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Easy Paperclip Angel Ornament

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By Noreen Doll.

Paperclip Angel by Crafty Journal

This easy paperclip angel ornament is so quick to make, you can make a dozen or two in an hour.

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It makes a perfect small gift for teachers, co-workers, neighbors, and others to whom you would like to give a little something.

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You can find butterfly paperclips (about 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches) at Amazon, Walmart or an office supply store.

I found the 12mm pink round plastic pearl beads at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents for 16.

What You Need

12mm Pink Round Pearl Bead

Butterfly Paperclip (about 1 12/ inches by 1 1/2 inches) from Walmart or Office Supply store or on Amazon.

1/8 Inch Wide Ribbon

What You Do

1. Choose a bead, and use an ice pick or other sharp object to clean out the hole so you can push the ribbon through it.  Don’t try to enlarge the hole, just clean it out.

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2. Cut a piece of 1/8 inch wide ribbon 11 inches long.  Cut the ends on a diagonal.

You may need a piece an inch or 2 longer when you are first starting out, to ease knot tying.

3. Slightly twist the ends of the ribbon to start threading it through the hole.

I used an opened paper clip to help push the ribbon through.
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(Bobbie – from http://100akerwood.blogspot.com/ – offered this great tip:  “Just a FYI ~ once you’ve cleared out the pearl’s hole, use a floss threader to guide the ribbon through…”  Thank you so much, Bobbie!)

4. Make sure the ribbon ends are even.

5. Use the loop end to push through the paperclip as shown.

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6. Make a lark’s head knot. Or pull the ends and bead through the loop and pull up snuggly against the top of the paperclip center.

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7. Make another knot on top of the bead.

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Pull both ends of the ribbon through a loop and pull this knot up snuggly against the top of the bead. You will have a knot on each side of the bead.

8. Make another knot near the ends of the ribbon. Trim the ends neatly on a diagonal.

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Hang the easy paperclip angel ornament using the ribbon.paper-clip-angel19ww-harvest-300x293

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©Noreen Doll

Crafty Journal

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  3. Looking around I find this angel (and site). It is very easy for my students to do.

  5. This caught my eye over at DIY Home Sweet Home. Its the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time. So creative. I’m pinning this so I can enJOY it later this year. I’ve got a lot of teacher friends that will like it as well.

  7. Very cute bookmark!! My Mom loves angels.. I should make one for her

    Thank you for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality!

  10. Just a FYI ~ once you’ve cleared out the pearl’s hole, use a floss threader to guide the ribbon through…

    Great idea!

  15. How cute! My grandma would love these {she loves angels}, I might have to make her a few. My to-do list just got longer! I’d love if you shared this {and anything else you’d like to share} at my Throwback Thursday party. Hope to see you there! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  22. So very cute! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  26. I’m so happy you shared these at my Throwback Thursday link party! These are just too pretty. I hope to see you again this week 🙂

  28. This is such a great idea! Thanks for linking up this crafty post to Say G’Day Saturday. Hope you can join in again this weekend.

    Best wishes,
    Natasha in Oz

  33. We made some of these for a Christmas Bazaar at my church several years ago. We attached a cute poem for the “Office Angel,” and we sold a ton of them. I wish I still had the poem.

  35. thanks for the tutorials and tips, I teach kids from grade 1 to grade 5 children monthly craft, this will be a beautiful easy project that I can use in the church, thanks again.

  38. I used a large-eye needle to thread 1st one ribbon end, then the other. No problem making 20 in an hour. Just love them.

  39. These are so simple and brilliant! They will make the perfect ornament for my cookie tins this year! I will be sure to link back to your blog if I decide to make them and blog about it 😉

  41. Love these!!! I actually got this idea from a coworker and we made these when my girls were younger for their classmates. We used silver pony beads and white ribbon. The pony beads have a larger hole to put your ribbon through and for the kids to help.

  45. WHEN I TRY TO WIDEN THE HOLE THE BEAD STARTS CRACKING. I BOUGHT THE 12 MM PINK ROUND PEARL SO I MUST BE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

    THANSK

  51. I saw this over at Miss Information and it reminded me that we are going to make these in girl scouts. Our meeting got cancelled due to weather, so we will be making them in January!

  52. Simply marvelous!

    Thank you for partying with the Wildly Original Crowd this year.

  54. Perfect! I’m going to make these for the chemo patients at our local hospital and contribute them them at our charity luncheons as table favors…everyone can use these! Thanks so much…

  56. Well I think I must have missed something because as adorable as these little angels look, I for the life of me can not figure out how to bend the paper clip correctly! 🙁 Can someone help this dumb ole Nana please> LOL

  57. I suspect you are trying to bend a regular paperclip to make it look like the clips used for the angels. What you need to do is get some “butterfly clips” from Walmart or an office supply store. You don’t bend them – use them exactly as they come. Noreen

  60. How on EARTH did you get the ribbon through the pearl bead holes? i’ve tried paper clips, flossers, you name it, and there is no way in heck it’s getting through there. I looked a hundreds of beads at Michaels and these were the only 12mm ones I could find so not like there are a lot of different beads to choose from. HELP!

