Handmade Origami Stars

 Happy post Thanksgiving to you one and all.  Hope your holiday was happy and satisfying.  If you forayed into the black Friday madness, I hope you survived without incident.  I worked retail for too many years and I don't go near any place that entails shopping of any kind.  Period.  I have had my share of the madness.

I did spend time crafting and doing projects with the grandsons.  One of our projects was making these beautiful origami stars that I found on Shelterness.com.  Each piece of the star is called a beam and you can make them with 16, 14, or 12 beams.  The star pictured has 12 beams.  They are so fun and easy, even our 7 year old grandson made them.  Actually, he was going like a house on fire once he got the basic folds down.  He and his 10 year old brother made enough to decorate their Christmas tree and they are gorgeous!  They are such a nice add on to small ornaments.  They really make a statement.  In fact, our other daughter wanted to learn how to make them for their tree after she saw the ones we made.  We had a down home star making party.  It was lots of fun.

To make these stars, you can use pre cut origami paper that comes in 4 inch squares, or you can use scrap book paper and cut your own squares.  It just takes a little more time.  I bought a book of Christmas papers at Michael's that has lots of designs in it.  It was $19.99 and 40% off.  The papers are 12 x 12 so you can cut them into 4x4 inch squares easily.  Choose the papers you want for your star.  You can use patterns or solids, or a mixture  - whichever you prefer.  First, start with a 12 x 12 sheet.

I'm sorry the quality of the pictures is not great.  The red did not photograph well.  But, I hope you can get the idea.  If you have problems, go to Shelterness.com.  Back to the directions.  First, fold your paper in half.

Open it up and fold in half the other way so that you will have 4 equal squares.  Make your folds as crisp and flat as possible.

 Now, cut or tear along the fold lines so you end up with 4 equal squares.

You will need at least 12, 14, or 16 squares.  Now, take one of the 4 x 4 sheets of paper and fold it in half one way, and then in half the other so you have 4 small squares.

I started in the lower right corner.  Start wherever you are comfortable.  Fold the corner to the center to make a triangle.

Do this with all remaining corners, so that the paper looks like this.

Now, this is the tricky part and I will try to explain it the best I can.  Turn the square so it looks like a diamond.  Starting with the bottom left corner, fold it to the middle.   You are going to fold the top piece also so it looks like a kite.

Are you still with me?  It's easier to follow if you are folding while reading.  Now, flip the kite over so you have a solid kite facing you with all the folds on the bottom.

Put the top of the kite "up".  Fold the point down -from widest point to point, making it even across.

There will be an opening facing you in the flap you folded down.  Now, pick the beam up and fold it in half with the piece you folded down on the outside of the beam.

It looks like an inverted paper air plane.  It is actually a right triangle.  This is a completed beam and you want to do the same for all the pieces you are going to use.  If you hold the beam toward you, it should look like this.

The opening in the fold is where you will connect all the beams together to make the star.  After you get all your pieces folded, you will take the pointed end and place one point in each side of the open fold in a beam.

I am working left to right, so the openings will be on your right, the points to the left.  Push the beam into the opening as far as you can so it is nice and snug.

Continue around, making a circle.  You can made a pattern or group "like" papers together, however you want.  Here are a couple of others that we made.

You can make hangers using yarn or embroidery thread, a little hot glue,  and then hang them, or you can use the opening in the star and hang it over a tree branch.  These are all 12 beam stars.  My daughter made a 16 beam star that is stunning!  Would be a great tree topper if  you attached it to a paper cone to slide over the top of the tree.

Christmas is not Christmas at our house without doing some handmade projects.  I am so happy that the boys enjoy making these projects too.  Some of my fondest memories of Christmas's past are about projects that I made.  There are always hand made gifts for those I love.  How about you?  Do you do Christmas crafts or handmade gifts?

These beautiful stars would made wonderful gifts for teachers, co workers, or neighbors.  They would make beautiful package toppers that could be used as ornaments.  There are so many things you can do with them.  How about making a garland?  If you come up with some unique uses for these stars, please share with us.  I will be sharing many more projects with you in the days to come.  Here's wishing you a very crafty Christmas holiday.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Gift's from the hands are gifts from the heart.  They are the best kind.  donna

New Summer Decorations

Hooray, it's FRIDAY!  Are you looking forward to the weekend?  We sure are.  The weather is absolutely fabulous today.  The temp hovered around  70 and it was so nice not to roast so early in the summer season.  It has been awfully hot awfully early.  We got some much needed rain and our garden is looking fabulous.  The squash are blooming, there are some green tomatoes on the vine and some little peppers on the pepper plants.  It won't be long until we will be enjoying some yummy produce directly from our yard.

