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Christmas Holly Brooch Made from Paper
Hear ye, hear ye! Calling all paper fanatics! You’ve made plenty of paper chains, snowflakes, and Christmas cards, but what about a chic, holiday accessory? That’s right—an accessory made from paper. If you have paper and glue, you are already well on your way to making a cute Christmas pin. Wear it to Christmas parties or work, or give one away to spread the Christmas spirit.
You’ll use a technique called quilling to roll thin, paper strips into coils. The texture of the finished brooch actually brings to mind balsa wood. Let others be amazed about how you fashioned green “wood” into such a pretty pin!
Supplies & Tools:
- Construction paper: red, green
- Cutting mat
- X-Acto
- Metal ruler
- Scissors
- Quilling tool*
- Elmer’s gel glue or Aleene’s Fast Grab glue
- Mod Podge, matte
- Small paint brush
- Cylindrical object with a 1" diameter (The lid on a 2 oz. bottle of Mod Podge works great!)
*If you don’t have a quilling tool, you could use a toothpick to roll the coils.
Directions:
- Cut paper into 0.25" strips. (Follow the guides on your cutting mat—makes it a cinch!)
- Red paper: 6 strips (each measuring 0.25" x 12")
- Green paper: 12 strips (each measuring 0.25" x 12")
- Make 1" green rings by wrapping the paper around the cylinder. Glue the strip together as you wrap it. Gently remove the paper ring from the cylinder and set aside to dry. Repeat to make a total of 6 rings. Allow to dry.
- While the rings are drying, make three berries, using 2 strips of red paper for each berry.
- Insert edge of paper into the slot of the quilling tool and begin rolling a tight coil.
Note: If you are using a toothpick, tightly roll the paper strip around the shaft. - After you’ve rolled the paper halfway, add another strip of paper and continue rolling.
- Add glue to secure the end of the paper and hold until the glue is dry.
- Repeat for the other 2 berries.
- Set berries aside.
- Insert edge of paper into the slot of the quilling tool and begin rolling a tight coil.
- Cut each green ring in half to form two arcs. The inside of the ring will become the outside of the brooch, so you want the inside of each arc to be nice and smooth. Locate the end of the paper strip inside each ring and cut the ring on that line. Then cut again on the opposite side of the ring to create 2 arcs.
- Arrange 6 arcs to form a holly leaf.
- Where the arcs touch, add a small dot of glue and allow to dry.
- Arrange the remaining 6 arcs to form another holly leaf. Glue the arcs together, except one point (see photo). You don’t want to glue this corner so that you can intersect this leaf with the other leaf.
- When the glue has dried, trim all the points except the open point.
- Trim the arcs on the open point to fit the other leaf. The top arc should overlap the other leaf smoothly. Glue in place and allow to dry.
- Meanwhile, make the coils to go inside the leaves. The number of strips may vary depending on the size of your leaves and the thickness of your paper. First, make the large coils to fit the leaf, and then make small coils to fill in the spaces.
- Glue the coils inside the leaves.
- Glue berries to the leaves and allow to dry.
- Apply 2 coats of Mod Podge with a small paintbrush, allowing it to dry for 15 minutes between coats. Coat the front and back of the holly and berries. Let dry.
- In a well-ventilated area, spray the holly with clear acrylic spray paint. Apply 2 coats to the front and back of the brooch. Allow to dry.
Note: When the brooch is dry, it will feel very smooth like balsa wood. - Affix 2 pins to the back of the brooch with jewelry glue. Put one pin behind a berry and the other behind a large green coil.
Note: One pin won’t hold the brooch in place, which is why two are necessary. A bar pin could also be used; however, it will be visible from the front due to the space in between the coils.
- Allow the glue to dry completely, and now your pin is ready to wear!
