4th of July Star Garland

Given that I have a brother that served in the Army National Guard, patriotic holidays hold a special place in my heart.  (Not that you can’t be patriotic if you don’t have a family member that has served in the military, but that’s why holidays like the 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Veteran’s Day now are more meaningful to me than prior to his service.)  I can remember drawing an American Flag in chalk on our sidewalk when Matt went to basic training and watching the fighter jets do a fly-over at a baseball game on July 4th.  I’ve never done anything crafty for 4th of July, though, so this year was the year.  This star garland is a perfect accent to a 4th of July picnic of a decoration for a patriotic party.

Materials for the Patriotic Star Garland

• Paper (I actually didn’t have any of the right color paper, so I cut up some envelopes)
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Yarn, string, or baker’s twine
• Optional: Scoring tool

How to Make a Star Garland

Find a star pattern that you like and trace it onto your paper.  I decided to use the same star pattern in two different sizes.

Cut out your pattern.

Score the points of your stars.  Score the star from long point to the concave point opposite it.

You have a couple of options for scoring depending on your materials.  I used a slide cutter from Walmart that has a scoring option.  (I would give you the link, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.)  You could also use a scoring tool specifically designed to score paper.  Finally, you can use a ruler and a pair of scissors or a knife.  Align the ruler with where you’d like your score line and run the knife or scissors along the ruler to create a crease.  If you choose this method, be careful not to cut through the paper.

This is what your scoring marks should look like when you’re finished.

Folding is the trickiest part of this project.  Fold the long sides so that they are popping out at you and fold the short sides inward.  Another way to put it is that every other fold will be popping out at you and the other sides will be folded inward.  (See below)

You should be left with a 3-D star like this:

Next, punch holes in the top of the stars.

Cut a length of yarn for your garland.  This will depend on how many stars you have and your desired spacing, but to give you a guideline I had 9 large stars and 9 small stars and I cut my baker’s twine to be approximately 1 1/2 yards long.

String your stars on the garland.  If you’d like to you can tape or tie them in place so they don’t slide on the string, but I just had mine strung on the string and adjusted them to where I wanted them.

Hang it wherever you like to add a touch of red, white, and blue to your next 4th of July.

For more paper crafts, check out:
Paper Gift Envelope Made with Scrapbook Paper Circles
How to Make Your Own Envelopes
Paper Marbling Using Shaving Cream