DIY paper stars...

Following on from last Saturday's post about the Scandinavian tradition of decorating for advent with stars, I am today sharing a tutorial on how you can make your own 3D paper stars.

The large paper star lanterns are probably THE classic Scandinavian holiday decor!

They look lovely with lights inside hung in the window, as is traditional in Scandinavia, but you can also make a statement and hang 3 or more in clusters on your wall, in a corner or over the dining table...

Here's how I made mine:

All you'll need is some A4 cardstock paper, scissors, high tack glue and a brush (or heavy duty double sided tape)...and some cord for hanging.

I used this simple template designed by the very talented Lova Blavarg for Sweet Paul's website.

You can download the template  here

 To make a 7 point star, you will need to print out the template 7 times.

Then cut out the templates.

TIP! To make folding easier, use a pen or pencil with a ruler to "score" the lines before folding.

Fold along the middle, making sure the plain side (without any lines) is facing out, then fold the flaps.

Apply glue to the outside of the long flaps, and glue two of the templates together to create 1 point of the star...

Repeat until you have 7 points, then start assembling the star...

I found that the best way to do this, was to glue two points together at a time (you will be left with 1 single point) ...then start gluing all these together...

Before you glue the last two point on, use a holepuncher (or a sharp pencil) to create two holes at the base of the points...This is to thread your cord through for hanging, but will also be useful when it comes to closing up your star...especially if you want to insert some battery LED's in there...

You dont have to just make a plain white star....you can of course use colored card: I used black...

Or you can even make a statement with a cut out pattern, then place some LED's in there to light it up!

To make the patterned star with the cutouts, just draw up some shapes on the original template and cut them out as shown below...or you can download my pattern here for your convenience: Just save to your computer then print...

Once you've cut out your pattern with a scalpel/scissors as shown above, follow the same steps as before to assemble your star.

I am so pleased with how these turned out, and I love how they look in my front room!!

(Especially next to my new Andy warhol quote prints...an early Christmas present from mamma and Pappa...TUSEN TAKK!!:))

So simple and stylish...I may keep them out even after Christmas...??

What do you think??