How to Make Paper Roll Ornaments - Pretty Abstract Makes

These easy paper roll ornaments are so sparkly and look amazing hanging on the tree! No one will ever guess you made them from plain old toilet paper rolls! Such a fun and creative way to transform something basic into something beautiful!

DIY PAPER ROLL ORNAMENTS

Making your own Christmas ornaments is so fun. I love looking at my tree every year and seeing a bunch of homemade treasures that I’ve made. They add such a sentimental touch and I try to make a few new ones each year.

These DIY ornaments are extra cool because they’re made from toilet paper rolls. You heard me right – toilet paper rolls! For this project, you can use either white or brown rolls since you’ll be painting them anyway. Such a cool way to recycle and re-imagine something you’d never look at twice otherwise.

The list of supplies you’ll need is pretty basic and you can find most of them at the dollar store.

The full printable list of instructions is available at the end of this post, but here’s a list of affiliate links that will take you to products on amazon that are similar to the supplies I used!

Supplies you’ll need:

I love a cute craft that uses recycled materials! You can make so many neat things from empty toilet paper rolls. I’ve been saving mine for a while now so I had a stock pile!

To get started, grab two paper rolls, some acrylic paint and a paint brush. I used more of an artist quality paint, but paint from the craft or dollar store works just as well! This was just what I had handy.

Start by painting the outside of your paper rolls. Cover them completely. Once dry to the touch, go ahead and paint the insides as well.

Once both paper rolls are dry, press down to flatten them into rectangles.

Grab a ruler. Measure out and mark your paper rolls in 1cm increments. Measure along one of the folded sides, lengthwise. Most toilet paper rolls measure about 10cm long.

Using the pencil marks as a guide, carefully cut your paper roll into strips. Do your best to make them all the same thickness.

When you’re finished you should have 10 strips from each roll with a total of 20 strips.

You’ll only need 18 strips to complete this design!

Designing your Paper Roll Ornaments:

Lay out your paper strips and start planning your design. For this project I made a flower. Start with 6 petals, then fold 12 more in half to create the little “V” shapes for the design on the inside of each one.

You don’t have to make a flower. You could make a snowflake or any other design you can come up with!

Put your entire design together first, just to make sure you like how it looks, and you have all the pieces you need.

Adding the Glitter:

Prepare a disposable plate or paper towel by adding a generous amount of white glue on one half. The more glue the better because you want to make sure it gets on every part of the surface of the strip.

Sprinkle a generous amount of glitter on the other half. You can use only one type/colour of glitter OR combine two or more if you want! I mixed two colours for this paper roll flower.

I find it’s easiest to glue and add glitter each piece on their own. Take each strip and dip/press the edges down into the glue, covering the entire surface.

Remove the strip from the glue and dip it right into the pile of glitter. Press down to get the glitter to stick to the to the glue.

Leave the freshly glittered petal to dry. Repeat the glue + glitter process with the remaining pieces of the flower.

Add more glue and glitter to the plate/paper towel as needed so you can get maximum coverage each time.

Wait about 30 minutes for all your pieces to dry, then you can start putting it all together!

Assembling your Design:

Time to break out the glue gun! Grab one of the large oval petals and two of the smaller folded strips.

Add a small dab of hot glue to the sides of the bottom of the first folded strip then wedge it down into the bottom of the oval.

Once the first “V” is secure, hot glue the second one inside the first one.

Your first petal is complete! Repeat the same process for the remaining 5 petals.

Once all your petals are complete, you can finally glue them all together! Add a small dollop of glue on one side of a petal at the bottom, and position it next to another, pressing them together.

Repeat this process until all 6 are attached. Try to make the flower as symmetrical as you can.

Your glittery paper ornament is complete!

You can add some string and hang it on your tree, or just wedge it between some branches!

Make a few more of the same design or change it up for some variety. Experiment with different paint colours and glitter, and try new ways of folding and gluing your paper strips.

These would make such beautiful gifts! No one will believe you made them out of toilet paper rolls!

What type of Glitter works Best?

Any type of craft glitter will work. I prefer using glitter with varying sizes of grains (like in the photo above!) There are larger chunks and smaller, finer chunks mixed together. It’s the best of both worlds. Ultra fine glitter is too small, and doesn’t catch the light as well. Larger glitters don’t look as delicate and end up looking a little too chunky.

DIY Paper Roll Ornaments

Transform a boring old toilet paper roll into some creative and beautiful holiday decor!

Scissors
Glue gun
Ruler
Pencil

2 toilet paper rolls ((white or brown))
acrylic paint ((any colour))
white glue
1 jar craft glitter ((any colour))
1 paint brush
1 paper plate/paper towels
string ((optional))

Paint the outside of your paper rolls. Once dry, paint the insides as well.
Once both paper rolls are dry, press down to flatten them into rectangles.
With a ruler, measure out and mark the paper rolls in 1cm increments. Measure along one of the folded sides, lengthwise. There should be 9 pencil marks along the paper roll rectangle.
Using the pencil marks as a guide, carefully cut the paper roll into equally spaced strips. There should be 20 strips total with 10 from each roll.
Start planning the design. This flower requires 6 oval petals, and 12 more ovals folded in half to create smaller "V" shapes.
Prepare a disposable plate or paper towel by adding a generous amount of white glue on one half and a healthy sprinkling of glitter on the other.
One at a time, take each strip and dip/press the edge of one side down into the glue, covering the entire surface.
Remove the strip from the glue and dip the glued side into the pile of glitter. Press down to get the glitter to stick to the surface and the glue.
Repeat the glue + glitter process with all remaining strips. Leave them to dry for 20-30 minutes.
Grab one of the large oval petals and two of the smaller folded strips. These will be the pieces for the first petal of the flower.
Add a small dab of hot glue to each side of the bottom of the first folded strip, then wedge it down into the bottom of the larger oval.
Once the first "V" is secure, hot glue the second one inside the first one.
The first petal is complete! Follow the same process for the remaining 5 petals.
When all 6 petals are complete, glue them all together to form the final design. Add a small dollop of glue on one side of a petal at the bottom, and position it next to another, pressing them together.
Repeat this process until all 6 are attached. Try to make the flower as symmetrical as possible.
Your glittery flower ornament is complete!

These DIY paper ornaments are so pretty! With a bit of glue and a lot of glitter, you can completely transform a boring old toilet paper roll into some creative and beautiful holiday decor. Hang them on the tree, make a garland or give them as gifts. Such a fun and festive paper Christmas craft idea!