Christmas Tree Decorations

A few years ago I bought 150 styropor balls on sale and over the next few days I´ll be showing you how I´ve decorated them. The ones pictured here are patchwork Christmas balls. When I make bags and pillow covers lots of fabric scraps are left over - this is a great way to use them up. I use wallpaper paste (which I always have mixed and ready in glass bottles), a small paintbrush for spreading the paste and a 5x5 cm (2 inch) cardboard template to cut my fabric squares the same size. The balls are easier to handle if you put a toothpick in one end, then you can hold them without touching the actual ball and pierce them onto a styropor board for drying. Cover the whole ball with paste and position fabric squares onto the ball, slightly overlapping, until the whole ball is covered with fabric. Brush over the fabric squares carefully with paste so as not to move them, this stops the squares from fraying and gives the balls a nice shine when they´re dry. Leave the balls to dry overnight. Cut short lengths of ribbon, overlap the ends and attach to the end of the ball that the toothpick was in by dipping a needle in water based glue and sticking it through the ribbon and into the ball. Make sure you use enough glue so the needle stays put and use only a water based glue, anything else will eat away at the styropor leaving a big hole. HAVE FUN!!!