If you are like me, you have lots of extra craft supplies laying around your home. I will admit, I am a bit of a craft hoarder... especially when it comes to fabric. So, I decided to use up some of those materials I have taking up space in my office and create something fun for the holidays!
You probably have most of the things you need at your home too. I only had to run to my local craft store to grab some of the styrofoam balls (not something I typically have unless one of the kids has been making a solar system diorama).
Here's what you need to make some of your own:
- a few styrofoam balls (I used about 10)
- strips of fabric, ribbon, twine, or rope
- a hot glue gun
- glue sticks (for your hot glue gun)
- scissors
- and about an hour!
I don't have pictures of the process, but I will explain how I did it. Then, if you are a visual learner, you can hop over to my YouTube channel and check out the video that shows step by step how to create these.
Drop a dab of hot glue on your styrofoam ball. Grab your fabric and tack down one of the ends. Then pull slightly to try and keep the fabric flat as you wrap it around. Add a dab of glue here and there to hold it in place (I find it especially helpful if you are going to be changing direction as you roll the fabric). Cover all of the styrofoam. Once you get to the end, you can either glue the end on the ball and leave it as it, or tuck the raw end under one of your pieces and then glue it in place -- so you don't see the end of your fabric.
Repeat.
That's it! Here are a few tricks I discovered along the way...
- It's easiest to work on smaller cuts of fabric. Mine were anywhere from 18-24 inches long. Anything longer than that was hard to keep flat as you wrapped it.
- Thicker fabrics work better. I used canvas, upholstery linen, grain sack, and quilters cotton. Everything but the quilters cotton turned out beautiful. The cotton is just a little too thin to hide the glue dots. The other, heavier weight fabrics worked beautifully!
- Cotton ribbon is a great way to add pops of color or make them seasonal. I used a cotton Merry Christmas ribbon that we carry in the shop seasonally. It's a thicker ribbon and because it is 100% cotton it wraps so nicely. You can find it here.
- You can also use twine. I wrapped one of my styrofoam balls with some jute twine. I didn't glue it down to begin. Instead, I simply wrapped it around as you would when creating a ball of yarn. Once I had covered all the styrofoam I added a small amount of glue just to hold down the end of my twine.
- Macrame rope is another great option... but it's tricky. It looks so good, if you can do it right. I decided to wrape mine around in three different directions gluing as I went. (You can see the finished product better up close in the video.)
- Kids can do it too! Just be sure you have a very low temp glue gun, and that they are familiar with how to use it. It's a great way to include them in your decorating... and they LOVE to help!
Have fun crafting!!!
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