As promised here's the tutorial of the German Bell I made yesterday. I will just show you how to make the base ornament, as there are so many ways to embellish once the base is done.
But before that, let me show you my friend Sabrina's German Bell. She adhered fabric on cardstock, before folding and assembling the ornament.
As mentioned yesterday, this project is really easy. You only need three materials:
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| 6 x 6 cardstock |
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| 9 - 10 inch string and a bead |
The bead will serve as a stopper for your string. You can use other things as your stopper, like a small button for example.
Let's work on the string and the bead first. Thread the string through the bead and tie a knot. Make sure to leave the knot real close to the bead.
Now let's work on our cardstock. I prefer scoring my cardstock first before folding, as this will give you a nice and clean fold. Let's begin.
Score halfway down your cardstock, vertically and horizontally, on the RIGHT SIDE where the design is. I marked the scores in red so you can see better.
Score diagonally as well, just like so:
You might find the next step a little tricky, but really it's not. We are going to score from one corner down to just HALF AN INCH from the center line of the cardstock. I marked the score black so you can see better. Also if you are doing this the first time, it will be helpful to LEAVE A MARK on the areas where I wrote ".5". You will find out later why as we go along.
This is how I scored it using my Martha Stewart scoring tool:
We will do the same on the opposite corner:
And we will do the same on the opposite side:
Remember, we have to make these scores in all four sides of the cardstock. Once you're done, this is how the scores should look:
You might think it's complicated seeing all the lines, but really it's not. Once you get the hang of it, the scoring will come as a breeze.
Now it's time to PRE-FOLD. Let's fold according to the order of our scoring.
First, fold the scores marked in black. Remember to UNFOLD every time you fold each score.
Then fold the scores marked in red. Remember to UNFOLD after each fold.
Make sure you FOLD ALL THE SCORES. That will make it a lot easier to create the ornament.
Once you're done folding and unfolding, we will apply adhesive on just like the photo below. I used red tacky tape so it will be easier for you to see.
Now it's time to fold our German Bell. Remember earlier I asked you to LEAVE A MARK on the areas where I wrote ".5"? This is where they will come handy. With your thumb on one side and the fingers on the opposite side, hold your cardstock like the photo below. The fold should be where your mark is. In my case, it's the ".5" mark. Fold until the edges meet and adhere together.
This is how it should look like from the inside:
Then we'll do the same on the opposite side of the first fold. This is how it should look like from the inside:
Then we will fold the other two sides together, where you can see the two remaining marks. In my case, the ".5" marks.
And when you "squeeze" it all the way, this is how it should look. BUT DO NOT SQUEEZE IT SHUT YET.
Because we will insert the yarn-bead combo first, making sure that the bead and the knot is inside:
Once the yarn-bead combo is secure, then we can squeeze our ornament shut:
And that's it. The ornament is done. Yey!
This is how the ornament looks in different angles:
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I'd love to see your take on it.
'Til next blog!
