Creative Paper Baubles: Sustainable Crafting with Wallpaper

Yes, take that old wallpaper (or indeed any thick paper or thin card) and turn it into something pretty for your home decor. These paper baubles look so stylish, yet they are so quick and easy to make.

I started out making these for my Christmas tree and they will absolutely be going on my Christmas tree. But, I also realised that you could use them for any holiday depending what colour you made them and also whether you added tassels or ribbons. As a result, these a fabulously creative project to make.

As these paper baubles use old wallpaper they are perfect for the Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop for November. The theme for the challenge this month is ‘Christmas’. At the end of the tutorial you will find all the other Christmas projects to try. I really recommend taking a look!

This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a little commission if you use those links at no cost to you. I only recommend brands I use and trust.

You will need:

Wallpaper / thick paper / thin card
Scissors
Needle
Wire approximately 6″
Ribbon
Tassels (tutorial to make your own) or ribbon scraps for bottom of bauble

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Prepare your Paper Strips

Take your chosen paper and make 6 strips that are 9″ long and 0.75″ wide. I encourage you to play around with these measurements once you have made one to see how changing each dimension affects your paper bauble.

Mark one of the strips on the wrong side in the centre and approximately 0.25″ from each end. Make a small hole in each location using your needle. This hole needs to be large enough for the wire to pass through so I recommend using a needle with a wide eye. Use this as a template to make the same holes in the other 5 paper strips.

Prepare the Wire

Cut a length of your wire, approximately 6″ will do fine and you will probably cut some off it at the end. Form a loop at one end of the wire. The easiest way to do this is to wrap the wire around a pencil and then twist the two ends together. If you would like a larger loop simply use a thick pen or small tube, etc. But, if you want larger loops cut a longer length of wire.

You may well find this easier if you use pliers to hold the wire but they are not essential.

Construct your Paper Bauble

Take all 6 of your strips and feed them onto your wire. Make sure that the patterned side (if there is one) is facing the loop that you just made on your wire. This is the bottom of your paper bauble.

Take the bottom strip (the one against the wire loop) and fold it up and feed it onto the wire as shown. Repeat for the other end of the same paper strip.

Now take the strip directly above that one and repeat these steps. Make sure that you keep working in the same direction as you move through the strips. I recommend clockwise because it feels the most natural.

You will build up your paper bauble.

Once you have done all the loops you should have a complete bauble. All you need to do now is form a loop in the end of the wire using the same method you used at the other end.

TOP TIP: If your paper is not very thick and your bauble is flattening out try adding a bit of blu-tac (or similar) to the wire to stop the strips sliding down the wire.

Complete & Embellish your Paper Bauble

All your paper bauble needs now is a ribbon or string to hang from. Simply cut a length of ribbon or string, feed it through the top loop and knot it. Now you can hang your paper decoration wherever you like.

However they do look even more stylish with either ribbon or a tassel hanging from the bottom loop. I love adding tassels that I have made. All you need is some embroidery thread and this tassel tutorial.

Notice that this one is more ‘squashed’ but I like it like that!