Making Christmas starts out of paper mags is a classic festive craft that I have been doing since I was really small. I grew up in an old Victorian terraced house with really high ceilings and each year we decorated it for the holiday season with paper decorations, crepe streamers, accordion-folded stars from leftover wallpaper or wrapping paper and stars made out of homemade paper bags or butchers paper. We started at the beginning of December and used them as party decorations for my birthday on December 20th my parents put the tree up in the window.
Now we live in a modern new build and there isn’t the ceiling height to hang these beautiful paper stars made from paper lunch bags, but I still adore making them so we hang them in the windows or in areas we don’t regularly walk under. I get such a feeling of Christmases past when I make these and I am filled with fond memories of simple times. It is great how an easy craft can have a big impact. Find out how to make beautiful DIY paper bag stars with our step by step tutorial. They are beautiful DIY Christmas ornaments but are also brilliant for birthday parties.
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How to Make Paper Bag Stars
Materials and craft supplies needed:
- Paper lunch bags
- Glue Stick or Glue Gun
- Single Hole punch
- Scissors
- Ribbon or twine for hanging. We used to use fishing line when I was growing up and have seen people use dental floss too.
Instructions:
The size of your star depends on how many bags you use and what size they are. We used between 7 and 12 bags. I think it is fun to experiment and see what works best for the size of your bags. Smaller bags means more is needed. On our video tutorial we opted for nine lots of bags. No matter what size you use you will get a beautiful star shape.
Start by gluing your bags together in groups (this makes them easier to cut). For this star I did three sets of three. I glue along the bottom and then centrally to the top. make sure you glue the same side each time.
Then plan your points.
To make the star points the same use the first one as a template to get the tips of the star the same.
Then yu want to cut out small triangles in the sides of bags which adds details to the finished paper bag star decorartions. It is hard to cut through a stack of bags so doing a small number at a time is much easier.
Once you have cut out one star then place the top bag on top of the other bags and draw around it to create a template.
The more notches you cut out of the sides of your bag the more intricate the stars will be.
Once you have finished cutting out your bags then you need to glue them all together. Start by gluing the stack of three together and then add glue to the end bag. I like using a coloured glue stick you can see the where the glue is. Dont worry it dries clear but you are putting a paper bag on top of the glue anyway.
Join the two end bags together by placing your hands in them until the glue sets. This will only take a few seconds.
In order to hand your stars take a single hole pinch and punch through two paper bags before adding your ribbon or thread.
You can also use coloured paper bags, these would be ace for Birthday parties or fourth of July Celebrations.
Once you get started it can be hard to stop! You could also make much smaller ones and use them as Christmas Tree decorations or white paper bags to make paper snowflakes, which is the next craft project on my list.
