Making fabric Christmas ornaments reusing cereal boxes

Christmas is coming soon! It is time to decorate our homes for this important Holiday! How about making some unique fabric Christmas ornaments reusing cereal boxes this year? 

I have decided to make some for my home and enjoyed so much that I want to share with you how to make them! It is easy, simple materials, we can reuse cereal boxes, use some fabric scraps and with our creativity we can make beautiful ornaments! Let’s see how to make them?

You can get the basic here in this tutorial. Complete instructions with much more detailed information and a lot of pictures you can get in my FREE online course Joy of Cartonnage! Click here, sign up for Free and get this instruction and much more! 

MATERIALS:

Very simple materials. To make the ornaments you will need:

-  Empty cereal boxes (or other thin chipboard same  thickness  as cereal box)

- Scraps of fabric

- Ribbons / Embellishments  (optional)

- PVA glue (like Glue All from Elmer’s), cutting board, craft knife, rotary cutter, paint roller, paint brush, plastic spatula and/or bone folder, corner miter tool (optional), masking tape,  scissor, paper to cover the table.

MAKING THE SHAPES OUT OF CEREAL BOXES:

You will need two pieces of paper with the same shape for each ornament. To reuse cereal box, cut the front and back of the empty box and draw the shapes you want on it (picture 1). 

I made the circles with 2.5 in (6,5 cm)  diameter, but you can make it with the dimension you want. You can use a base of a circle mug, for example, to draw the shapes.

The diamond ones I made with 3 x 3 in (8 x 8 cm)  and  the frontal detail with 1.5 x 1.5 in (4 x 4 cm), or 2 x 2 in (5 x 5 cm). 

After drawing the shapes, use scissor or craft knife with metal ruler and cut the shapes (pictures 2 and 3). Attention: to have great finishing for your ornaments take your time and cut the shapes as perfect as you can. 

MAKING CIRCLE ORNAMENTS:

Cut the fabric about 1/2 in bigger than each shape. 

Apply glue over the unprinted side of the cereal box circle. Spread the glue very well, you have to have a thin layer covering all paper. Do not put too much glue. Then, glue this paper over the center of the back side of the fabric. Flip over and press over the fabric with your hands, making sure the fabric is well glued, without bubbles.  (pictures 4 and 5) 

Then, cut all around the circle with scissor, following the shape and leaving a border of fabric about ½ in (1 cm) (picture 6). After that, make small cuttings all around the fabric (picture 7). 

Now  apply glue on the border of the circle and fold the fabric pressing with your fingers to have all fabric glued all around the paper. Repeat for the other circle. (pictures 8, 9 and 10).

APPLYING EMBELLISHMENTS

Cut a piece of the embellishment you want to apply, 1.5 in (4 cm) bigger than the diameter of the circle. Put it over the front of your circle,  in the position you want (picture 11). Turn over carefully to avoid moving it. Then, apply glue over the back of the circle where you will glue the embellishment. Glue it and apply a piece of masking tape over to better fix it. Repeat to the other edge of the embellishment. (pictures 12 and 13)

Now  apply glue on the center of the circle where you will glue the ribbon to hang the ornament. Put a piece of ribbon with the size you want  and apply a piece of masking tape over it, as shown below. (pictures 14 and 15)

GETTING READY!

Apply glue all over the back of the covered circle that will be the back of your ornament (picture 16). Pay attention to not mark the front of this piece with glue. Then, put it over the back of the other circle with the embellishments. Press firmly with your hands to make sure it is in the right position (picture 17). Put some pieces of masking tape all around the ornament. Press again all over the masking tape (picture 18). This masking tape will be removed after 7 hours.  Let the ornament dry under something heavy, like a heavy book, for about 7 hours (picture 19). 

After 7 h take off the masking tape and your ornament is ready to go!   

MAKING DIAMOND ORNAMENTS

Cut the fabric about 1/2 in bigger than each shape.  

Apply glue over the unprinted side of the cereal box diamonds. Spread the glue very well, you have to have a thin layer covering all paper. Do not put too much glue. Then, glue this paper over the center of the back side of the fabric. Flip over and press over the fabric with your hands, making sure the fabric is well glued, without bubbles.  (pictures 4, 5 and 6) 

Before folding and gluing the fabric over the paper, we need to cut the fabric at all corners, to have a good finishing. To do that, you can use a corner miter tool that it is a very functional tool for that, OR, if you don’t have it, you can cut with scissor (pictures 7), but you have to have some fabric at the corner, do not cut straight with the paper. You can find the corner miter tool here. If you want to see better how to do this step, take a look at this video. 

Cut the fabric at the corners for the three pieces of paper (picture 8).

Apply glue to one of the edges of the paper (picture 9) and also apply glue on the fabric at both corners of this edge (picture 10).  Using a plastic spatula, fold the fabric over the paper and press down until be well glued (picture 11). Also press down on the fabric at both corners (picture 12).   Repeat this to the opposite edge, and then apply glue and fold the fabric over the other edges (picture 13). Make sure your corners are neat. If you need, make adjustments with your fingers (picture 14). Cover like that the three paper diamonds (picture 15).

APPLYING EMBELLISHMENTS

In this case, the embellishment will be another piece of covered paper, but you can use your creativity and add another thing, like we did for the circle.

Now,  apply glue all over the back of the small diamond (picture 16), taking care to not move this piece and mark the front of it with glue. Then, put it on the right position, press firmly with your hands (picture 17) and apply masking tape all over it. Press again after applying the masking tape (picture 18).  

If you want to apply a tassel,  apply glue on the center of the diamond where you will glue the tassel (picture 19).  Put the tassel there and apply a piece of masking tape over it (picture 20).

Now  apply glue on the center of the diamond where you will glue the ribbon to hang the ornament (picture 21). Put a piece of ribbon with the size you want  and apply a piece of masking tape over it (picture 22).

GETTING READY!

Apply glue all over the back of the covered diamond that will be the back of your ornament (picture 23). Pay attention to not mark the front of this piece with glue.  Then, put it over the back of the other diamond with the embellishments. Press firmly with your hands to make sure it is in the right position (picture 24). Put some pieces of masking tape all around the ornament. Press again all over the masking tape (picture 25). This masking tape will be removed after 7 hours.  Let the ornament dry under something heavy, like a heavy book (picture 27).    

After  7  h take off the masking tape and your ornament is ready to go! Enjoy!

That's it! I hope you can understand the process and enjoy making your ornaments! 

The complete instructions with more pictures, including instruction and template to make a star ornament you can get in my FREE online course Joy of Cartonnage! I hope to see you there!

If you have any question, you can comment below or contact me anytime! I will be very glad to answer you! If you want to share the pictures of your ornaments with me, I will love to see them!

If you like it, please share with your friends!

Have a great preparation for Christmas! 

Claudia