A friend of mine made some of these for me years ago and I thought they were so adorable. Thanks goes out to Rebecca for sending me the instructions!
This ornament is wonderful for putting on wrapped packages as decoration or hanging on your tree. You can make a lot of them at one time without much effort, and your friends and relatives will love them. Very young children can assemble these as well, so it is a good family activity to do with your kids.
You will need:
rotini pasta (one piece of pasta for each angel)
Small wooden balls, small enough to fit nicely over the piece of Ziti pasta but big enough not to fall through (one ball for each angel)
Bowtie pasta (one piece of pasta for each angel)
Pastina pasta
Elbow macaroni (2 pieces for each angel)
Gold pipe cleaners
Very thin white ribbon (or gold, if you make a white body with gold wings)
Spray paint
Glue (hot glue gun works best, except use Elmers Glue-All for the pastina pasta)
Very small white flowers (not real), optional (or gold if you make a white body with gold wings)
Take the rotini and elbow pasta pieces outside and lay them out on a sheet of newspaper. Using the spray paint and following the instructions on the can, paint them all the same color: pastel pink, pastel blue, or white. Let them dry for amount of time indicated on can. Then turn them over and paint the other side.
While your painted pasta is drying, begin assembling the heads of the angels. Glue the pastina pasta to the top, back, and sides of the wooden balls. This will be the curly hair. After these are dry, lay them on a sheet of newspaper out of doors and spray paint them white. After those sides are dry, turn them over and spray the other sides to make sure they're even.
Spread the bowtie pasta out on a sheet of newspaper out of doors and spray paint them white if you painted the Ziti and elbow pastel colors. Paint them gold if you painted the rotini and elbow pasta white.
After everything has finished drying, take all the painted parts inside and lay them all out on a table. Make sure everything is within reach. Now you can begin to assemble each angel one by one.
First glue a white pastina/wooden ball head to the end of a painted piece of rotini pasta. Then glue two pieces of elbow macaroni to the sides of the rotini-body to form arms. The ends of the elbow macaroni should come about a millimeter or two apart in front of the body. Now glue a piece of bowtie pasta to the back of the angel to form wings. Cut a piece of ribbon about ten inches long and fold in half. Glue the ends to the back of her head to make a hanger. Repeat these steps for every angel.
While everything is drying, begin on the halos. Cut a small piece of the gold pipe cleaner (about 2 inches) and bend into a circle that would fit the angel's head snuggly. Twist the ends together so it forms a perfect ring. When everything else is dry, slide the halo down the angel's hanger and glue in place. It is important for the hanger to be coming out inside of the halo, to get it to hang right. This also helps to support the hanger, and to conceal the hanger's glue. Do this to all the dried angels.
If you wish, for a nice finishing touch you can add a flower or two to each of the angel's hands. Just glue the stems between the two elbow macaroni pieces.
Hang one angel up on your tree, and give away the others as decorations on wrapped packages.