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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