How to Make a Paper Star Garland

Let's talk Christmas trees!

Does your tree tell a story? When you look at the ornaments and other decorations on it, does it remind you of special memories or events that occurred in your life? Not every ornament on our Christmas tree has a special story, but there are quite a few that do. Can I share them with you?

Most of the ornaments on our Christmas tree are made of wood, paper, cloth or plastic, though we do have a few breakable ones that stay at the top of the tree. This is partly because of the age of our children and their propensity (especially the 3-year-old's) for playing with the ornaments, but mostly because we favor ornaments that are handmade, and those are the materials most commonly worked with. Some of the ornaments I have made, some Jimmy made, and others were bought at craft fairs, etc.

For example, Jimmy loves to work with wood, so one year he turned a whole bunch of these little wooden Christmas ornaments. He sold some at craft fairs we attended to sell my handmade jewelry, but the ones that were left ended up on our tree, and I'm so glad. I love anything he makes, so it's special to have these beautiful pieces on our tree.

Several years ago, before my mom died, she couldn't remember where she had packed the Christmas ornaments, so my sisters and I got together and spent the day making paper ornaments for the family tree. It was so much fun, and some of the sturdier ones have survived to this day and still get used every year on our tree. When I look at them, I remember the wonderful time we had together on that day; I kinda wish we could do it again!

This one is unusual--it's a tiny scrapbook someone gave me in college that's just the right size for wallet photos, so I filled it with pictures of my friends and family at that time. My kids love to take it off the tree and look at the pictures while I tell them who each person is.

Another favorite of ours is this seed husk(?) that Jimmy and I found in our first year of marriage; it looks just like a heart, and the inside has this peculiar, velveety sheen that glows when the light hits it just right. I just think it's so cool-looking, so every year it gets placed on a branch of the Christmas tree where it can be best admired.

Of the breakable ornaments that live at the top of the tree, two are especially meaningful because they were wedding presents to Jimmy and me. Now our anniversary is in July, so I can't help but think that we had some very forward-thinking friends, but regardless, these ornaments are special. I especially love the frog couple--one of the odd things Jimmy and I found we had in common when we were dating is that we both collect frogs, so I put frogs all over our wedding. They were on the invitations, the wedding program, and used as decorations for the reception. Obviously, one of our friends thought this frog ornament was perfect for such a "hoppy" couple. (Yes, I said it--pun intended. You can roll your eyes at me; I assure you, Jimmy is doing it, too!)

You might notice in the background of several of these pictures these beautiful balls covered in prairie points of quilting fabric in star patterns; these were a gift from my youngest sister one year for Christmas and probably one of my most favorite Christmas presents I have ever received.

Four years ago, we moved from my parents' guest bedroom into a house of our own for the first time (it's a long story involving an RV, a tornado, and babies; I'll tell it some time--promise!), bought our first regular-sized Christmas tree and then realized, to my chagrin, that none of our Christmas decorations included a proper tree skirt. Now, I know it's next to nothing to go out and buy one off a shelf somewhere, but I love to quilt, and I really liked the idea of making my own, so that's exactly what I did. Jimmy helped me with the design for the various pieces, and I was able to put it together in time for Christmas that year. The quilting took a little bit longer than I had before Christmas when I started, so that part got finished after Christmas, but ultimately, we ended up with a beautiful tree skirt that I made myself and that you can't find anywhere else in the world. I love that!

I also love stars, and that is reflected all over our Christmas tree. There are wooden stars picked up in stores (I do have a few store-bought ornaments), decoupaged stars found at craft fairs, and metal stars found at a flea market or two. But my favorite star ornament is a paper star garland that wraps all around the tree from top to bottom. Most people wrap their trees with tinsel or ribbon; our is wrapped in stars. I made the garland the year my sisters and I made all those other paper ornaments, and it has stood the test of time very well.

These paper stars are actually something I learned to make in college from my Taiwanese friends, and I have since taught several people how to make them, including my high school students when I was a teacher. They're not complicated to make, though it does take some practice to do them well. They're a great way to use up scrap paper, wrapping paper, old magazines, etc., and in Taiwan--according to my friends--it's customary for boyfriends/girlfriends to give them to each other as presents. Depending on the paper you use, they can look quite fancy in a bowl or dish, and I can't count how many times children have asked me if they were candy! 😂

To start, it's important to use the right kind of paper. You do not want to use notebook paper--it's too thin and doesn't hold the shape well. Wrapping paper works well if it's the thicker kind, and my favorite paper to use is magazine paper, you know, the thick, glossy kind that's more high quality. As I said earlier, it's a great way to recycle old magazines into something useful and pretty!

