Crafty Fifty- A Pinterest Project- Decorative Balls


Crafty Fifty

 

When I joined Pinterest, I, like the rest of the Pinners had no idea how much it would suck me in!  Now, there are times when I don’t check it much.  Usually when I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything else about life- I just can’t bring myself to get on and pin away!  But, if I am feeling creative, or manic, I will get on there and pin, pin pin!  When I first named my board, I wanted it to become “Crafty Nifty Things”  But, my IPhone changed it before I caught it and I accidentally pressed the “ok” button or whatever, and suddenly I had a board that said “Crafty Fifty.” So, there’s that!
What good is it all though, if you don’t actually TRY the things you pin, or DO the things you are inspired to do? Here is one of my projects that I have tried. 

 

I kept seeing these decorative balls on Pinterest, (Here’s One) and of course, I thought.  “Oh that looks easy, I could totally do that!”  It actually took me a long time to get it all figured out, because I never actually found any detailed instructions on how to do these.  It just seemed like a geometry problem! (I was not particularly good in math, but I was quite good at geometry, so much so that my wonderful teacher, Audrey Bush, thought that I should tutor other kids in math!  Sure had her fooled!

First, I needed circles.  Not a problem.  I have three different circle punches…which are all the same size… not particularly helpful…  Then, I needed to figure out how to make a perfect equilateral triangle inside my circles.  *crickets*

...Back to GEOMETRY!  I did not have a protractor ANYWHERE in my house!  But, how do we love thee, Internet?  Let me count the ways…  I found a printable protractor on a web site!  So, I used it, and made a triangle.  I cut it out on some cardstock for my template. (And here is where I can pay homage to the great Audrey Bush for teaching me how to do that!)

Ok, so, I have my circles, and I have my triangle… Now I use the triangle to fold the circle edges over.


Then, I figure out how to glue them together.  (I stapled my prototype for time’s sake)  When I finally figured out how many to make and how to glue them together, I was ready to try it on some patterned paper.  I first chose a fun set of paper from Cosmo Cricket that had bright colors and robots on it.  I wanted to make something decorative for Will’s room that would be a sort of mobile for him to look at. 
 

Note: I find that if you use 4 or 5 different coordinating patters, it gives you a good vareiety.  I also lay out the circles in the order I want them glued , to avoid too many of the same print touching.


Ink the edges
Cut Out 20 circles. (Another step that I took was to ink the edges of the circles-  that is a scrapbooker trick!)                                   -->
 
 
<--Fold the circles over the triangle template





<--Glue 5 together










Glue 5 more on the bottom of each of the first 5.  Set this piece aside.

Do the same as above with the remaining 10 circles.
Now you have 2 separate pieces
Fit them together to make a sphere, and glue.

 






Punch a tiny hole in one of the glued flaps, and attach a string.  Hang in a desired location.  I just used thumb tacks to hang from the ceiling.

I have made three different sets of these: One for Will’s room, one for the living room, and one for my mom’s bathroom.

 
I am thinking I’m going to make some of these in Christmas patterns for ornaments.  If you have a crafty or geometric bone in your body… try these and tell me how it turned out.  I’d really love to hear from you.

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