One Snip Star Tutorial

When I as putting together this post with links from my archives, I was reminded of the fold-and-snip stars we made a few years ago using a Family Fun tutorial. They made a lovely garland for our Independence Day celebrations. I decided to make my own tutorial so that I could offer a few more in-between steps. Granted, it may not be as much fun as cutting snow flakes in the winter, but it is less labor intensive and my kids are always amazed at the perfect star shape that emerges after a few careful folds and one little snip!

First, start with a regular sized sheet of paper.

Fold it in half, top to bottom. Make a hard crease.

Fold it again, top to bottom only this time, make a light crease.

Open the fold back up.

Take the top right corner and fold it over to the left side at the light crease. (The red chopsticks are pointing to the respective corner and side at crease.)

Here is the paper after the fold is made.

Next, fold the top left corner over the flap created by the previous fold.

Like this...

This is what it should look like now.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky, but you can do it. Take the left side that the top left chopstick is pointing to and fold it over to the right side, using the flap you just created as a folding guide.

Like this...

Now, it kind of looks like an elegant paper napkin or something.

There is a crease that shows up naturally (dashed line) that you can use as a cutting guide, but it results in a rather plump star. If you cut at a sharper angle (straight line) you will get a star with sharper angles.

The star on the left was cut on the dashed line and the one on the right was cut on the straight line. Use a hole punch and string up an assortment for an easy and fun decoration!