Ornament keepsake

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
these  beautiful Christmas ornaments actually have a sad story; my mom passed away on August 24 so when I was going through her belongings I found her favorite Christmas shirt. *see picture below she is wearing  the shirt  12/31/13 for a New Years party - told you it was her favorite .I didn't have the heart to get rid of the shirt so instead I decided to turn it into ornaments for all my siblings and my daughters. This is a wonderful keepsake that can be passed down to my grand kids

IN MEMORY OF MY MOM - GABRIELA MARIA TERESA aka Mima 1928 - 2014 Love you mom.

BELOW IS STEP BY STEP ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN ORNAMENTS

SUPPLIES (STYRO FOAM BALLS/MATERIAL (no jersey) /RIBBON/ AND A HOT GLUE GUN)

Cut all your material into 3x3 squares or you and actually cut them different size because I change it up as I go along depending on how much gap I have between one hole and the other some might nee more material   and once you've cut all your material,  throw them in a clean plastic container for easy access

you will need a barbecue skewer and right before I start to glue them I spread out like 30 squares of fabric in your work area trust me you have you Styrofoam ball in one hand and when you try to pick up a square from the pile there are 3 or 4 stuck together. I also do it to have a view of all the different size material because I might want to jump to a different size.

make a v shape metal wire needle 

you will need decorative thick thread to lace thru the middle of the Styrofoam ball, The way I did it was by inserting the skewer thru the middle of the Styrofoam ball and all the way out the other side.  With the  metal wire I thread it thru and that will become your lace to hang the ornament from the tree as well as a tassel in the bottom. FYI - to keep the tassel from falling off the 1st set of squares I did were around the top and bottom of the ball very tight and close to the tassel so the hot glue would hold it in place (see 2nd picture down)

NEXT STEP: YOU PLACE A DAB OF HOT GLUE IN ONE OF THE HOLES, PLACE A SQUARE OF THE MATERIAL OVER IT AND PUSH IT IN  WITH THE SKEWER, YOU  WILL REPEAT THIS STEP OVER AND OVER TILL YOU COVER THE ENTIRE BALL.
final step: ON THE BOTTOM TASSEL I ADDED MY MOM'S NICK NAME "mima" WITH BEADS -- SEE PICTURES BELOW.

Thanksgiving geo mesh wreath

Starts off with this type of metal wreath,  got this one at the Dollar Tree

THEY HAVE THIS WREATH AT HOBBY LOBBY FOR $99.00 AND UP, AT MICHAEL'S FOR $140.00 AND UP, AND ON E BAY FOR $50.00 AND UP ...  I MADE THIS ONE FOR  UNDER $30.00 AND  MINE IS  WAY NICER,

BELOW IS A LIST OF THINGS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE ONE:

1.  metal wreath = DOLLAR TREE
2. geomesh = Michael's /HOBBY LOBBY (like $9,00 I made more than one wreath)
3. ribbons/burlap ribbon, etc = MICHAEL'S / HOBBY LOBBY
4. pipe cleaners = DOLLAR TREE
5. hot glue = Michael's/ HOBBY LOBBY
6. decorations = DOLLAR TREE 
7. flowers = DOLLAR TREE

start with your first set of either geo mesh or in this case I started with burlap wired ribbon about 5 inches thick

went around the outside of the wreath making 4 inch scallops and securing it with the pipe cleaners

this is the geo mesh I used

also used this purple burlap mesh

I like to have 3 or more ribbon options

fall flowers (from Dollar Tree)

pine-cones from Dollar Tree 

Fall leaves from Dollar Tree

Fall pumpkins from Dollar Tree

sign in the middle I got at Michael s on sale for under $5.00

here is what it looks like with the 3 types of ribbon - 2 burlaps and the orange one is geo mesh, don't worry about the pipe cleaners you will cut them later 

Now I add my final big decorative wire ribbon

I finished it off with 2 other ribbons on each pipe cleaner

I secure all pipe cleaners tight and cut off the extra amounts and I hot glued a flower on each one

TAA-DAA final wreath