas tree decorations from wood with your own hands is not at all difficult, and even children can make some models without the help of their parents. Such decorations are not only environmentally friendly, but also contain a bit of the soul invested by their creators, because when working with wood, the master gives it a part of himself, as if breathing life into the tree. Our ancestors believed in this, and we will believe in it too. Let your Christmas tree come to life fairy-tale characters, wooden in appearance, but with a living soul, and will attract only happiness into the house. Happy New Year holidays!
Creating masterpieces - video
Turn on your imagination and create - video
Hi all! Many probably already know that I really love technologically advanced, versatile decor that can be assembled quickly. It comes in very handy when I’m preparing for fairs or when I receive a lot of orders. Today I want to talk about wicker balls that I use in candy bouquets.
I wanted to make balls as a quicker alternative to pine cones and berries. Decorating with wicker balls has several useful features that help not only to arrange a bouquet, but also to balance the colors.
- Choose the desired color and the ball in the bouquet can become an imitation of a cone, New Year's ball for a Christmas tree or berries.
- You can make a braided ball from the same color as the main flowers in the bouquet. And the main color of the composition will also receive support in the decor.
- The spherical shape fits perfectly into any bouquet. And due to fast production With such balls you can improve the layout and fill empty spaces.
- The decor can be made of any color and size, as well as from different materials.
- Well, an important point - the decor turns out to be super inexpensive!
Making a ball For work we will need napkins, glue and corrugated paper "Cartotecnica Rossi". I took No. 562, but you can choose absolutely any color. For example, Balls made from orange paper will resemble tangerines, balls from red paper will resemble small apples or Christmas balls, balls from brown paper will resemble pine cones, and balls from pale blue paper will resemble snowflakes.
From paper we need to cut out one rectangle for the core 3x10 cm and three strips 50 cm long and 8-10 mm wide.
We roll all three strips into a bundle.
The tourniquet must be rolled tightly enough so that it is tight and does not unravel.
Now let's take a rectangular piece of paper. Exactly in the middle, fold it half a turn. It turns out to be a bow.
Use your fingers to stretch each half of the bow.
Feel free to stretch the paper further. The halves should take on a round shape.
So that the middle of the ball is not empty and holds its shape, we fill it with a ball from a napkin. To make it, just take one napkin, crumple it and roll it into a ball. I got a ball with a diameter of about 2 cm.
Now we put the ball into the rounded halves of the bow.
We glue the edges so that the napkin does not peek out.
We will also glue the bottom to close the ends. corrugated paper
Now we twist the ends at the base so that the napkin ball inside shrinks a little and takes on a more rounded shape.
Let's cut off the excess paper.
We start decorating with strands with a drop of glue at the base of the ball, where we just cut off the excess ends.
Glue one end of the rope and begin to wrap the ball.
We place the tourniquet on the ball in the same way as one usually winds threads into a ball.
When the length of the tourniquet ends, glue its tip.
Then we take a new tourniquet and continue working.
The ugly protruding tip needs to be trimmed.
Glue the tip with a small drop of glue.
And with the tip of the scissors we carefully hide it under the adjacent tourniquet.
I wound the tourniquets quite tightly and all three of them came off. If you did it more freely, two may be enough. We fasten the third tourniquet in the same way and hide the tip. Our ball is ready! Let's now figure out how to secure it in a bouquet. 
Methods of attaching to a bouquet The ball can be added to completely different bouquets, both with a static and dynamic arrangement, and in spherical bouquets, and in elongated ones.
In tabletop compositions, the decor is attached to a skewer and toothpick, and in hand-made ones - to a wire.
Apply a drop of glue to the base of the braided ball.
We firmly insert the toothpick into the glue so that it gets between the strands.
The wire attachment is very similar. Make a small loop at the end of the wire.
Place a drop of glue between the strands at the base of the ball.
We insert a loop of wire into this place so that the fastening is not visible.
The mounts are ready and the decor can be safely added to bouquets and compositions!
Material capabilities
As I already said, you can choose absolutely any color and size and imitate berries, fruits, cones, nuts... For small sizes, there is no need to prepare a napkin core. We simply roll up the ropes like a ball of knitting yarn. 
You can also experiment with the material! Paper, thick threads, yarn, sisal, wire, even from natural herbs! In the photo below I made the decor from linden bast.
Experiment, create and share your decor in the comments!
Your Maria Uskova
Factory new Year decoration can never replace the warmth and sincerity of products made with my own hands, and even if the homemade hand-made product will not be entirely ideal, but your whole soul will be put into it, and this is worth a lot! Today we will show you how to make Christmas balls with your own hands, so that you won’t be ashamed to decorate the interior of your beloved home with them. In addition to creative process You can involve children, firstly, such work is useful for the development of children's motor skills, secondly, any common cause greatly unites, and thirdly, together you will have time to make much more unusual Christmas tree balls.
One of the legends says that the first Christmas balls appeared in Germany in 1848. In those days, Christmas trees were decorated with real apples, but 1848 was a bad harvest, and local glassblowers urgently created glass “apples” that successfully replaced real ones. Local residents appreciated the idea of glass decorations, and so they gradually replaced fresh apple candies.
Christmas balls made from newspaper tubes.
