Last year I made my friend Evan a tiny bookshelf ornament for his annual tree trimming party (also the subject of my first blog post). This year, after an exhausting week of work travel, I had just an afternoon to put something together. I wandered the aisles of my local art supply store looking for inspiration, going back and forth between the styrofoam balls, metal tubing, and decorative ribbon. Nothing was coming to mind. So I picked up a sheet of thin balsa wood, thinking I’d carry on last year’s theme, and went home to ideate.

A few hours later the string art ornaments emerged. You might be impressed by my perfect circle cutting skills. Here’s a secret: they’re punched from my 2″ circle cutter, the most random tool that every serious ornament maker should own. The project was a great way to use up old spools of thread in my sewing stash.

Photo credit, ornaments on tree: Evan (thanks!)