All of our spring decorations were changed over right before memorial day.  Remember my spring/Easter decorations on this cabinet?  I had a wreath and a small banner on the wicker arch and a beautiful bunny and a little blue bird on the cabinet top.  You can find it in an earlier post if you don't remember.  Well, spring decorations have been put away, and we moved on to our summer Americana theme to celebrate our patriotic holidays, the upcoming Summer Olympics and presidential election.  Actually, I just really love Americana and these events gave me an excuse to make some new decorations.  It really doesn't take much for me.

This cabinet sits inside our front door and is the first thing you see when entering the house.  It is also visible from the living room and the kitchen, so I always like to have something special on it for each season.  On the top of the wicker arch sitting on the cabinet, I made a paper cone wreath in the colors of our flag.  The plaque beneath was made on one of my $5.00 unfinished cabinet doors I found at the Habitat store.  The USA letters came from JoAnn's which I painted, and I highlighted them from behind with some glittered red #40 ribbon that is gorgeous!

The wreath is made on a piece of cardboard from a shoebox and the cones are two sided scrapbook paper that was on sale 5 pieces for a $1.  Total cost for the wreath was $3.00.  I bought 5 pieces of red, 5 white and 5 blue.  That's my kind of price.  Cone wreaths are all over the blogosphere these days.  Most of them are made from the pages of old books or sheet music and I love the way they look.  Since I wanted patriotic colors, I turned to scrapbook paper.  You could also use construction paper, it's just a littler more matte than the scrapbook paper.

To make the wreath, I measured the area where it would hang and drew a circle on a piece of cardboard with a smaller circle in the middle.  After doing that, I decided I would not cut the middle out like a regular wreath, so I simply marked the center of the circle so I would know where I would place the ends of the cones.

Scrapbook paper is 12x12, so I cut each piece into 4  6x6 squares.  Using a ruler, mark 6 inches to the center vertically and horizontally and cut along the lines.  The next step is to roll your cones and you can make them pointed or round, your preference  I liked pointed.  Place a dot of hot glue on the underside of the point where it is rolled around the middle of the cone and hold until set.

To place the cones on the cardboard backing, I started with navy blue at 9 and 12 o'clock.  Then I placed red and white cones alternately back around to the navy blue and hot glued them to the cardboard.  I would recommend laying out your pattern before you begin gluing the cones down.  Paper will tear if you have to move it after gluing it down.  

Ack, I forgot to rotate the picture when I edited it.  So, just look at it sideways and you will get the drift.
Now, it's time to fill in the circle.  Place more red cones next to red, and more white next to white on the cardboard and then glue them down.  Then, you will make a top row by placing cones between the ones on the bottom row.  Lay them out first, then glue them to the bottom cones.   You just sort of have to play it by ear here.  To finish the wreath, I used a big star cookie cutter I have and traced a star on a white piece of scrapbook paper for the middle.   The star covers where all the cone points come together and it looks sort of unfinished.  I put some Mod Podge on the star and sprinkled it with white glitter and glued it to the center of the wreath when it dried.  Ta da!  Done.

You may figure out another way to do your wreath, but this is what mine looks like completed.  It's inexpensive and quite showy, don't you think?  Not bad for $3.00 plus tax.

The red plaque underneath was simply spray painted and then I stamped a line from "America" that says "from every mountainside let freedom ring."  I wrote down patriotic lines that I could think of before deciding on this one.  Even had to sing a bunch of songs through to come up with lines, but it was kind of fun.  Of course, there are some stars stenciled on it!  You know me and stars.   After looking at it, I decided it needed some blue, so I used navy blue acrylic paint and simply followed one of the raised edges on the panel.

The USA letters were $2.99 each at JoAnn's and were all white.  I painted them barn red, ivory, and navy blue and sat them on the cabinet top after they dried.  That glittery red ribbon just ties everything together and of course, it SPARKLES!  What could be better?

Here's a close-up of the vignette.  I like that wicker arch so much, I couldn't bear to take it down after Easter.  It adds height to the cabinet, but is still open and airy and present many decorative possibilities.

