Introduction: Decorative Paper Stars and Stencils

Hi everybody, this is my first instructable, so I hope I will do it well and that you will enjoy it. By the way, English is not my first language, so if you see some funny things in my explanations, don't panic and go on.

Christmas is coming. So I would like to share with you a very simple way to make stars and stencil.

You will need :
- Paper (white or color, but thin enough to be foldable)
- Scissor ans/or utility knife
- Ruler

Step 1: Make the Paper Square

If your paper is rectangular, you may want to make it square.
The stars can be made from rectangular paper too, but I prefer to work from square paper. So I can use the scrap paper to make little stars.

To make you sheet square, just follow the pictures, I think it's clear enough.
If not, I leave me a comment and I will explain (or at least try to...).

Step 2: Fold Again

To get a well balanced star, we will fold again the paper. Just fold like in the picture.

You will end up with a square half the size of the original. The center of the original sheet will be the center of the star.

Once again, the pictures speaks for themselves.

Step 3: Profiling the Star

So now is time to draw a little. With a little more experience, maybe you could jump directly to the cutting step ;)

Two critical points :
  1. The corner where all the sheets are visible is the part we won't keep in the process. The opposite corner is the center of your future beautiful star. SO, you have to draw your star profile with the last corner as the center.
  2. The angle made by your profile and the edge will determine the thickness of the star. You may fear to get too close from the edges. Try some, you will very quickly try to get close to the edges if you want thin stars ;-)

Step 4: Cut ! Cut ! Cut !

You can cut with the scissor, or with the ruler and utility knife. I recommend the last option, especially if you want to make a stencil in the process and of course, if your paper is thin enough (as the sheet is folded, you have 4 thickness of paper to cut).

In the pictures you can see my wonderful star cut and still folded. And then unfolded.

You may want to flatten the star once unfolded. Put it under a heavy book (for example) and wait ;)

Step 5: Enjoy

Now that you've understood the basic process, you can enjoy and make different stars with various size and profiles.

The only limit is your imagination. By the way, you're not limited to stars, you can also make snowflakes for example.

The stencils can be used for window decoration, or to mark other kinds of materials (plastic, metal, carton) and make more durable stars.

That's it, we're done, thank you for your patience, and if you wish to leave a comment, be welcome :)