Handmade Cowgirl Country Christmas Tree Series, Episode 3, Rope Ornament Tutorial

Welcome back! It's been below zero here on my little "Patch-A-Heaven" the past few days so needless to say I have been hunkered down inside working on my décor for Christmas! (I hate cold!!) But it has allowed me to get a lot done!
The next ornament tutorial for the Handmade Cowgirl Tree is a Rope Ornament. Most Cowgirls know how to swing a rope, whether it's to compete in Break-Away, Team Roping competitions, on the ranch to catch and drag a calf to the fire for branding or catch a rogue sheep! So today's ornament is true to the Cowgirl Spirit! This ornament was compliments of my mother. She is one of the contributing artists in this series. So here is how to make Lorna's Rope Ornament:

You will need:
Hemp rope
Ribbon to embellish
Rhinestones, for embellishment
Ornament hooks or Suede Lacing
Scissors





































These are super simple and look great on the tree!

Directions:
Real ropes have a loop at the end called a Hondo. To make this just create a loop at one end and then wrap the end around the rope and put the end of the rope through the hole to create a sliding loop.

Once you have the sliding loop made, now stick the end of the rope (without the loop) through the loop and pull through until you can make a circle with the rope, then continue to coil the rope up until all the rope is pulled into a circle.

Once you have all the rope coiled, tie the ribbon around it and tie a knot. Put the ornament hook through the knot and then tie a bow in the ribbon.

Or you could use Suede Lacing to hang them. To do this just wrap the lacing around the rope at the top and then tie the red ribbon bow around the lacing, just above the rope coil. Then tie a knot at the top of the Lacing to hang.

Here I am using the Lacing instead of the hooks.

Then I glued a rhinestone on the bow, because Cowgirls love bling!