Quilt Seeds

Hi Everyone!
                   Have you begun your plans for the holidays? I TRY to begin early. I make a notebook with two sections: Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Christmas section is always bigger and Christmas is my favorite holiday!
          Once, long ago, I wrote up a little book on Christmas decorating on a ~~shoestring~~ thread. And let's call that silk thread. I love to decorate "DYI" using materials that cost as little as possible.  Even though that may sound cheap, it simply leaves me more $$ for things I don't want to skimp on---like the food and the gifts!
     Now, don't get me wrong....I don't like to make decorations that look like what they're made of! For example, I make very few things from cardboard toilet paper cores, because I don't want people making comments like, "How creative!" When I know they're thinking, "Toilet paper cores!" And they aren't thinking, "Sure wish I had thought of that!"
    That being said, there is ONE project that does not scream, "Toilet paper roll!" There's these big snowflakes you can make....they're light as a feather, and very pretty! You can make these as simple....

Or as complicated.....

....as you like. You can find lots of directions for these all over the net. But it's as simple as this. Use a sturdy pair of scissors to slice the toilet paper (or paper towel) rolls into strips the width you like and then glue them together as you like. That leaves a lot to the imagination, huh? That's the idea! And that's the basics. Simple, yes. But they CAN be elegant as well.
A few observations...
When I made these, I came to a few conclusions.
1. There are countless configurations you can come up with for the loops.
2. If you make it big like this...

....you get a lot of skewing and it gets pretty flimsy to hang, if that's what you're going to do with it. Plus....when you make it this big, people are more likely to ask you, "Hey! How did you make this big snowflake???" And then you have to admit it's made of toilet paper cores. On the other hand, when you make them small and elegant like this...

...most people think you just bought them at the Dollar Tree. (Especially if it's painted, which this one is not!)

3. If you use white glue, you will be sitting and holding each component until the glue sets, which gets mighty old, mighty fast. I used hot glue and it worked fine! (I think you can get one of those mini hot glue guns at discount stores for a few dollars.)

4. Paint them! I used spray paint for mine. It's fast and easy! Put them into a box to spray them. I also found that I had to "touch them up" after they dried, as a bit of the paint sinks into the paper.

5. The best way to conceal what these are made of is to coat them in some sort of glitter. I didn't use the sort that shakes out of the bottle like regular glitter. I used the stuff they sell in bags to resemble snow. It's "granulated" for lack of a better term. I think it's just thin plastic cut into tiny pieces. You put it around decos on tables, etc.

Toss a bunch into the bottom of a box. Spray one side of your snowflake with spray glue and drop it immediately, face down, into the box. Shake the box a bit to make the flakes stick, lift it out and allow it to dry. For a heavier coat of "snow," repeat the spray glue process.

If you want to make something like this...

....just cut the rings up and use a small shaft curling iron to curl the tips.