I hope this will give you some ideas for things you can do that won't cost a lot of money, but will add beauty and interest to your home.  Be sure and join me next week, we are going to be talking food which everyone enjoys and must have.  I've got some good recipes and summertime ideas for you.  Have a great weekend.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Surround yourself with things you love and they don't always have to cost a lot of money.

How To Make A Paper Pinwheel

If you read yesterday's post about my mantel banner inspired by kites, you know that there are also pinwheels on the mantel  They are made from scrapbook paper and are so easy to make.  Pinwheels are another favorite from childhood, especially if they were shiny.  I saw a poster recently that said some girls are born with glitter in their veins.  That would be me!  My motto has always been if it sparkles, it's good.

I tried to find some information about pinwheels and no one seems to know who first made or manufactured them other than they were made in the 19th century.   It's rare not to find more information about something on the web these days.  What I did find though, was there is an organization called Pinwheels for Peace and that pinwheels are also the official symbol for combating child abuse - Pinwheels for Prevention.  That is something I did not know.  There was an article from today's date that said Greenville, SC, has created many pinwheel gardens around their town to remind people to be aware of child abuse and the harm it does and to help work towards its prevention.  This is Child Abuse Prevention Month.  Now, there are two great projects that are using pinwheels as their symbol!  Pinwheels for Peace recommends writing words of peace on your pinwheels and displaying them in yards and parks.  I am all for that!  Any and everything to remind us to think peace and help prevent child abuse by using the pinwheel as  a symbol is awesome.  They are so beautiful spinning in the wind.  Every time I see one now, I will think peaceful and loving thoughts and send prayers to those who have been affected by abuse in their young lives.  I am going to have to work on some pinwheels for out of doors.  I like the idea of Pinwheels for Peace and Pinwheels for Prevention very much.  You may see pinwheels sprouting in a yard, garden or park somewhere near you soon.  We will all look at them differently now.

The pinwheels on our mantel are merely decorative, they are not attached to a stick so they can spin.  They are so easy to make.  You could use construction paper, two sided scrapbook paper, or one sided decorative paper like I used.  How cute would they be for a baby or wedding shower?  You could attach them to colorful drinking straws which would be inexpensive and display them in vases, or make small ones and put them on toothpicks to decorate cupcakes.  They can be made in any size.  I had a major idea just now to use them for napkin rings by gluing small pinwheels to a colorful ponytail holder and wrapping it around napkins for the dinner table.  There are so many creative and colorful ways to use pinwheels.  Here is how you make one.

First, you need paper cut in a square - any size square, the principle will be the same for all sizes.  Mine are cut in 6 inch squares.  I had a piece of cardboard that size that came out of some kind of package, so I used it for my template.  I traced around it on the back side of the paper so it was easier to see the lines and cut out my squares.

Next, you fold the paper corner to opposite corner forming a triangle.   Crease the paper.

Now, open the paper up and fold the other two corners together so your paper will look like this.

See how you have 4 distinct triangles?  Now, cut each fold about half way to the center.  If you feel more comfortable, mark the exact same place on each fold line before you cut.  I just eyeballed it.
Now, turn you paper over, and start by folding the  point of a triangle to the center of the paper and hot glue the point in place.

Continue around the square, folding the same edge of the triangle all the way around (right or left), bringing it to the center and gluing it down.  DO NOT CREASE THE EDGE OF THE TRIANGLE, you want it to be rounded so it would catch the wind.

Now, how easy was that?  And talk about inexpensive!!  All you need now is  a center.  You could use buttons, brads, or beads.  I used my left over 5 mm pearls that I had used on another project.  I simply hot glued them to the center.  They look adorable.

These took only a few minutes to make and were just the added touch I wanted on the mantel.  I used paper I already had, so they didn't cost me anything extra.  There is a piece of green polka dot ribbon that I had put on the mantel for color, so I randomly placed the pinwheels and some easter eggs with the ribbon and that made the finishing touch for my mantel display.  It is so fun and festive and the grandsons will love it.  Here are a few more pictures.

Now, the mantel is done and I am thinking about making a couple of big pinwheels to use in the sun room.  They would be so springy and cute.  I might even made a wreath to put on the door.  Yes, I like that idea!

