DIY Foam Ball Ornaments

When I was in Girl Scouts (many years ago!) we hosted an annual Christmas Bazaar for the community to buy & sell their crafts and baked goods.  One year my troop made ornaments to sell.  We started with ready-made satin-covered foam ball ornaments.
They looked like this:

[source]

Then we added beads and sequins to the balls using stick pins.  I LOVED this craft.  It was so much fun and I felt the results were so pretty.  Here's an image I found online that accurately depicts the craft:

[source]

Apparently this is a vintage craft. ????  At least the ornaments in the above photo are being sold as "Vintage Home Made Beaded Sequin Satin Christmas Ornaments."  The word Victorian was even used in the description.  Victorian?  I think I need to research this a bit more.  Perhaps one of you, my lovely readers, could shed some light on this for me?

Anyway, I wanted to do this with my kids, but ran into a road block.  Satin ball ornaments aren't readily available like they used to be.  (could that be because they are vintage?) You can order them online (at great cost), but none of my local stores sold them.  Major bummer!  So I improvised and bought some plain styrofoam balls at JoAnn's.  I also bought a bunch of beads and 2 types of stick pins:

Here's a photo collage that shows how I made my test version of this craft:

I started by sticking a bamboo kebab skewer into the ball.  

This gave the kids something to hold while they painted.

After painting my son added a strip of red bias tape around the middle of his ball.  

He secured it with stick pins.

We didn't paint all the balls.  

Here's one made with leather studs.

I think brads would work as well.

What a goofy grin!

Here's another look at Riley's UFO ornament:

The photo doesn't show it, but the surface of the balls

are sparkly even after painting.

Here's the one I made:

Each of my kids has their own little tree in their bedrooms.

The kids love having their own trees and being able

to decorate them with their own ornaments was the icing on the cake!

I'm super curious about your thoughts on this craft.  Have you heard of it before?  Is it really vintage?  Am I at the age now that everything I did in my childhood will be considered vintage????  I know all my favorite music is now considered classic rock.....maybe I am getting old....

Here's to hoping you are well and surrounded by those you love during this holiday season!  

Cheers and big hugs from Montana'

Before you click away, I'd like to invite you to join in my current sewing/craft challenge.
I party here:
http://www.blissfulbucketlist.com/2012/12/flaunt-it-friday-24-blog-design-giveaway.html
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-categorically-crafting-linky.html
http://www.sunscholars.com/2012/12/for-kids-friday-92.html
http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/2012/12/welcome-to-time-to-link-up-and-show-off.html
http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/2012/12/frugalicious-friday-toby-and-max.html
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/2012/12/flaunt-it-friday-130.html
http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/2012/12/feature-friday-link-party-59.html
http://www.craftionary.net/2012/12/friday-link-party-46.html
http://www.733blog.com/2012/12/what-are-little-boys-made-of-140.html
http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2012/12/artsy-corner-link-party-10.html
http://www.bearrabbitbear.com/2012/12/things-ive-done-thursday-65.html
http://www.seven-alive.com/2012/12/link-it-up-thursday-49.html