First, you cut the paper into 1/4"-1/2" strips, about the width of your finger (if you're using an old magazine, make sure you take the pages apart first!). They don't have to be exactly the same--the width of your paper strip determines the size of your star--but they do have to be relatively uniform from end to end. Be careful not to cut your strips too wide, or your star will not hold its shape at all; smaller is better.

Next, you take one of the strips, decide which side you want to be showing at the end, and loop it over your finger with this side facing up. If you didn't use a paper cutter or ruler and just eyeballed your strips while cutting them like I usually do, it's a good idea to compare the two ends of your strip to see if one end is wider than the other. If it is, start the star on the wider end--trust me, it's much easier that way! Obviously, if both ends are equal widths, you can use whichever end you want.

Once you have a loop like the one above, you will take the long end and carefully thread it through your loop from the back, just like tying a knot in string or thread. Don't pull it tight immediately; instead, you want to crimp the top right corner to set the size of your star, then pull the loop tighter to set the bottom, then all the way through to set the top left corner. 

Take your time here--it's important that all the sides of the knot be flush with each other with no gaps in the corners; it should look like the bottom right picture above. And don't get frustrated if it's not perfect; nobody's paper star looks great the first time around--the first one I ever did fell apart, if I remember correctly! 😆 Like any other skill, the more stars you make, the easier it will be for you and the better your final product will be.

Once your base knot is done, you can start folding the star. There are two extremely important things to remember in this step: 1) as you fold the star, you must always keep the pentagon shape, and 2) don't squish the middle! You have to fold the star, holding at the edges, not in the middle. If you hold it in the middle, it will be squished flat, and won't puff up at the end! Don't squish the middle! I can not emphasize this enough!

First, you will fold the little tag end straight back on its side, then you will fold the long end straight across, following the tag end. Each fold is not a straight line, but an angled one in order to maintain that pentagon shape. If you fold the strip around correctly, it will automatically be lying in the direction of the next fold. Continue folding the strip around and around until there is just a little bit left on the end like in the picture below.

This little tag end you will carefully slide under the crisscrossed paper on top, leaving you with a neat pentagon shape (upper right picture). Now we make it puffy. Holding it by the sides with the tips of your fingers (remember, we don't want to squish it!), use the thumbnail of the opposite hand and carefully push up in the middle of that last fold you slid inside the star (bottom left picture). Work your way around the star until all five sides are done, and there you have it--a finished paper star!

If this is your first time making one, it probably won't look too great, but that's okay. As you do more of them, they'll look better and better and get easier and easier to do! And if you're still not sure of exactly what you are doing from reading through these directions, I had Monkey video me making one to help you understand the process better.

Once you get the hang of it, this can be a great way to pass the time while watching TV, etc. and a great way to use up scrap paper around the house. But having a couple dozen on hand had me questioning what I could do with the finished stars, which is how the garland came to be.

Making the garland is much easier than making the stars! 😊 All you need is lots of paper stars, an embroidery needle and about a yard or two of sewing or quilting thread. (I prefer using the quilting thread because it doesn't knot as easily--definitely a consideration when working with 2-3 feet of string.) Thread your needle and tie a loop in the end. I did a slipknot like you use for crochet, then double-knotted it.

Next, thread your stars onto the string one at a time, going from point to point, until you run out of stars or string, whichever comes first.

Leave enough room at the end of your string to tie a loop in that end, then carefully thread the needle back through the last star you strung up. Don't pull the thread all the way back through; leave a loop and tie a double knot in it, then cut the needle and any excess string off the other end of the last star. It goes pretty quickly--I strung about 4 feet in a little over an hour while watching TV with my husband.

And there you have it--the finished product! My Three Stooges were kind enough to pose for me holding the finished garland so you could see how long it ended up being. Of course, the one on my tree is mostly white; I decided to make the example one for this blog out of all the colored stars in my collection, and I think it turned out pretty cute! I think I'll give it to Monkey's teacher as a Christmas present; she can use it in her classroom or take it home to decorate her house. What will you use your stars for? I've already got more ideas of things I can make with the finished stars; I still have some left over from this project, so stay tuned to see what else I come up with!