Three Easy Christmas Ornaments to Make with Your Family

Making Christmas ornaments with friends and family are one of the joys of the holiday. There is nothing like the joy and thrill you get when you unpack a Christmas ornament that your child made or the memories that come flooding back when it's time to decorate the house and tree with Christmas ornaments that you made with your own hands. With that in mind, here are three easy Christmas ornaments that you can make to save money and add that sentimental touch to your holiday season.

Ribbon Fans

Materials: Wired ribbon, pipe cleaners (ones that coordinate with your ribbon look best, or if you don't have pipe cleaner, you can use twist ties from your grocery store)

Cut a 8-inch length of the wired ribbon. Fold the ribbon as you would do if you're making a very small paper fan with the wires on the sides. I think it looks best if the folds are small - approximately ¼ inch. Rotate the ribbon 90° so that the wire edge is now on the bottom. Take the pipe cleaner and wrap it around the bottom of the fan about a ¼-inch from the edge. Twist the pipe cleaner in the back to secure the fan. Leave enough pipe cleaner so that you can also use it to attach to the tree - about an inch on both sides. Cut off the excess pipe cleaner. Spread out the fan and attach to the Christmas tree.

Card Globes

Materials: Old Christmas cards, paper (brass) fasteners, ribbon

This craft comes courtesy of Martha Stewart and is a great method to recycle your old Christmas cards that you find are too pretty to throw away. Cut the cards into narrow strips - the longer the strip, the bigger your ornament will be. You'll need about 8-20 strips, depending on how much space you want between each strip. Stack them up and punch a hole in both ends of the strips using a 3-hole punch. Put the paper fasteners through both holes. Bend the strips into the shape of the letter "C" and fan the strips out to form a globe. To hang the ornament on the tree, wrap one end of a ribbon around one fastener, form a loop, and then wrap the other end around the fastener again. When Christmas is over, you can easily store this ornament by taking off one fastener and bring the strips back into one stack again.

Source: (Recycled Ornaments How-To http://www.marthastewart.com/article/recycled-ornaments-how-to?autonomy_kw=globes%20christmas&rsc=header_7)

More Card Ornaments

Materials: Old Christmas cards, glue, ribbon

This ornament comes courtesy of Good Housekeeping. Cut three cards in the same size and shape - circles, diamonds, whatever you like. Fold each shape in half lengthwise with the Christmas card on the inside of the fold. Glue one-half of the back of one card to the back-half of another card. So, if you're starting with the right half of the card, you would glue the back of that card to the back of the left-side of the next card. Attach the last card in the same manner. Punch a hole in the top and thread a ribbon through it to hang on your Christmas tree. Voilá!

(Homemade Christmas Ornaments - Christmas Craft Ornaments http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/holiday-ideas/homemade-christmas-ornaments)

There you have it. Three easy Christmas ornaments to make with your family. Enjoy, and here's hoping you have a wonderful holiday season.