Sequin Ball Ornament

Creating glitzy, glamorous ornaments for your tree is quite easy with these simple instructions from Tessa Evelegh's Home-Made Christmas.

I got to check out this crafty book filled with 35 pretty DIY projects for Christmas, and decided to share one with our readers (with permission of course). The Sequin Ball Ornament in particular caught my eye, so I decided to give it a whirl!

As you can see, I chose slightly non-traditional colors for mine ~ turquoise, white and purple ~ but obviously you can do whatever you wish! Below, you'll find the directions from the book. I did the variation on this project that used only sequins instead of a mix of sequins and beads, as you can see in the picture.

What you'll need ~

1 tube each of bronze and gold 1/8" pearl beads
1 tube each of silver, pink, gold and blue 1/4" cup sequins
2" polystyrene crafting ball

2 small pointed metal beads
1 tube of blue round glass beads
1 tube of turquoise flat beads
Chiffon ribbon to hang

How to make it ~

Thread one bronze pearl bead, then one gold sequin onto a pin and push it into the center of the polystyrene ball, and continue like this until you have made a circle around the circumference.

In the same way, make a circle next to that using gold pearl beads and gold sequins, then another gold circle on the other side of the bronze beads.

You should now have a center band of three rows of sequins and beads: a middle bronze one, with a gold row on either side.

Put a pointed metal bead onto a pin and fix into the South Pole position. Next, make two circles of blue sequins. Finish the underside by covering it with silver sequins.

Turn the ball over, and start by placing a pointed metal bead in the North Pole position. Next fix in one row of silver sequins, two rows of pink sequins, two rows of blue round glass beads, and finally three rows of flat turquoise beads.

Note that sequins cover the polystyrene very well and can easily be slightly overlapped. Sometimes, the polystyrene glares through from between round beads, so slip a sequin under these.

If small flat beads like the turquoise beads don't cover well, simply add some on top of others to cover the polystyrene.

Remove the metal bead at the North Pole position, thread a length of ribbon onto the pin for hanging, and a sequin to act as a washer; then replace the pin in the polystyrene ball.

--- This project was created by Erika Pitera, the managing editor and art director here at ZEST