The straight lines and curving notes of sheet music pages can lend a simple elegance to a range of Christmas projects, from cards to tree ornaments, making it a creative alternative to conventional holiday craft materials.
Sheet music can easily be altered with antique finishes or color to make it as versatile as traditional paper choices for crafts and paper projects.
Deck the Halls
Paper chains, customarily fashioned from craft or construction paper, have additional charm when woven from strips of sheet music. Tea-dye the sheets for an antique or vintage touch, or leave white for a striking contrast with the dark green branches of a Christmas tree. String long chains as a garland across windowsills, mantlepieces, or door frames.
Use an ordinary snowflake pattern to cut intricate designs from folded sheet music and string the finished creations as an elaborate garland. The traditional snowflake design takes on new dimensions when decorated with fragments of notes and lyrics, proving no two "snowflakes" are alike.
Holiday Greetings
Wish friends and family a merry Christmas with old-fashioned cards constructed from sheet music. Fold pieces to make simple card backgrounds, gluing Christmas clip art or holiday scrapbook decals to the front, such as red poinsettia blossoms or green holly leaves.
To use the sheet music as contrast material, fold a matching piece of craft paper or colored cardstock and punch with an intricate design using a holiday paper punch. Glue the sheet music card inside, music side facing out – whether snowflakes or Christmas stars, the design will be highlighted by the cream or tan paper exposed underneath.
Trim the Tree
Ornaments made from sheet music are as varied as the sheets available and the artist's imagination. Cut doves, birds, butterflies, reindeer – whatever pattern is desired, using templates or tracing handy shapes from cookie cutters or stencils. Trace the edges with glue and glitter for an elegant finishing touch.
More elaborate projects include old-fashioned paper dolls cut from sheet music. Trace and cut Victorian designs, such as fancy-dress ballgown figures or ballerina-style spread skirts; paint or lightly color the figures, then highlight with glitter and glue for additional charm.
To create simpler paper doll designs, use a paper chain pattern to cut multiple dolls from an easy template. A variety of paper chain patterns are readily available through craft sites, kid's craft books, and other paper craft sources -- with designs ranging from ladies in old-fashioned gowns to the traditional children-holding-hands template. Cut the paper chain into individual pieces, then color and decorate the individual dolls as desired.
Dos and Don'ts
Experiment with different creative concepts using sheet music. Colored glitter and lightweight beads are among the many alternative garnishes for finishing your ornaments; elaborate paper chain designs printed online may create striking garlands using sheet music as a primary material.
Make sure that only real sheet music – from books or loose-leaf pages – is used to create paper projects, since it is illegal to photocopy music due to copyright violations. Use unwanted or outdated copies from a personal collection or bargain store finds to create these unique paper projects.
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