I was asked by the PTA at my daughters’ schools to help make some red and gold Christmas decorations. I said I would see what I could do with what I had in the loft and a weekend (between choir practice, play dates, homework…). I had 3 rolls of red and gold wrapping paper so I wrapped some empty cardboard boxes and made some paper pinwheels. Here’s my super easy how to.
You will need:
- Wrapping paper. If possible with a small repetitive pattern or geometric pattern – these work best – and with lines on the back.
- Scissors.
- Wool or thin ribbon.
- Glue Stick.
- Hair grips or paper clips.
Start by cutting a width of your wrapping paper. The smallest I made was 15cm, it gets quite fiddly if you go smaller. The largest I made was 70cm but as this was wider than the roll is high, it only made a half circle (which I like) but you could always make 2 and stick them together to make a circle. The wider it is, the harder it is to fold. The width of the paper will be the diameter of your pinwheel.
Start at the bottom of the width and then you just fold back and forth like a fan until you have folded the full height of the paper. Using the lines to help you stay straight.
You need the first and the last fold at each end, to show the pattern. Above you can see I had a bit sticking out so I cut it to the size of the rest of the fan.
Then using wool or ribbon you tie the fan together in the middle. Fold the paper over to check where the middle is. You will see the wool or ribbon a bit so coordinate your colours. If you leave it long at the back, you can use this to hang up your decoration.
As the paper is patterned I keep the cutting to a minimum by just cutting the ends at an angle (from front to back). But if you use more simple paper of course you could cut some shapes into the paper like a little triangle half way down and only half way through the fan.
Then glue the ends together. Whilst they dry use something to hold them together – I had easy access to hair grips having two girls but paper clips work too!
Repeat on the other side, completing the circle.
Et voilà!
Pin this image to Pinterest to find this post later. Of course, you could use any paper to make decorations for any time of year.
This is what I made for the PTA. It’s mainly 3 rolls of wrapping paper and leftover red felt from poppy making last year. Not bad hey?
Please comment below if you have any questions and please share your inspired home made productions on social media with the tag #homemadeproductions
Happy Christmas making!
