Paper Stars, Pom Poms and Gold Tassels

Christmas is slowly creeping into our household. The excitement is building and our youngest is insisting that there is only "one more day to go", most days. I still haven't ventured into the loft to find the tree, decorations or lights, but I have been trying to festive up my mood a little by making some decorations.

 

I've been making paper stars... having not ventured into the realms of origami before, it took Tobias' videoed instructions here and a bit of child-free concentration for me to get the knack. You could make them with whatever paper you have to hand. I've been using envelopes, paper bags, fallen out pages of old books, music paper, some patterned paper from a craft magazine - it's amazing what you find lying about when you start to look. Every festive red envelope that plops through the door now has star potential!

 

 

The stars have been threaded onto some cotton yarn, tying each as I go to hold them in place. Lovely on their own, but even better for a bit of bling and sparkle I think...

 

 

The tassels are so easy to make.

 

First find some sparkly yarn and some scissors, then cut two lengths (for tying) and lay them out next to each other but not too far apart.

 

 

(Yarn and coffee included for scale!)

 

Wrap the yarn around all the fingers on one of your hands about 15-20 times.

 

 

Carefully slide the yarn off your hand and lay over the two cut lengths. Tie each end.

 

 

 

Cut in the middle...

 

 

...and tidy up any sticking out bits by either trimming them off or poking them back through the tassel with a darning needle.

 

 

As well as the tassels, I made few pom poms from some scraps of cotton I had collected and added them to my string of stars.

 

 

 

I fancy making a few giant stars too... I'm just wondering what the biggest piece of paper I can find might be... I'll let you know.

 

xx