a spool ornament

As I teased yesterday, I made a spool ornament inspired by the previous post's scan from a 1967 magazine. I quite like how it turned out! I had an old-ish empty spool made of a silvery plastic, a box of mixed beads and sequins, and some old lengths of metallic trims. Use whatever you have! 

I don't have any detailed how-to directions for you, because 95% of the craft is "glue shiny/sparkly/colorful things to an empty thread spool." And I bet you already know how to glue a thing to another thing. 

I can give you some tips, however: Using tweezers will help you place fussy little seed beads. And glue the sequins and beads (or whatever you have) to the outer rims of the spool LAST. You'll want to hold onto the spool by these rims. (Ask me how I know.)

As for the hanging loop, I did a complicated action involving an embroidery needle and thin fabric ribbon and it wasn't worth the hassle. Do what 1967-era crafters did, and just glue everything to each other: knot a looped piece of ribbon or cord for a hanging loop, dab the knot with glue, and smush it into the center of the spool. If there's too much space in there and the knot isn't adhering to anything, try triple or quadruple knotting your ribbon.

That's it! It's a fun project to do in a group, if you have enough fripperies and bits and bobs lying around. The project can take as long or as short as you want it to. It's very adaptable to multiple ages! Just the way I like it.
​xo!