Isn’t it fun to push a spoon into the seam of a pre-made biscuit dough container and watch it pop into a spiral?

That was the inspiration for this fun and easy ornament craft. Well that, and the fact that we started going through a lot more toilet paper once my daughter potty trained. I felt I had to do something with all those rolls.

Though my daughter and I originally made these to hang in her room, they can also make gorgeous holiday ornaments. Here’s what I did:

Paint

I painted the outside of the roll with a heavy coat of acrylic paint. Washable paint can make the craft more kid-friendly, though you may need an extra coat:

Then I painted the inside of the tube with a contrasting color. It can be tricky to get full coverage, but you can always touch up bare spots once the tube has been cut:

I also tried cutting another tube in half and coloring the outside with a metallic paint marker and painting the inside with blue paint:

Now let the tubes dry for about 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the kind of paint you use.

Cut

Once the paint is dry, it’s time to start cutting! Start at the bottom of the tube and cut in a spiral until you reach the other end of the tube:

As you can see from the photo up top, the way you cut your tube can dramatically change the look of the ornament. You can make a single cut to make a simple spiral or make additional cuts to create more curlicues. Sometimes the edges can turn out a bit rough, so you may want to trim the edges to smooth things out.

Hang

Now all you need to do is punch a hole in one end of the ornament and make a hanger. I like to use fishing line to get that “magically floating” effect, but you can also use yarn, ribbon or a piece of thin wire to hang your creation.

Variations

The beautiful thing about this craft is that there are so many ways to vary how you do it. Here are some suggestions to get your imagination going:

Rolls

Vary the length and width of your ornament by using paper towel or wrapping paper rolls. I also love experimenting with smaller sizes as I did with the silver and blue ornament.

Decoration

I had acrylic paints and a metallic marker on hand, but you can use just about anything to decorate your tubes. Try markers, colored pencils, or crayons for the outside of the tube. You can also experiment with gluing glitter, magazine photos, bits of tissue paper or wrapping paper to the outside of the tube.

If you come up with another fun variation, please share in the comments!

Kendahl Cruver is a freelance writer and mother of two in Seattle, Washington. She crafts to get away from her laptop and spend quality time with her kiddos.