Get a lot of style for your efforts.

• Jars of red, blue, and green acrylic paints
• Distilled water
• Plastic spoon
• Paper cups
• Liquid starch
• 9x13-inch baking pan
• Construction paper
• Comb or feather
• Paper towels
• Tracing paper
• 1/8-inch-wide ribbon for hangers
• Glue stick

1. Download the patterns. Download requires free Adobe Acrobat software.

Marbelized Ornaments Patterns

Download Adobe Acrobat

2. Make a paint-and-water mixture. Use the plastic spoon to mix 2 tablespoons of red paint with 2 tablespoons of distilled water in a paper cup. Add more paint or water, if necessary, to make a creamy mixture.

3. Pour starch into the baking pan. Use enough so that it measures 1 to 1-1/2-inches deep. Skim the surface with a paper towel to remove any air bubbles.

 

Swirl the paint.

4. Drop paint onto starch. Dribble several drops of the paint mixture onto the starch. If the paint sinks below the starch surface, add a little more distilled water to the paint. Use a comb or experiment with other tools, such as a feather or stick, to swirl designs onto the top of the paint and starch mixture.

 

Place center first.

5. Add paper. Lay a sheet of construction paper on the top of the mixture, letting the middle of the page touch first. Smooth the outside edges of the paper over the mixture.

6. Blot and let dry. After about 15 seconds, lift the paper from the paint. Lay it, paint side up, on paper towels. Lay a paper towel on top of the paper. With the heel of your hand, press down on the paper towel to remove the excess paint. Pull off the paper towel. Repeat the pressing motion with another paper towel. Lay aside the marbled paper, paint side up, to dry. Skim the surface of the paint mixture with a paper towel to remove the old paint. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to make another marbled sheet.

7. Glue 2 sheets together. Rub the glue stick over the unpainted side of one sheet of paper. Fasten the two marbled sheets together.

8. Cut out bells. Trace the bell pattern, using tracing paper and a pencil. Cut out the traced pattern. Trace two bell patterns on the double-thickness marbled paper. Cut out the bells. On one bell only, cut a slit from the bottom of the bell up to the end of the blue line on the pattern. Cut one 4-inch piece of ribbon for the hanger. Gently pull apart the glued edges at the bell top and insert the ends of the ribbon. Press the glued edges back together.

 

Assembly.

9. Assemble ornament. Cut a slit from the top of the second bell up to the end of the red line on the pattern. Holding the bells perpendicular to each other, slip the bell with the hanger over the top of the second bell.

10. Repeat Steps 7, 8, and 9 using the star and the tree patterns.