Series 3 - SITUATION CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT-ATION #4

I couldn't sleep the other night. I wasn't feeling well. I'm all better now though, thank goodness. Unfortunately, the inability to sleep is a frequent occurrence. The thoughts get busy in there, working away, wreaking their havoc on my sleep patterns. And the whole exercise becomes futile and frustrating. I become fixated with the ebb and flow of my husband's breathing. I hang on every little creak in the house. I end up with a good-for-nothing lump of blankets in the middle of the bed. Eventually, I get up, defeated. I rise to foil those little sleep-busting thoughts. I call their bluff! And usually, I start making something.

This is what happened to me the other night when gripped by my old nocturnal friend, Insomnia. I didn't fight her. I didn't bother. I got up and made these.

Yep, the old make-a-wreath-out-of-toilet-paper-rolls-when-you-can't-sleep trick... Classic, am I right? I mean, this happens to you sometimes too, doesn't it?

Well just in case it doesn't, I made up a tutorial, so that next time sleeplessness strikes, you'll be fully prepared.

Let's get to it shall we?

Tutorial: Toilet Paper Roll Wreath Ornaments

To make ONE wreath you will need:

• 2 toilet paper rolls
• Liquid acrylic paint in metallic gold and some bright colour of your choice
• Gesso or white acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Ribbon
• Pencil
• Ruler
• A pair of scissors
• Glue
• Clamps (I used clothes pins)

1. Apply a coat of gesso to the inside and outside of the toilet paper rolls. If you don't have gesso (which is a mixture of plaster and glue that accepts paint extremely well) you can use white acrylic paint. After the TP rolls have dried, apply 2 coats of your colour choice to the inside. Let the paint dry between coats.

2. Now apply 2 coats of metallic gold paint to the outside of the TP rolls allowing it to dry between coats.

3. Flatten out your TP rolls. Note that the rolls now have two folds. These are the "original edge folds" which I will be referring to later. Draw a line across both TP rolls about 1/2 inch from the edge. Draw a second line 3/4 inch from the edge. That leaves a "1/4 inch gap" between both lines. I will also be referring to these "1/4 inch gaps" many times in this tutorial.

4. Flip the flat TP rolls over and mark them in exactly the same way on the reverse, starting from the very same edge. Thus there are two 1/4 inch gaps on both rolls, one on either side.

5. Pinch and crease the TP rolls in the centre of the 1/4 inch gap. Do this on both sides of the rolls.

6. Your rolls will hopefully look as mine does in #6.

7. Flatten out your TP rolls again and draw a series of parallel lines running down them at 1/4 inch intervals.

8. With your scissors, make cuts following the short section of the parallel line series to the edge of the 1/4 inch gap. Do NOT pass the 1/4 inch gap line.

9. Once complete, the cuts will look as mine do in #9.

10. Remember those creases you made in the center of the 1/4 inch gaps? Here's where they come in. Fold your TP roll along one of those 1/4 inch gap creases now.

11. With the crease facing you as in #11, make cuts between the marked lines. Your cuts will be in the middle of, and run parallel to your other cuts, and end 1/8 inch away from "the original edge fold". I did it by eye but you could draw a line for exactness.

12. Repeat 10 and 11 for the 1/4 inch gap crease on the other side.

13. Flatten your TP rolls along the original edge folds.

14. Cut along the long section of the parallel line series up to the 1/4 inch gap line. Do NOT cut past the line.

15. Your cuts are complete! Yippee!

16. Re-form the TP rolls as best you can.

17. Gently pull them slightly apart and then mould them into curvy shapes.

18. Take one of the TP rolls and snip out a little piece of the end ring. You do this so that the end will slide nicely into the ends of the other roll in order to make a doughnut shape.

19. Take the uncut TP roll and apply glue in the end rings.

20. Fit the cut ends of one roll into the uncut ends of the other. Clamp in place. Wait for the glue to dry. Tie a ribbon around your little wreath ornament because it is time to hang that pretty up!

Here are your completed masterpieces... In an array of colours!

Time to get back to sleep? I'd say so... You deserve a rest!

You have yourself some pleasant dreams now.

P.S. I'll be joining the CSI Project for this week's Painted Holiday Challenge!

P.P.S. To see the rest of this series scroll down to the bottom of my Series page here!