Inspiration: Hollo's Papercraft carries a lot of handmade papers. Some that I picked up one time were basically two different color sheets with small shapes punched out every so often that were kind of pressed together. I thought the paper looked kind of neat held up to the light and thought I'd make decorations out of it for our windows.
How I Make Them: I started by going through my various stencils but couldn't find ones the right size for what I wanted. I ended up using cookie cutters to create templates to use (see photo below). I cut the outer shapes twice out of a thicker colored cardstock paper, and cut out the inside of each shape to make it an open outline about a quarter inch wide around. Then I used the same template to cut out the shape in the handmade paper. I glued an outer shape to each side of the handmade inner shape. If any of the handmade paper was sticking out of the edges of the outer paper, I trimmed it. Once dry, I tape the decoration to a window and enjoy.
Alternatives:
- Besides shamrocks, I've made these using flag shapes for 4th of July & Memorial Day, heart shapes for Valentine's Day, stars of David for Chanukah & Rosh HaShana, trees for Christmas, and crosses and eggs for Easter.
- Instead of using tape (which I know is not always good for windows), you could take an embroidery needle and a single strand of embroidery floss (most embroidery floss is 6 strands intertwined) and sew a piece through and then tie the ends to hang the decoration from.
- Another alternative would be use a vellum paper.
- One final thing to do would be to press crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper using an iron and use that instead of the handmade paper for the inner shape.
Additional Photos:
Flag & Shamrock Templates
We do the crayon shavings thing a lot around our place. It's a kid-friendly activity, since they can sprinkle the shavings all over the wax paper and cut out the shapes (once the paper has cooled!). Make sure you put a towel between the wax paper and iron, though!
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