I love making my own decorations for holidays! And these lovely paper stars are really nice to put on your window, or give away as a Christmas present. For me it’s not Christmas until I have one of my Christmas stars up 🙂 I also have stars for other seasons and holiday’s, but decorating for Christmas is always the nicest. As a bonus it looks like a really pretty mandala.
Click through for step-by-step instructions for making your own Christmas star! You can get printable instructions by signing up for my newsletter at the bottom of the post.
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Materials
The first step is to gather your materials:
- Kite paper* – Kite paper is a strong, transparent craft paper. It doesn’t tear as easily as tissue paper, but is still delicate.
- If you don’t want to buy a large package of Kite Paper you can order your very own DIY kit for me! You’ll get enough pre-cut pieces of paper to make three stars in any color you’d like.
- Glue Stick/Paper glue*
- Scissors or a knife
- Ruler
You can get printable instructions by signing up here!
Cutting
The star is made by folding the points separately and then gluing them together to make a whole star.
For this star you’ll need 8 rectangular pieces of kite paper. I used 5 x 7 cm / 1.9 x 2.7 inches for my star. If you want a smaller or larger star you can change the size of your pieces.
It’s really important that the pieces are the same size and have even edges. The best thing is to fold the kite paper, making sure the creases are really sharp, and use a knife to cut the paper. Be careful so the paper doesn’t rip.
You can also use scissors, just make sure you cut it very carefully.
Folding
Now to the actual folding!
Preparing: Fold the sheets lengthwise, so you get a sharp crease down the middle and unfold again. Then fold all 4 corners towards the middle.
Step 1: Unfold the lower corners and fold the lower two corners towards the new crease.
Step 2: Fold inwards along the corner creases from the preparing stage.
Step 3-4: Fold the top flaps/corners towards the middle crease. When you fold the flaps be careful so the paper stays where it should. The double paper underneath has a tendency to move.
Step 5: The star looks nicer if it’s flat at the end, so it’s a good idea to get out that paper glue and fix down the flaps.
Now you have one point for your star! It should look something like this (but without that pesky gap in the middle):
Now make 7 more that before you move on to the finish.
Finish
Glue all 8 pieces together into a star. Start with one piece and put glue on one lower corner, put the next piece on top, matching the sides to the middle lines, like this:
Continue like this until you have glued together all the pieces, and connected the last two pieces into one whole star.
Congratulations on your star!
To put the star on your window you can use a glue stick. It will keep the star nicely on the window and is easy to wash off when you take the star down. You only need glue on a few points, not the whole star.
The drawings are borrowed from the book Crafts Through the Year*, and I really recommend that book, it’s a collection of great ways to make decorations and toys for you and your family.
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I would love to see your finished Christmas stars!
- Please tag me on instagram if you share your creations there, or
- share the star here in the comments.
If you have any questions please ask, I can’t wait to see what you come up with!