I found this on one of our azaleas his spring, while they were blooming. I found it in this condition. 

I’ve never seen anything like this before.  I did some research and discovered its from a bald face hornet. (VIA Wikipedia)

Let me just say that I saw way too many scary looking images trying to identify this paper nest!

Just glad mine was little and unoccupied.

Each spring the queen decides where she wants the nest and begins building it and lays the first batch of eggs in it. These become the workers. They chew up wood which mixes with a starch in their saliva and they then spread it around with the mandibles and legs and it dries into a papery structure.

Close up you can see the fibers and various colors from the types of materials used. 
I once found a yellow jacket nest that had bits of color from newspapers. This is the very start of one. By summer’s end it could be the size of a basketball and house 700 hornets. This one was about 3 feet off the ground and most likely was torn open by a raccoon or fox. (Thank goodness)

Sharing a super cool example of God’s creativeness.

Have a lovely week.

Katey