Paper Maché Ornaments

One of my favorite childhood activities is now one of the hottest trends in holiday décor. I have seen paper maché ornaments every where this season from West Elm to Anthropologie. It's no wonder paper maché is so popular - it adds a crafty and whimsical look to any tree and, when done right, it can even add playful sophistication.

What You'll Need:

- One old book, preferably with yellowish pages

- Garbage mail, magazines work great

- Masking tape

- 1 cup warm water

- ½ cup Elmers glue

- Clear, high gloss, finish

- Foam brush

- Screw-in eye hooks

- String

1. Form round spheres using the garbage mail. You can make these as perfectly round as you like. If you are going for a sophisticated look, you will want to make them as symmetrical as possible. Use the masking tape to secure the spheres so they keep their shape.
2. Rip out pages of the old book (We got the largest book we could find at the GoodWill for only 99 cents). Tear the pages into strips. If you want a more sophisticated look, you will want to cut your strips instead of tearing them. Tearing them will give your ornaments a more rustic look.
3. Time to make the glue. In a large bowl, stir together the glue and water. I have chosen to go with a glue recipe here because although the traditional flour recipe is stronger, it leaves behind a strange white residue, whereas the glue will dry clear.
4. Here comes the messy part. Do just like you did when you were a kid and coat a strip in the goo and place it onto one of the spheres. Repeat this until the whole sphere is covered. Set aside to dry. It will take about 6 to 8 hours to dry depending on how large your spheres are. Repeat this for all of the spheres.
5. Once the ornaments are dry, take a screw-in eye hook and screw it into the top of each ornament. Don't push too hard as you screw them in otherwise the eye hook will eventually fall out. Feel free to secure the eye hook with a tad of hot glue.
6. The eye hooks should now be attached the ornaments. Holding the ornament by the eye hook and using the foam brush, coat each ornament with the high gloss finish. I like to use a foam brush because it covers very evenly and it doesn't leave behind stray hairs like a brush can. Once each sphere is coated, set aside to dry. Some finishes only take 30 minutes to set while others can take up to 24 hours. Follow the directions on the side panel of your particular finish.
7. Once the ornaments are dry, use the string to tie a loop to hang the ornaments by stringing it through the eye hook. Then hang them on your tree!