Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty.  Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.

They are really easy to make and actually look really stylish cluttered together on a window. To make them you need two (or more) sheets of coloured transparent paper, cut into the same sized squares. And here’s how to make them…

Firstly you need to create various folds on the squares — fold the sides to meet both horizontal and vertical then create diagonal folds by folding corner to corner.  Then you need to fold each side into the centre fold.  Eight folds in all — I have drawn out a guide to help you (excuse my handwriting!).  Then you need to make four cuts one from the edge of each centre fold to the point when the other fold crosses it.  Now at each corner fold the edge of the paper to meet the fold in the centre of the corner to create four points. (Are you following me or have I said the word ‘fold’ too many times?)

Repeat this with a second sheet of the same sized paper (this looks nice if in a contrasting color or the same colour) then dab a bit of glue, in the centre, on the back of the first paper and stick down the second one at an angle so you have an 8-point star.  Remember to have both the smooth sides facing out together.  You can obviously do this with more sheets of paper to create a 12-point or even 16-point star.  Sellotape them to a window in a cluster.

Here is a (hopefully) helpful guide:  How to make Helenes Christmas Stars

-Mo