Do you keep your Christmas cards every year and don't know what to do with them?
Turn them into Christmas Bells
with these easy-to-follow instructions.
Supplies:
Christmas Cards
Glue Stick
Glue Dots or Hot Glue Gun
Fishing Wire or Ribbon of Choice
Scissors
and small jingle bells (if you want them to ring like a bell!)
Open the card and cut off the back,
along the fold.
Cut the cover into a square
by folding the bottom or top edge
over (diagonally) to line up with the side edge.
Cut off and discard excess.
Now you should have a perfect square!
You should already have the card folded into one triangle...
make sure that the "colored" side of the card is always on the outside.
Note: with each fold you make,
crease it really well.
Now open the card,
and fold it the other way,
into a triangle...
Open the card,
it should look like this.
Now fold it in half "hot dog" style...
(it's called hot dog - because it is folded like a hot dog bun,
in case you were wondering!)
Open it again,
now fold it the other way, "hotdog" style.
Upon opening the square card now....
it should look like this...
The next step requires 8 folds...
but to break it down simply, just focus on each of the four corners.
Fold a flat edge UP to reach the center diagonal line,
as shown.
Now do the other side,
forming a point at the CORNER.
The card will be folded into the shape of a kite...
Now open it up,
and do the same thing with the next corner...
Until all 4 corners are folded...
Unfold the card,
it should look like this.
Now for the magic....
Start forming your Bell
by pushing in the middle edges as shown above...
Squeeze and shape the bell together...
the middle of the card will be the bottom.
Now is the time to cut and tie your fishing wire
or ribbon into a loop for hanging your bell.
Attach the tied knot to a glue dot (or a dot of hot glue)
and attach it to a top fold of the inner bell
as shown.
Apply the glue stick to the edges of the folds
where they meet together...
be sure to get the glue ALL the way to the edges.
If you want to drop in a small JINGLE BELL,
now is the time!
Now, form together the bell
and hold it together until it sticks
it takes a little while...
(sing a Christmas song all the way through -
that should be long enough!)
This is what the bottom looks like...
Look what you did! From a flat card,
to a bell!
Hang on your Christmas Tree,
or give to a friend!
Here's a bell I made several years ago...
Do you see THREE bells?
and THREE more here!
Just think of HOW MANY you can make!
Have fun!
Keep Calm and Kerri On!
