How To Make A Unique, Inexpensive Paper Ball Garland

I am loving all the paper crafts I'm seeing on the internet these days. Beautiful stuff. One project in particular caught my eye.... paper ball ornaments.
They were beautiful. Put together using wire with little caps on the top and bottom using beads/buttons/ etc. Wow! Gorgeous! My only problem is money, unless you have a stash of supplies, it's gonna cost you a pretty penny to make them.

I thought, there's got to be a way of making them without any purchases needing to be made. Here's what I came up with. I've made a garland so far and would love to use them for ornaments on my tree this year. Who knows what else I'll come up with, any ideas?

For a quick reminder of what to look for, where you might find cool paper products and how you could use them, click here: Decorating Your Home With Paper for a free subscription to my Cheat Sheet Postcard series. 

This is all the supplies you need. A magazine you don't mind cutting up, scissors and glue. Pretty easy to come up with for most of us.  Simply wrap the paper strip around on itself and glue in place.

 Each ball uses four strips of paper. (I cut the magazine down into strips the short direction btw).

 Here's some all glued together.

 To add a little bit more to them I cut out "leaves" and glued three to the top. Then added the string to hang them with.

 Here's a finished product.

 Add a drop of glue on the inside and press them together to make cute flowers, add something for a stem and maybe a colorful center to finish them off.  Who couldn't use a cute paper flower bouquet?

 I used floral wire for the base of my vine and simply glued a few on before putting it in place, then I filled it in while it was hanging.  If you don't have floral wire (again, working on the cheap here) try using ribbon, twine or string of some kind, even twisted paper.  You could even glue them to a string of lights.

 Here's when I've added and filled it in a little- not done quite yet.

 Here's a close up. I love how each little ball is full of color and a variety of designs.

I thought it still needed a little something more so I used some green ribbon I found at a yard sale for a quarter and cut it into small strips, tying it onto my base.  Just gives it a little more depth and texture.  Easy, inexpensive garland. 

Have you done any paper crafts?  I'd love to see your creativity at work.

For a quick reminder of what to look for, where you might find cool paper products and how you could use them, click here, Decorating Your Home With Paper for a free subscription to my Cheat Sheet Postcard series.