  61. It’s difficult for me to help you when I can’t see what bead you are using and exactly what you are doing. But I can offer a few suggestions.

    Are you using real pearls? They have very tiny holes and would not work for this project. The beads I used are plastic. I was not trying to make the angels valuable or elegant, just a nice little gift easily made. And plastic beads are perfect for this.

    Clean out the hole in the bead. My plastic beads had lots of plastic scrap in them that I reamed out before I used them. You can use an ice pick or small file, or whatever will fit in the hole.

    Is your ribbon too wide? I used 1/8 inch wide ribbon – very narrow.

    Use a threader. Cut a 6 inch length of very thin wire and fold it in the middle. Fold the ribbon in half over the fold in the wire. Put the ends of the wire through the bead hole and pull the ribbon on through with the wire.

    Please let me know if you were able to solve the problem, and what the issue was. I might need to amend the tutorial. Good luck with your project! Noreen

  63. hi, what size paper clip is this-i tried an ordinary regular one and i think i need a large size-it was tooo fiddly

  64. You don’t use a regular paperclip for this – you need one called a Butterfly Clip that can be found in office supply stores.

  68. Hi there these are really beautiful
    but can not find the butterfly paper clip in Cape Town South Africa
    Any suggestions?
    many thanks
    Joy

  69. Hi Joy, Try an Amazon search for “butterfly paper clip”. Also, these clips are carried in office supply stores and in Target and Walmart in the office supply section. Good luck.

  71. Thanks for posting this project, I saw it through FaveCrafts. I am going to share with a group of mothers who have lost their children. This is a great craft for October, which among other more famous awarenesses, is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. Of course I didn’t see this before October 15th which is the day that has been declared Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, but I plan to make one in memory of my angel baby that I lost through miscarriage last year.

  72. Lorrie, My heart goes out to you for the loss of your angel baby. Hugs to you, and I hope you will find some peace. You’re in my thoughts and prayers.

    Noreen

  73. Love these cute angels and will be making them for a boutique…..I have been a crafter for many years and have used the threader for dental floss as a needle to pull ribbon, thread, floss, etc, etc through bead holes…..it makes crafting life so much easier.

  75. Hi,

    Which size paper clip did you use? I don’t want my angel to be too “big-headed.” 🙂 Thanks!

  76. Hi Jackie, I don’t know if there is more than one size. My Angel is about 1 inch wide across the bottom and about 1 1/2 inch high from the top of a wing to the bottom.

  77. I made these years ago with my Sunday school class. So easy. We also used a small washer for a halo. Then I did them using pink ribbon for a breast cancer awareness project. If you got your mammogram, you got an angel. Everyone loved them.

  78. Thanks, Noreen. That helps. I didn’t know there were different sizes either until I went to buy them. Happy Thanksgiving!

  79. I too bought my beads at michael’s and cannot get the ribbon through the hole-I tried everything and gave up. I looked at my receipt and it said glass beads-so that might be my problem. I will try a.c. Moore and give it another try. Love the idea, it looks so easy.

  80. And this time check the size of the hole in your bead to make sure it is big enough. There are all kinds of beads you can get that have larger holes in the middle – even wood beads.

  81. What a delightful idea — thank you so much for sharing this! I’m making a bunch of them now as Christmas “thank you’s” for my street team (I write angel-themed books). Ended up using wood beads as I couldn’t find plastic ones anywhere, and they look awesome. 🙂

  82. To thread the bead I place the ribbon on top of the hole and push it through with a paper clip. So much easier than taking the free ends and trying to get them through. Sitting here all day making these for family and friends. I love them!

  85. My 9 month old sons Evan and David are Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Survivors that were born at 29 wks 6 days and spent almost 3 months in the Nicu, we decided to make these to be passed out on Christmas Day to the Nicu babies in the hospital. My daughter Elicia (3) and I put together a bag with an angel and hershey kisses it’s our Angel Kisses of Hope bag. I can not wait to take these to the Nicu. Thank you so much for sharing this!!

  86. Love these, they are so cute!! I was thinking, what about spray painting the paper clips a nice gold fleck or silver? Would this work on metal and what would you recommend?:)
    Regards,

  87. I saw this yesterday and bought all the supplies at Dollar Tree. Under $5 for all the supplies and no problems getting the ribbon thru using the
    floss threader. Great craft!

