Making your own Tassels

 Hi Crafters

Today I thought I would show you how I make my paper tassels to decorate my bags and boxes.

I have done these before but I saw a great tip the other day, where the tassel had a strip of metallic tape added to the base of the tassel before cutting and this gave a lovely finish to it making it glitzy.

Take a piece of paper 9" x 4" You can use patterned paper or even upcycle a sheet from a magazine. I like to fold down the top by 1/2" to make it a little stronger . Place a 1cm wide strip of metallic tape along the bottom edge. Cut up to within 1 1/4" from the top so the paper has the frilled look all along it. Fold down the top by 1/2" and place a piece of strong double sided tape along the folded edge, it is better if the tape straddles the folded edge.

Place a piece of ribbon or string at the top left hand corner, with the ribbon loop above the paper . Use a cocktail stick or pokey tool to wind up the edge, roll a little way along before taking out the stick, continue rolling it tightly around to form your tassel. Make sure the edge stays straight and the winding is tight, add a little extra tape at the other end to make it sit flat when you have finished rolling it.

If you like you can add another strip of metallic tape to the top of the tassel. 

 

These are some of the first tassels I made from magazine pages and these has washi tape along the bottom edge 

    
Here is the new version of the tassel made with the metallic edges 

 

Her it is added to a gift bag.

I think it finishes off the bag well , and can be made using papers that coordinate or even papers from the same pack.  

I have enjoyed making all of these tassels they are simple to make and would make a lovely item to add to happy mail envelopes, or box up with some other hand crafted embellishment for a craft friend. 

Why not purchase some pretty wrapping paper and make some tassels with a piece of the paper and then gift the set to a friend or Teacher, we all need gift wrapping and this takes some of the work off a busy person.

Happy Crafting

Dee