Christmas Gifts 2010 - Part 4 (Easy Christmas Cracker Tutorial)

This year, and for the first time, I decided to make everybody a Christmas cracker!  I love these crackers because it's always fun to see what little surprise you're gonna get, but the ones you buy in the store usually have stupid things in them (the cheaper ones anyway!) and I'm not willing to pay the exorbitant prices for those containing something more worthwhile.
I got a tutorial from the net and was about to following it, when I decided I have a simpler (yet a slightly less fancy, but cheaper!) idea myself, so here are my crackers:

First, let's see what you need for these goodies:

toilet paper roll
tissue paper
cracker
fancy scissors
tying ribbon
fancy ribbon
goodies to put inside the cracker
double sided sticky tape
glue pen (or ordinary glue if you don't have this pen)
Oh, and I almost forgot about these:

ordinary scissors, and
glue dots

Cut out your desired size of tissue paper, and then cut the left and right edges with fancy scissors.  Centre the toilet roll on the paper:

Draw a line of glue on the roll and stick the edge of the paper onto the roll and start rolling all the way to the top:

Draw another line of glue at the end of the paper and stick it to the roll.
Take a small piece of double sided tape and stick it to the centre of the cracker:

Then slide the cracker into the roll and (with a ruler or something thin and long) press the double sided tape to the inside of the roll to secure the cracker in place.  This just helps that the cracker stays to one side and doesn't fall out while you're working with it, or doesn't get in the way while you're adding the little gifts into the cracker.

Squish the paper together at the end of one side of the cracker (so that it's easier to tie the ribbon in place):

Then tie the ribbon into a double knot and curl the ends:

Trim off any piece of the cracker that sticks out (if any):

Now you add your little gifts!  When you're done, tie the other end of the cracker as well and trim the actual cracker if necessary:

Now it's time to decorate!  Measure a piece of fancy ribbon and cut to the required length.  Put the ribbon in place around the cracker (remember to align it in the middle of the cracker, and don't be like me and concentrate only on sticking it down and forgetting all about the ribbon placement), then add some double sided tape to the first side that needs to be stuck down:

You could use glue dots for this as well, but this tape is a little less hassle to work with, and I didn't find it necessary to use the dots here.  Stick that side of the ribbon down, and then add the glue dots to the other side of the ribbon to be stuck down (you can't see them, but trust me, they're there):

Glue dots are quite a bit more sticky than this double sided tape I have, so they should hold the fancy ribbon securely in place for good, especially if you're using a harder/stiffer ribbon like mine.  Double sided tape should work fine with softer ribbons.
Stick the dots down.

And that's it!

If you want to, you can tie some silver ribbon in with the blue ones on the sides (I don't have any silver right now), it'll make them look just a tad prettier and blend in with the fancy ribbon in the middle.

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Chic On A Shoestring Decorating
Lit And Laundry
A Few Of My Favorite Things
The Shabby Nest
Skip To My Lou
Luv, Laughter And Happily Ever After