trim the christmas tree – paper spinning tops

I love those delicate oval glass Christmas tree decorations that have a point at the bottom.  I don’t know the name of the shape, but it reminds me of the toy spinning tops I played with as a little girl.This is the home sweet homemade version of this traditional Christmas ornament.  Made with paper.  Of course.

Step 1
I started by drawing an oval and creating a curved point at the top and bottom.  Since it is in two dimensions, I decided to make it more interesting by layering multiple sizes of the same shape.   So I drew two more spinning top shapes smaller in scale.  Cut the largest spinning top from a piece of cardboard, like a cereal box and paint both sides.

Step 2
Punch a small hole near the top and bottom points.

Step 3
Select some decorative paper and cut two pieces of the medium spinning top.  Cut two more pieces of the small shape from another piece of paper.  Art paper scraps work perfectly!  Roll the small and medium shapes around a marker gently so the rounded sides will bend upwards.

Step 4
Layer two smaller shapes together on one side of the large spinning top and glue them along the center axis.  Repeat on the opposite side.

Step 5
Add a hanging loop through the top hole and a bead or other embellishment through the bottom hole.

Voila!  Easy and pretty! wishing you a basketful of holiday inspiration.

18 thoughts on “trim the christmas tree – paper spinning tops

  1. Sheryl

    What a great idea! I really like the way you used the old glass ornaments for inspiration. The ornaments you created have a modern, almost elegant, look.

    Reply
  2. mywinepal

    It is always nice to make hand-made Christmas ornaments. I made some also this year from bright red maple leaves that I glued to clear glass balls for the tree.

    Reply
  3. kiwidutch

    I have some card-stock in various colours, would this work if I used card-stock for the smaller inner “spinning” bits? or you you really have to use something lighter like the paper?
    I’m interested in making these with my kids :)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>