  88. I’m new to your site and I wanted to thank you so much for this tutorial. I found it on Pinterest and I just dropped a bag of them off at Starbucks for a happy New Year’s gift for all my baristas. They squealed! 🙂

    Thank you for your generosity with your creativity! 🙂

  90. I’ve made these and added some tri-beads to them to line the bottom of the skirt before adding the ribbon and head. The tri-beads are pretty easily maneuvered around the bends in the clips and give them a little added color.

  91. Staples office supply has the butterfly paper clips in gold and red–how pretty they will be at Christmas time when made with the red and gold clips! Thanks

  93. I work at our small town library and saw these when searching for craft ideas for kids. I decided to double the ribbon length and make bookmarks as a fundraiser for the Relay for Life event that takes place here every May. I purchased all of the different colors of ribbons that represent the different types of cancers and a variety of beads/pearls. I also printed out a chart of the cancer ribbon colors for reference. They are on display at the library and, for a small donation, people can pick up an Angel Bookmark in memory of someone or to honor a survivor. Some children are even wearing them as a necklace. These are becoming very popular in our community! Thank you for the wonderful idea!

  94. What a wonderful way to use the Paperclip Angel! I hope it brings comfort to whoever uses one.

  95. I’m having trouble getting the ribbon through the pearl hole. Nothing I’ve tried works. I’m not sure what else to do unless look for a larger pearl.

  96. It’s possible you are using real pearls, and their holes are much too tiny to use for this project. What you need are the cheap plastic beads that look like pink pearls. Before you buy, check to be sure they have larger holes. Then you will need to clean the scrap plastic out of the center of each bead, which can be done with a small file or large unfolded paperclip. Good luck with your project.

  97. Thanks for the clarification. Well apparently Tyler Texas doesn’t carry plastic pearl beads, inexpensive ones anyway. I finally found an assorted sized package at Michael’s for $3.49. I guess I’ll have to look elsewhere for the beads.

  99. I put a fancy bead cap on the bead to to create a halo. If you do this, you can also use pony beads to make it easier to thread the ribbon. For my gentlemen teacher friends, I used copper wire and a pencil to make a stand up halo and attached it to a regular large paper clip for a book mark or to a key ring.

  101. Hi,
    I’m very new to your site but I saw this on one of my emails and decided that it would be so much fun to bring to the C.O.A. craft class. We seniors love making easy thing that we can sell at our fair to make money for the C.O.A.
    Thank you so much for the idea and if you have any more that would help us out, don’t hesitate to show me. God bless you.
    Fran

  102. Found these on FaveCrafts. I love it. Couldn’t find the paperclips at WalMart but did find them at Staples a box of 50 for 2.99. And got the beads at Hobby Lobby. Had a little trouble getting the ribbon thru the hole until I saw the hint to use a reg paperclip.
    Love love these. Guess what the females in my family are gonna get for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  103. Not easy when you can’t buy butterfly paperclips in Australia or at least in WA and have to bend the paper clip yourself.

  105. Thank you so much for your help! I didn’t know how to help Suzy find the butterfly clips where she is, and I hope it helps others in Australia who want to make the angels.

  106. You are very welcome Noreen 🙂 I think this angel idea is really fantastic and I appreciate so much that you shared it with us – and the step-by-step instructions are so detailed and helpful. Can’t WAIT to make one myself!

  108. i love it and put 4 beads on the wings to add color have made many !!! My mom made different angels !! thank you for sharing !!!!

  109. I love these, my daughter works at a retirement community and each coordinator has a night they provide a quick craft or treat for the residents in addition to all the other activities. As it is after dinner it needs to be quick. This was a HUGE success. I like the idea of adding beads to the wings for color as well.

  110. A piece of light florist’s wire bent in the center makes a great tool for getting the ribbon through. Just put the ribbon in the bend and feed the ends through the bead hole and pull. Some ribbons are a bit harder than others. The very thin satin type work best.

  111. I spray painted my paper clips white, and then made the angels. Both ways are super pretty!

  113. Hi! Can I use this idea in a Sunday school lesson I’m putting together to share with several churches? I would reference this webpage as the source for the idea!

  114. Hi Erin. What a great idea! I’m glad it can be useful to you.Thanks for sharing my angel and letting people know where to find it.

  116. Hi Sherry, The butterfly clip I used is about 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. Since it’s the only size I’ve seen, I don’t know if its small or large.

  118. I love this little craft but I cannot get the ribbon to go through the bead. I have tried the listed suggestions. Any other ideas??

  119. I cannot get the ribbon to go through the bead of the paper clip angel. Any suggestions? I have tried a craft needle, a needle threader, an open paper clip, and a quilting pin.

  120. After all the ways you’ve tried and failed to get the ribbon through the bead, the only thing I can suggest is that you will need a bead with a larger hole. Be sure to look at the hole size of the bead before you purchase a package of them. Usually you can tell just by looking whether the hole size will be adequate.

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