I hope this tutorial will inspire you to make some cute and inexpensive decorations for spring.  Perhaps  you have a wedding in your future, or need a Bible school project.  This is certainly an easy and inexpensive project since it's basically paper.  You might try using a glue stick instead of hot glue if you are going to let children make these.  Do not let children use a hot glue gun!   A push pin or pearl head straight pin placed through the center of the pinwheel would allow you to attach it to a pencil or small dowel rod.   Just place a small bead on the pin between the pinwheel and the stick so it will spin.  Wouldn't they make cute magnets?  Just glue one on the back of the paper pin wheel and place in on your fridge.  You could use a small picture of your child or grandchild in the center.  Adorable.

Now, I have a hundred ideas running through my head.  Hope you do too.  Let's get creative  Let me know any super cute ideas you come up with for these pinwheels.  Have fun!!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Pinwheel Symbolism

pinwheels come in all shapes, colors and sizes

Did you know that the symbolic meaning of a pinwheel is “to turn one’s luck around?”  Chinese culture believes the pinwheel is an instrument to turn obstacles into opportunities and as such they are a revered symbol during Chinese New Year festitivies.

Pinwheels are found world-wide all over the globe and basically have retained their simple, recognizable shape and function from culture to culture.  Their symbolism is really quite profound representing such diverse concepts as childhood innocence, unseen energy, wish fulfillment and transformation.  In many parts of the world, pinwheels have a deep spiritual significance as well.

pinwheelgirls.com

Easy, Inexpensive Gift You Can Make

If you are looking at this picture and wondering if this is a piece of wall art, the answer is no.  These are coasters that I made for Christmas gifts and they are so quick, easy and inexpensive.  They are made from ceramic tiles, scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, acrylic sealer, and a square of felt.  Aren't they pretty?

I don't know if you have tried to buy coasters lately, but they are hard to find and when you do they are expensive!!  They are something every household can use.  We have always used coasters to keep water marks off our wood furniture.  These coaster were made as companions for another gift I am giving this season.  (Will post on that next.  It is a really cute gift also!)

The tiles were bought at Home Depot.  They come in lots of colors and are really affordable. The white and tan tiles were only $.13 each.  The most expensive tiles were the black ones and they were $.38 each.  You can find scrapbook paper at any craft store and the sheets I used were on sale 5 for $1.00.  One sheet of paper will make 4 coasters.  Mod Podge and acrylic spray sealer are also available at any craft store.  Oh, and you will need a couple sponge brushes also available anywhere paint is sold.  I used a 1 inch size.  A square of felt from Michael's was less than $1.00 and I made all the little squares used on the back of the tiles from on square.  You will need a hot glue gun to glue the felt squares to the back of the tiles.  I used scissors that cut different shapes to make the fancy little scallop on the edge of the paper, but that is not necessary.  Otherwise -  easy peasy.

First, I found a box that was slightly smaller than the square tiles and used it as a template to draw the shape for the paper.  I drew 4 squares on each paper and cut them out with scissors.  Next, I lined my tiles up and started by brushing a thin layer of Mod Podge on one tile at a time.  Place a piece of the paper in the center of the tile, leaving an even border showing around the tile.  Smooth the paper with your fingers to remove any air bubble.  Continue the process with each tile.  Set aside and let the Mod Podge dry (it dries clear).  I let them dry overnight.

Next, put  another thin layer of Mod Podge all over each tile (over the paper too) and let it dry for several hours.  Just for safety, one more coat of Mod Podge.  After all the tiles were good and dry, I took them outside and sprayed them with a thin layer of acrylic sealer following directions on the can.  Acrylic sealer is very pungent and I would NOT recommend using it inside.  Two more thin layers of sealer were applied after each layer dried.  It dries very quickly and makes your coasters waterproof.

Take a square of felt and cut it into half inch squares.  You will need enough for 4 squares per tile.  Using a hot glue gun, glue a small square of the felt to each corner of each tile on the back side.  It will look like this:

I applied the glue to the felt square and then pressed it on the tile.  That way you are sure to cover the surface of the felt so that it sticks!  Because the tiles are rough and scratchy on the back, you don't want to skip this step.  No one wants scratched furniture protecting it from water stains.

Let these dry overnight again, so that they are all good and dry.  Next, I stacked 4 tiles together and tied them with twine.  They are a lovely and useful gift.  The really nice thing is they can be personalized for each recipient and they are a thoughtful, heartfelt, handmade gift.   Don't forget to make a set for yourself!

If you need a gift that is quick, easy and inexpensive this is one that everyone can use!  Hope you have fun with this.  We are in countdown mode and I still have a long way to go.  Back to the crafting table - I really am going to make it.  I know I can, I know I can.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Heartfelt and handmade gifts are the most precious.