DIY Lace Twinkle Lights

Twinkle lights can bring an immediate sense of warmth and joy to a room like no other.
I love to adorn every room with them when it comes times for the holidays — and I’ve 
been known to drape some here and there even when the onset of winter season is way 
off in the distance.

Today I’m combining twinkle lights with another one of my decor loves — lace — for a
 beautiful decoration that’s perfect for this time of year. Here’s how to make your own
 lace twinkle lights!

Materials: Water balloons, lace fabric, fabric stiffener, petroleum jelly, scissors, and
 a needle or pin.

1. First, Cut your lace fabric into pieces or strips — they can be as long, short, wide,
 or narrow as you like. Try a couple different sizes and shapes, and see what works
 best for you.

2. Blow up your water balloons with air and coat them in a layer of petroleum jelly.
 The water balloons will determine the shape of the lace spheres, so keep this in
 mind when it comes to size. I found that smaller balloons (like the one on the right)
 looked best in the end.

3. Submerge a piece of lace into the fabric stiffener and wrap it around a balloon.

4. Keep wrapping until the balloon is full covered (you can overlap fabric if necessary),
 leaving the knotted portion of the balloon visible. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each of
 your balloons, then let them sit for at least 8 hours to dry — I let mine sit overnight.

5. Once the material has dried and hardened, use a needle or pin to pop each balloon,
 and pull the balloons out through the pre-existing hole.

6. You can pop your twinkle light right into this hole. My lace spheres all seemed to
 stay put on their own, but you’re having trouble getting yours to stay on your twinkle
 lights, you can use a needle and thread to stitch up the opening over the wire, as 
shown below.

I liked alternating lace sphere and plain twinkle light in random segments. I also really
 like how each sphere turned out slightly differently — it adds to the whole 
hand-touched feeling.