About this stencil
Baubles are the easiest Christmas motif to get wrong as a stencil. The obvious drawing, a circle with stripes and dots, falls apart the moment you cut it: every stripe becomes a loose strip and every dot drops out. This design was built the other way round. The two horizontal bands run right off the edge of the circle, so they act as bridges holding the top and bottom of the bauble in place. The chevron sits between them and touches both, the snowflake hangs from the upper band on a short stem, and the three lines below hang from the lower band. Nothing floats.
The result cuts in one continuous pass with scissors or a craft knife. The narrowest element is the 4mm stem on the snowflake; the bands are 6mm; the loop at the top is a notched ring rather than a closed one for the same reason. At A4 the bauble is about 14cm across, which suits a wall or a window. Printed at 35 to 40 percent it fits a card blank or a gift tag.
It pairs naturally with the snowflake set. The small snowflake inside the bauble is the same six-arm geometry as the bold snowflake, so the two designs sit well together on a wall or across a run of wrapping paper.
Best surfaces & materials
The bauble has large open areas, so it takes paint, spray and even icing sugar happily. These are the surfaces it is used on most.
| Surface | Recommended paint | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walls and doors | Chalk paint or matt emulsion, foam roller | Print at 100%. Hang three or four from a painted string line for a garland effect. |
| Card blanks | Acrylic through a sponge, or ink pad | Print at 40%. Gold or red on cream card is the classic. |
| Gift tags | Ink pad or embossing powder | Print at 25% and cut on a machine. One bauble per tag. |
| Windows | Snow spray or white glass paint | Print at 100%. The big open areas spray cleanly from 25cm. |
| Cakes and biscuits | Icing sugar or cocoa dusted through | Cut from fresh card. The chevron band comes out crisp. |
How to use this stencil — step by step
This is a quick stencil. The only thing to watch is keeping the two bands and the loop notch intact, because they are what holds the design together.
- Print at the scale your project needs: 100% for walls and windows, 40% for cards, 25% for tags.
- Cut the circle, cap and loop as one outline. Leave the two bands, the stem and the loop notch uncut; they are the bridges.
- Cut the chevron and the three drop lines last, when the card is already supported by the bands.
- Fix with low-tack tape at the cap and at the bottom of the circle. The bands keep the middle flat.
- Sponge or roll from the centre outwards. Keep the sponge almost dry across the bands so paint does not creep under them.
- Lift while damp. For a garland, repeat along a line and paint a thin string between the loops with a fine brush.
Two-colour baubles: paint the whole bauble in one colour, let it dry, then mask the top and bottom with scrap paper and go over the band area only in gold or silver. The chevron and bands pick up the second colour and the rest stays plain. It looks like a glass ornament and takes two minutes longer than a single colour.
Project ideas for this design
The bauble is a decoration motif rather than an illustration, so most of these are about repetition and colour.
Painted garland
Four or five baubles along a wall in alternating red, green and gold, joined by a hand-painted string. Chalk paint wipes off in January.
Christmas cards
One bauble at 40% in gold on cream card, string drawn with a fine liner. Simple, quick, and looks hand-made in the right way.
Gift tags
Print at 25%, machine cut, ink pad in red on kraft tags. Two dozen in half an hour.
Window display
Three baubles in white snow spray hanging from the top of a window at different heights.
Iced biscuits
Icing sugar dusted through a 30% stencil onto chocolate biscuits. The chevron reads clearly even at that size.
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Frequently asked questions
Why do the stripes run past the edge of the bauble?
Because they are bridges. A stripe that stops inside the circle becomes a loose strip when you cut the stencil. By running the bands off the edge, the top and bottom of the bauble stay attached to the rest of the sheet. The stem under the snowflake and the notch in the loop do the same job.
Can I add my own dots or stripes?
Yes, if each one touches a band or the outside edge. Any white detail that sits on its own inside the black will fall out when cut. That is the one rule for this design.
What size prints on a gift tag?
About 25% of A4, which gives a bauble 35mm across. At that size we would cut it on a Cricut or Silhouette rather than by hand; the stem gets narrow.
Does it work with the snowflake stencils?
It was designed to. The snowflake inside the bauble uses the same geometry as the bold snowflake, so the two look like a set when used together on a wall or wrapping paper.