We take a sheet of magazine, twist it into a bundle, if required, you can create several bundles by gluing them together. Then we take a foam ball, glue the end of a magazine strip on top, and begin winding around the perimeter of the ball, as in the photo below, gluing each layer with polymer glue.
Christmas balls made of felt.
On paper we draw patterns of flowers, one larger than the other smaller. We take tracing paper, lay it on pink felt fabric and outline a large flower, you will need a lot of such flowers, so we create the required number of them. Then we take white felt, put tracing paper on it and trace a small flower, you will need exactly the same amount of them as pink flowers. We cut out all the details with scissors, sew two flowers together, and glue a bead in the center. Using this pattern we sew the rest of the flowers. We glue the resulting flowers using a glue gun to a foam ball.
DIY Christmas balls made from paper flowers.
Using a hole punch with a flower tip, we create a variety of purple and white paper flowers. White flower put it in purple, bend the edges to the center, then use pins with bead heads to pin them to the foam ball.
New Year's balls in rosettes made of corrugated paper.
We create miniature roses from corrugated paper (the process of creating roses is captured in the photo below). We tie the stem of the flower with thread so that the bud does not fall apart, cut off the long stems closer to the threads, and glue the flowers using a glue gun or instant glue to the surface of a foam ball. We fill the gaps with large beads.
New Year's balls made of sequins.
Each sequin needs to be secured to the surface of a foam ball using sewing pins (the kind seamstresses use). Sequins need to be pinned overlapping.
Christmas balls decorated with beads.
On a pin with a beaded head, we string beautiful beads of different sizes, and stick each nail into the surface of a foam ball. Don't forget to glue or pin the ribbon on the pendant.
How to make Christmas balls from paper.
First way. According to the template presented below, we cut out many parts, which we connect together as in the photo below, forming a ball.
Second way. We cut the paper into strips (4 pieces), lay them crosswise, connect them in the center with a nail, connect the ends together from the bottom, forming a ball, and fasten them with a stapler. We create a pendant from a rope, which we attach to a nail.
Third way. We cut the paper into circles, bend the sides of the circles towards the center, it looks like a triangle. Glue the parts together to form a ball.
Christmas tree balls made from cinnamon sticks.
We cut the cinnamon sticks into pieces of equal length, each of which is glued with polymer glue to the surface of the foam ball.
Christmas tree balls decorated with paper scales.
Using a large round hole punch, we create many circles, which we glue with an overlap to the surface of the foam ball using a glue gun.
DIY Christmas balls made from branches.
Let's make a ball (it's even better to take a thin rubber ball of a round shape that can be deflated and inflated), cut the dry branches into small pieces with pruners, apply the branches to the surface of the ball and glue them together with a glue gun. When the glue dries, deflate the ball and pull it out through one of the wide holes.
How to make a New Year's ball from threads.
We inflate the ball, wrap it with threads, then thoroughly soak it with PVA glue, hang it in a dry place to dry the glue. As soon as the glue dries, pierce the ball with a needle and pull it out through one of the holes. To make a ball of thread look more impressive, immediately after applying the glue, you can generously sprinkle it with coarse glitter.
How to make a “chocolate” ball.
We take any unnecessary ball, cover it with glue from a gun, creating spectacular drips, when the glue dries, paint the ball chocolate-colored with spray paint. After the paint has dried, cover the spectacular chocolate drip with a layer of PVA glue and sprinkle with large white glitter. We glue red decorative berries and twigs on top.
How to make a ball out of rope.
We inflate the medical fingertip, tie it with thread, soak the rope in PVA glue, and wind the rope around the fingertip ball. We leave the product to dry, after which we glue a hat on top for hanging. Details on creating such a ball are in the article.
How to decorate a ball with acorn caps.
Paint the foam ball with acrylic paint Brown color, we take polymer glue, generously lubricate the acorn cap with it and glue it to the surface of the ball, according to this scheme we completely cover the ball with acorn caps. Finally, gaps can be masked with beads and silver glitter particles.
How to make a ball of pine cones.
Take a tight one garbage bag, place cotton wool tightly inside and tie the bag. We separate the tops from the cones and glue them to the surface of the ball using polymer glue or a glue gun.
How to decorate a ball with pine cone scales.
Use pliers to separate the scales from the cone. Then we take a foam ball and, using a glue gun, glue all the flakes overlapping to its entire surface.
How to decorate a ball with decorative balls.
Such synthetic padding balls are sold in departments for creativity; we glue them to the surface of the foam ball using a glue gun, alternating simple white balls and shiny balls.
How to decorate a ball with lace.
We cut out details from lace, for example, flowers, and glue the flowers to the surface of the foam ball using PVA glue. We paint the ball with white acrylic paint, then bronze, after which we take a sponge and go over the surface of the ball with blotting movements. The surface acquires an aged effect; all that remains is to glue the hat and pendant and tie a beautiful ribbon.
10 ideas - DIY Christmas tree decorations (video)
How to make Christmas tree decorations (video master class 21 ideas):
Today we showed how to make Christmas balls with your own hands, without unnecessary financial and time costs, such beautiful decorations They will definitely not go unnoticed, and your friends will certainly appreciate all your efforts.
