Celebrate the upcoming season with a decorative, paper craft ornament that has a pattern of lights strung along its side. Hang a single or a series of ornaments adorn your tree or as an extension of holiday cheer on a string of lights!
Materials
- 6 White LED circuit stickers
- 2 strands of 12” copper tape
- 10″ of 14 gauge wire
- (1) 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of Tyvek paper (Look at your local paper or stationary store for a sheet, otherwise printer paper will work)
- (1) 8.5″ x 11″ light green cardstock paper
- (1) 8.5″ x 11″ red cardstock paper
- (1) 1/2″ strip of yellow quilling paper (or you can cut 1/2″ strips of regular paper)
- (1) 3V coin battery (if able, have a spare battery)
- White glue
- A ruler
- Needle-nose pilers
- Scotch tape
- Pencil
- Scissors
- (Optional) Colorful wooden beads
- (Optional) Double-sided scotch tape
- (Optional) X-ato knife
Step 1. Straighten the 14 gauge wire with your needle nose pilers. You will be using the wire to act as a simple armature to craft your paper ornament on as well as using one end as a hook to hang it.
Step 2. Trace two 2.5″ circles and four 1″ circles, each of a different color. Set aside two of the 1″ circles as they will be used in Step 14.
Step 3. Starting with the 2.5″ circles, cut a single 1.25″ line so it’s about halfway in each. For the 1″ circles, cut 1/2″ inside for both as well.
Step 4. Lay a small bead of glue on one side of the cut of each circle. Tuck the glued side just underneath the other side of the cut to make each circle into a cone. Hold the creases of each glued cone until dry. Put a small bead of glue on tip of the large cone and the smaller cone on top. In total you will have a pair of dual-colored cones. One will be on top and the other will be the bottom of the ornament.
Step 5. Using a needle, poke a small hole through one dual-colored cone, then slide the wire through the hole to make sure it fits through, but pull the wire out as we will place this dual-colored cone at the end. This one will be made for the top of the ornament with the wire hook pointing up. Leave the other dual-colored cone without a hole poked through.
Step 6. With each copper tape lead, carefully cut down the center of each (+) and (-) piece so the leads are now split into two.
Step 7. Fold each half of the (+) and (-) leads away from the other and carefully twist each lead around so the adhesive of the copper tape sticks down on the back of the battery pack. Each copper tape lead split will allow you to have two (+) and two (-) leads from a single power source.
Step 8. Place a small piece of scotch tape on top of the copper tape to ensure the leads stay down.
Step 9. Choose two colored sheets of paper that compliment or even contrast each other. Pick one color and make at least 8 strips of paper about 1/2″ x 5″ in size (always make a few extra strips as a backup). For the other color, you will also have about eight 1/2″ x 5″ strips. In this instance, green cardstock and white tyvek paper was selected.
Step 10. Print the template and make a Paper Battery Holder with instructions here!
Step 11. Flip the battery pack over and make a small bead of glue near the edge of the pack in-between the copper leads. Double check if the copper tape leads are the adhesive side up. Starting from the battery pack, place one of the 1/2″ x 5″ strips end down on the bead of glue and hold until it dries.
Step 12. Once the strip is secured to the battery pack, lay down the copper tape leads and smooth it with your fingers until it’s completely adhered.
Step 13. Repeat for the other paper strip. You may have extra copper tape sticking off the edge. Do not trim just yet!
Step 14. Start adding the other 6 strips by gluing one at a time in the center of the ornament. Press down in the center in between gluing strips to ensure it becoming secure.
Step 15. Take one of the smaller circles created in Step 2 and poke a small hole in the center of one of them. Poke the wire through and hook the end up so the wire is aligned flat with the circle resting on top of the wire. On the other small circle, add a little glue and spread it until it’s thin and even. Then place on the underside of the circle on the wire so the wire is now sandwiched between the two circles. Press between your fingers until dry.
Step 16. Add the white strips starting from the center in-between every green strip. Add little glue on each strip’s end and press until dry. Repeat the process until there are no more spaces!
Step 17. Glue the circles with the wire sandwiched inside top of the white strips in the center. Hold both the circle down and the wire straight until dry.
Step 18. Pick up the white strips and snip about 1/2″ in the center of the strip so it splits it at the very end.
Step 19. Once all the white strips are snipped, point the snipped end of the paper strip into the wire until it reaches the end of the notch. Have the white strip’s end about 3 inches above the red circle. Repeat this process until all 8 white strips are touching the wire to make a bulbulous shape. You can choose to glue each strip together, but the wire should hold the strips in place.
Step 20. Snip about 1/4″ into the green strips and stick each one into the wire. Be especially gentle snipping into the strips with copper tape leads on them.
Step 21. Add the LED circuit stickers on both copper tape leads. Note in the photo above that all LEDs with the (-) end, or the pointy end of the sticker, are pointed in the same direction for both sides of the strip. Make sure to check for which lead is (+) and (-)! Slip the coin battery into the paper battery holder to check if your circuits are correct.
Step 22. If the stickers light up, take the battery out and proceed to Step 23. If not, check if your circuit stickers are aligned correctly for the (+) side touching the (+) copper lead as well as the (-) sides. Then check your battery holder for any tears or disconnections in the copper tape. Also check your circuit with another 3V coin battery to see if it’s possible you could have a dead battery.
Step 23. Stick the strips with the circuit stickers and copper tape leads into the wire. Add a small bead of glue under the top two green strips to secure the bulb in place.
Step 24. Grab the dual-colored cone with a hole poked through from Step 5. Slip the cone down the wire, with the pointed tip facing up and away from the ornament bulb, to cover everything.
Step 25. Take two 3/8″ x 5″ strips of paper and snip 1/2″ on just one edge of each to split the strip for the wire to slip into. Add a little glue to each white strip’s end on the side that will be touching the green strip of paper holding the LEDs. Tuck one end of the white strip between the paper battery holder and green paper strip. Add a little glue to the snipped end of the white strip and press it down to the end of the green strip closest to the wire. Try to align the snipped ends of the green and white strips. Once the two strips are dry, slip the wire in-between the notch to hold the LED strip in place.
Step 26. Repeat Step 25 for the other set of LEDs!
Step 27. Lift the cone up and add a little glue around the bottom lip of the cone using your finger or a scrap of paper. Carefully press down and hold until dry.
(Optional) Step 28. You can decorate the wire with beads or wrap it with a strip of paper so it’s not as bare. In this case, we made origami Lucky Paper stars and poked holes through them with a needle.
Step 29. Take your pilers to bend and curl the end of the wire so it becomes a hook!
Happy Holidays!
