Day 18 of Christmas Crafting: Paper Orb Ornaments

Today at church, inspiration struck!  The decorations this year are beautiful, and I was drawn in immediately by these giant golden orb ornaments:

They reminded me of a blog post I read a while back that featured awesome metal chandeliers that looked much like these:

Source: http://www.houseofearnest.com/2011/08/01/before-and-after-office-light-fixture-and-my-diy-orb-chandelier/

Aren't they chic?  Someday, when I have ceilings higher than 8 feet, I'm going to get one, I think. :)  Or maybe I'll make one, since Erin at House of Earnest made it look so easy...

Anywho, I knew I wanted to take this idea and run with it for my latest craft and make some Paper Orb Ornaments.  This turned out to be a quick, easy, and inexpensive craft to make, and I can't wait until Claire is a little older, because I think it would be perfect to do with kids.  Here's what I started with, all of which I already had on hand:

• 3 sheets of 8.5x11 cardstock
• Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive
• Papercutter
• Baker's twine (not pictured) 
• Super small drill bit (not pictured)
• Needle with a wide eye (not pictured)

Here are the steps:

1. Cut 6 strips of cardstock that measure 3/8 inch x 11 inches.

2.  Roll a strip into a circle and overlap each edge by approximately 1/4 inch.  Try to make each circle as close to the same size as possible.  This will help immensely when you assemble the orb.

3. Repeat for all 6 strips.  (Apparently I have the olympics on my mind?) Your circles may not be exactly round to start.  Don't worry, you'll finesse them as you go.

4. Start assembling the orb by putting one circle inside another and spreading them out to resemble an asterisk at top, like so:

5. After you've found the correct placement for each circle, put a small drop of adhesive in between your layers and hold for about 30 seconds until set.  (I found it easier to glue each circle in place as I went, instead of trying to glue them all at once.)

6.  Once all the circles are in, start to glue down the other end.  Line up each circle so that the spacing is the same as the top.  Hold each layer for 30 seconds to set the adhesive.

7.  Now you should have a completed orb.  Time to turn it into an ornament.  Here's where my picture tutorial stops, because my awesome husband did these steps, and I forgot to take pictures as he worked...  Oops, sorry about that.

8. Using a very small drill bit, bore a hole in the top of the ornament.  We DID NOT use the drill for this, because I thought it would shred the paper to bits.  Instead, Patrick turned the bit by hand.  This did not take long.

9. Once you have a hole, thread your needle with the twine and pull one end of the twine through the hole.  Then thread the other end of the twine through the needle and pull it through the hole, making sure to leave a loop through the top.  You should end up with both ends of the twine inside the ornament and a loop on top.

10.  Tie the ends together to secure.  I added a bead of glue on top of the ornament to set the twine so that it couldn't fall through the hole.  Here's the final result:

Aren't they pretty?  The whole project (including plenty of TV-watching time while the glue set) took about 45 minutes.  Here's one on our tree:

So, anyone else inspired to craft something by someone else's decor?  What did you make?  I'd love to see it!