Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

Do you remember ribbon candy? I remember its being in our stockings every year, and how I loved it, not so much for the taste, but because it looked so pretty. I think that’s why, when I suddenly realized I was supposed to mail a handmade ornament one morning, I went straight to my ribbon stash.

I’d seen ribbon candy ornaments, made from real ribbon, but never bothered to read the instructions, so what you’ll get here is my own particular twist on something you may already have seen.

What you’ll need:

• Striped ribbon
• Wire strung with seed beads (available on spools, already strung, in a variety of colors)
• A small ribbon rose in a coordinating color
• One or two beads
• A pendant or pendant bead
• A glue gun and glue

Take a length of ribbon about twenty inches long, and fold it in half, so the stripes are bright on both sides.  Now fold it, accordion-style, down the length, being careful not to crease it, in folds about an inch wide. When you’ve folded the ribbon, hold the centers of the folds together, and use a punch about the size of the seed beads to punch through all the layers. (Another way to do that would be to mark along the center line of the ribbon at one inch intervals, and then punch through each mark.)

Now take a length of bead-strung wire and thread through all the holes, making a loop at one end, and on the other stringing one or two beads and then the pendant. Bring the loose end up and twist to secure.

At this point, the ribbon will be quite springy. To keep it from springing apart, put a dot of hot glue at each place where the ribbon folds touch each other. At the top of the ornament, use another dot of glue to secure the ribbon rose, and you’re done!