Winter Victorian Paper Cone Craft

Hey Y’all! 

So…today…I have a super exciting bit of news….and a wonderful project. 

First, Let me tell you my news.  I have a new contributor!  Laura!  You’re gonna LOVE her!  She’s really friendly, and her projects are just too adorable!  Laura blogs over at Pet Scribbles…and if you haven’t been over there…you need to go check it out.  She’ll be in charge of Wednesdays…and you’re going to look forward to it…because Laura’s going to bring all kinds of cool stuff to the table.  Most of y’all know that last year, I started a new blog… Live Creatively Inspired.  If you didn’t….now you do.  Then, I talked some amazingly talented ladies into co-owning it with me.  Laura, just joined those forces not too long ago.  We just can’t lose with all that talent!  So, when I saw how creative she is…I knew…I had to have her here too.  Y’all just can’t miss out on her skills.  So…I’m gonna shut up, and let Laura tell you more about herself…and today’s project!  I sure do hope y’all will give her a big ole Southern welcome!  

Wow! Thanks for the warm welcome Tammy! I am super happy to be here! I love to make things, and most of the crafts and DIYs I do have a vintage vibe to them. What I try to do is show you my project, but leave room so you can make it your own just by changing up the paints, or scrapbook papers, or colors. 

For today’s craft, I challenged myself to come up with an easy decoration that can bridge the decorating “gap” between the holidays just concluded and Valentine’s Day.  I’ve always admired Victorian paper cones, and thought I’d make a Winter-themed one to hang in our living room. 

 Let’s begin!

Supplies: 

1 sheet of 12 x 12 decorative scrapbook paper
scissors
vintage lace trim
string
hole punch
1 sheet of tissue paper
1 champagne cork
glue dots
vintage sheet music
small pinecones, small twigs, wood flower painted gold
tulle scrap and old brooch

I love decorative scrapbook papers that come in large pads. Besides being more economical than purchasing single sheets of cardstock, paper pads usually contain a variety of designs that come in handy with so many different projects. For today’s project I’m using a sheet from a Recollections pad I purchased at Michaels.

Another thing I love? Glue dots. They come in different sizes and styles, so these little guys are perfect for paper crafts. 

Tutorial:

1. Take your decorative scrapbook paper and roll it into a cone shape. Secure the end flap with one or two glue dots on the inside where they won’t be visible. 

2. Close off the bottom of your cone by using a large glue dot on the inside, press together, then fold up once and secure again with small glue dots placed inside of the fold. 

3. Punch two small holes on each side of the top of your cone with your hole punch.

 4. Take your lace trim and cut three strips to fit around the top of your cone. Use glue dots on the back of each piece of lace trim to make attaching to the paper cone easy-peasy! Attach the top piece of trim along the rim of the cone, and attach the next two rows evenly spaced below the first. I cheated and lined mine up with the faux wood grain lines in the decorative paper. You can cheat too: I won’t tell!

5. Take two small pieces of string and stick them through each small hole. The string will be tied to each end of the lace trim you will use for the cone’s handle. 

6. For the handle, measure out a piece of lace trim so that you’ll have about an inch to hang down past the holes on each side of the cone. Cut to size and then simply put one piece of string through one of the openings in the lace trim and tie in a knot to secure. Do the same on the other side, then trim off the excess strings. 

7. Take your champagne cork and place it inside the cone. The cork provides just enough counter-weight for your paper cone so that it won’t become top heavy and spill over.  A few small pebbles or marbles could work too.

8. Loosely crinkle up the tissue paper and stick it inside the cone so that it fills up the space. 

9. Tear up some vintage sheet music into strips. You’ll use some of these as the nest for your cone fillers (pinecones, twigs, etc.) 

10. Take the strips and curl them around a marker, hold together for a few seconds, just to give them a bit of curl. 

11. Fill up your cone and arrange your chosen fillers until you’re happy with how it looks. I used two small pinecones, some twigs, and a wood flower I had previously painted with some gold liquid gilding as my fillers. I nestled them in with some of the sheet music strips, then added a scrap piece of tulle and an old brooch to finish off the cone.

And that’s it!

After all the holiday decorating and crafting and festivities, it’s nice to have a simple Winter decoration to enjoy — just as it’s so nice to enjoy the quiet beauty of the Winter season!

I hope you’ll try your hand at making a Victorian Paper Cone. I already have ideas to make more of these for upcoming seasons and holidays.  

And a big “thank you” to Tammy for such an awesome welcome!

I’m so happy to be here!

~Laura