Christmas Tree Ball Ornaments:
Easy Christmas Tree Ornaments To Make

These Christmas tree ball ornaments are luxurious looking, easy Christmas ornaments to make.

Create your own look for unique, personalized Christmas ornaments, starting with styrofoam balls, glue, and a bit of tissue paper!

On this page:

• What you need to make your own Christmas ornaments

• How to make Christmas ball ornaments

• How Christmas tree balls got started: a bit of history.
  Plus, what to do with your DIY Christmas ornaments (apart from hanging them in a Christmas tree)

What You Need
To Make DIY Christmas Ornaments:

Here's what you need to make contemporary Christmas ball ornaments:

• styrofoam balls (always have one or two in reserve)

• thin gold or silver beading wire (or white, if you can get it)

• white tissue paper

• scissors

• PVA (water based) glue

• a broad, flat brush for the glue

• 'snow' glitter

• beads/sequins

• sequin pins (they're like regular pins, but half the length)

• baking parchment to line your worktop

How To Make Christmas Tree Ball Ornaments

Before we start: I like making a sturdy, well-secured eyelet before 'papering' the Christmas ball ornaments. If you don't want to go to the trouble, no worries. Skip steps 1 - 3 and start with step 4.

Step 1
Cut a length of wire that fits 3-4 times around the styrofoam ball. Run it around the ball as if you were wrapping a parcel, and secure with scotch tape.  (Silver wire will be almost invisible under the white paper. To cover gold wire completely, you'll need at least two layers of paper.)

Step 2
To make an eyelet, knot the wire ends together; then wind them around a pencil or a knitting needle to make the eyelet shape.

Step 3
Secure and snip off excess wire.

Step 4
Cut a piece of tissue paper that is large enough to cover the whole ball. Scrunch it up thoroughly and gently pull it apart again.

Step 5
Take all scotch tape off, and coat the styrofoam ball generously with PVA.

Step 6
Smooth the tissue paper onto the ball without straightening out the wrinkles. Snip off any excess paper and smooth the edges down.

Step 7
If you get 'bald' patches, or the paper rips, no problem. Just brush more PVA on and cover the offending patch with a smaller piece of scrunched-up tissue paper.

Do the same if there's an area on the ball that doesn't look quite right yet. Add a second layer of tissue paper if you can still see the wire through the first.

There, the messy bit is almost done! You're about to turn this sticky thing into a snowy Christmas tree ball ornament. Ready? Here we go...

Step 8
Line your work area with baking parchment (that makes it easy to collect the excess snow glitter later). Cover the ball with PVA for one last time, and pour snow glitter over it.

Roll the ball in the glitter that has fallen on the parchment until it is well covered and looks like a snowball. Leave to dry well (takes at least 1 hour).

To decorate your DIY Christmas ornaments,

If you skipped steps 1-3:
Once you've completely decorated your Christmas ornament, insert a wire loop into the top. Glue it securely into the ball (with styrofoam-compatible glue). It should be strong enough to keep your Christmas tree ball ornaments hanging in the tree until Christmas is well over.

Three Christmas Tree Ball Designs
To Get You Started

Christmas tree ball #1, with golden sequins and pearl beads

Extremely easy Christmas ornaments to make: Take a sequin pin and use it to 'spear' a pearl bead onto a sequin. Stick it into the ball. Repeat.

Space the little stacks out evenly all over the ball. Don't try to make the distances all the same - it's really difficult to do and I don't think it's worth the trouble. Just start somewhere, and distribute the little jewels around the ball.

Christmas tree ball #2, with gold wire, sequins and crystal beads

Have a look at the picture to see how to fasten the wire under a sequin at the start and finish. After winding it around the sequin pin two or three times and pushing the sequin down, just wrap the wire around the ball in a slightly irregular fashion, crossing here and there.

At the end, wind it around another sequin pin to hold it in place. Then snip the loose wire ends off as closely as you can (or dare), and stick sequin/bead stacks into the ball ornament wherever you like, on or near the wire.

Christmas tree ball #3, with gold beads and a few red sequins (my husband calls this one the 'hedgehog')

This is an easy one, too. Pack the beads more tightly at the top of the hanging ball, and then let them "rain off" into an irregular edge at the sides. Put red sequins under a few of them (1 sequin for every 7 beads, roughly).

No sequins? No problem!
If you don't have the right kind of sequins to hand, try hole-punching your own out of glossy giftwrap. That's how I produced the little red discs for the 'hedgehog'.

Christmas Tree Ball Ornaments:
History & Ideas For Use

Little did the glassblowers of Lauscha know in 1847 that their first Christmas tree ball would go on to become the quintessential Christmas ornament.

The small village in eastern Germany didn't just produce silver-colored glass balls ('baubles' if you're British) for Christmas decoration; they also molded the delicate glass into more fanciful shapes like fruits, nuts, birds and toys.

But somehow the hanging ball ornament has become the  Christmas decorating device. Of course, you're supposed to hang it into your Christmas tree. But you don't have to. Here are a few more uses for your simple homemade Christmas ornaments:

A modern Christmas tree ball is often made of anything but  glass - just like the ones on this page. They make a great Christmas craft project, or even a holiday craft gift.