With the holiday season approaching, it is time to start decorating the home, buying gifts and sending cards. Time pressures mean many people buy ready-made gifts or opt for in-store wrapping services. But handmade items, however small, can really personalize a gift or card.
The instructions below, with pictures, show how to make a pretty and really easy tissue paper star. Tissue paper, which can be found in art supply and good paper stores, is thin and delicate, which means the finished star looks elegant stuck onto a card or gift; and, because it lets the light through, it makes a beautiful pattern when stuck on a window.
This star is relatively large and is best as a window decoration. Once the technique has been mastered, it is easy enough to reduce the size of the star by using a smaller rectangle when measuring and cutting out the tissue paper (steps 1-4). A business card or 2" x 1½" (5 x 3½ cm) matchbox are the ideal size for stars suitable for cards and gifts.
Children from about 10 upwards can also have fun making this star – it might be too fiddly for younger children – and will probably only require supervision at the cutting and sticking stages.
Instructions to Make Holiday Decorations
- Select a sheet of tissue paper of any color.
- Take an old postcard and fold it in half. Otherwise, take a piece of fairly stiff card and measure out a rectangle of 3" x 4½" (8 x 11½ cm).
- Put this card in one corner of the sheet of tissue of paper and draw around it lightly with a lead pencil – the paper is very thin and the marks will show through if they are too dark.
- Put the card next to the first rectangle and draw round it again. Repeat until there are eight rectangles on the paper. Cut them out carefully with scissors.
- With the pencil markings facing upwards, fold one of the rectangles in half, lengthways.
- Unfold, then fold each corner into the center line that has just been made. Try to be as precise as possible with all the folds. This will ensure the points of the star really are pointy and will make the sticking stage much easier.
- Next, fold the two bottom corners into the center line again. The piece should now resemble a kite (check the images below if in doubt).
- Repeat steps 5 to 7 with all the remaining rectangles.
- Once all eight pieces have been folded into kite shapes, place in a rough circle, with the folded sides facing up.
- Take two pieces and lay one on top of the other. The top of the ‘kite’, which has the shorter sides, will form the middle of the star, while the bottom, with the longer sides, will be at the outer edges of the star. The short side of the top piece should be aligned with the center line of the bottom piece, and the points that will be at the middle of the star should meet neatly.
- Once the two pieces are correctly positioned, stick them together with a piece of sticky tape about 1" (2 cm) long at the point where the short side of the top piece meets the center line of the bottom piece.
- Stick the third piece on top of the second piece, according to the instructions in steps 10-11. Continue all the way round the star in the same direction, sticking the next four pieces in place. Ensure that each new piece always goes on top of the preceding one.
- Stick the eighth piece of the star on top of seventh piece. As this is now the final piece, the side of the eighth piece that is still loose needs to be tucked under the first piece before being stuck in place. It is possible to turn the star over at this point to check it is correct. The under-over pattern of the star should be the same all the way round.
- Well done! The star is now complete and ready to brighten up someone’s holiday. Try making the next one with two, four or even eight different colors.
Click here for details of how to make easy, cost-effective paper snowflakes for cards and windows.
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