Today I want to show you how to make cheap and easy DIY christmas ornament angels made with twine and ribbon.

I wanted to come up with my own idea for an angel for a while now, so we wouldn’t only have stars and snowflakes in our christmas tree (’cause I don’t know about you, but I find the angels you can buy in the store mostly too kitschy).
And since I am not the most religious person, I wanted them to be low-key.

But of course they would have to fit in with my other decoration and be sparkly (not sure that is a word, either…but you know what I mean). And not to mention, I didn’t want to spend too much money on the material.

So I experimented a little bit with twine, cords, wires, yarn, ribbons (lots of not satisfying results as you can imagine) until I found a cheap and simple way…a craftchen way.

I think it goes particularly well with a farmhouse-style christmas tree. But since you can make it in any color you like, it really goes well with anything :).

 

 

 

As always, I don’t display any ads for a better viewing experience, but I will include affiliate links to the products, so feel free to click on them. (*check my Site Policies for more information)

If you like this post, every click, comment and repin is deeply encouraged and highly appreciated! Enjoy!

Also, check out my other ideas for DIY Christmas Ornaments, like the Origami Stars or the cute little DIY Bells!

 

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Material

what you need: a thick, but bendable piece of cardboard Twine (0.1in thick) clear/transparent cord* (0.25mm/0.010in thick) wire* (0.4mm/0.015in thick)

So let’s get started. I recommend that you cut your pieces before starting the instructions. That way you will have everything handy once you need it.
You will need to cut:

– a cardboard piece: 8x8cm (3x3in)
– transparent cord: a 25cm (10in) piece,
– wire: a 12.5cm (5in) piece,
– ribbon: about 15cm (6in).

*if you need the pictures to be bigger, you can go to this gallery that you can click through. The pictures have instructions so you can just take it pic by pic.

And now, let’s have fun 🙂

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Instructions

1. cut your cardboard to a piece of 8×8 cm (3x3in) and at 2 cm (0.8in) make a slight cut on each side	2. Take a 25cm (10in) piece of your transparent cord and tuck it in where you cut the edges of your cardboard piece
3. take your twine and wrap it around the cardboard Tip: leave a little twine at the beginning	4. now wrap the twine tightly and neatly around the cardboard, about 10 times Tip: leave a little at the end again
5. hold the twine in position and untuck the transparent cord	6. hold the twine in place and move the transparent cord to the top Tip: get a good grip on it
7. hold on tight to the cord with one hand while bending the cardboard with the other Tip: let the twine arrange itself while you grip the transparent cord tighter (the outer twine will get on top of the other, that’s what you want)	8. remove the cardboard and tie a knot in the transparent cord
9. make sure the knot is tight and centered by pulling the cord	10. cut your wire to a 12.5cm (5in) length, then grab your twine from the top so you are holding around 3cm (1in)
11. wrap the wire around the 3 cm (1in) you are holding (this will be the “head”) and close it in the back	12. cut the wire where it splits open and tuck the twisted end to the side
13. cut the twine you left at the beginning and end to the length of the rest of the “body”	14. push the “head” down to make it rounder
and tadaaa…you already made the “body” of your String Angel	15. cut a 15cm (6in) piece of ribbon Tip: I found that a ribbon of 1.5cm (0.6in) width works the best, and not too thick but check out some of my other designs for inspiration
16. center the piece of ribbon and tie it around the “neck” where your wire is Tip: Fold the ribbon a couple of times to make it smaller in the front (*just looks nicer)	17. then tie a knot and pull the ribbon straight Tip: adjust and pull the ribbon so it comes out straight (you might have to experiment a little ;))
18. last, cut the “wings” to a 3.5cm (1.4in) length on both sides Tip: I folded the ribbon in half and cut a diagonal line	…and there you go! Isn’t it adorable?

 

Of course you can make them with any ribbon you like, and any decoration you like. As you can see throughout the post I used a couple of different ribbons and experimented a little.

What do you think? Do you like the idea? Do you have questions or comments? Which design do you like best?

Also, did you already check out my other ideas for DIY Christmas Ornaments?):

 

P.S.: to make it a little easier for you, I found most of what you will need on Amazon, so here is a shopping list* for you: