Merry Christmas + Happy New Year

Dearest readers, thank you for following this year's very low budget Christmas festivities on this blog. I do hope that some of the old posts we revisited were new to you, or just forgotten by you, and that some of it was useful.

All that remains is to simply wish you some happy holidays, whether they are about Christmas or something else - and may you have some well deserved rest, peace and quiet with someone that are dear to you.

Alt er love 

PS: I found this wonderful and wild Christmas tree on Pinterest - the photo is by Ellie Chavez.

Flaky Friday

We are not having a white Christmas here, that's for sure (and it is very rare), but this is a way of compensating: complicated looking (but easy to make) end three dimensional paper snowflakes. These are rather large decorations, and they look especially nice in a window, I think - plus they are the kind of pretty things you may want to leave there, even after Christmas. 

They are printed on heavy paper or card stock, and the trick is all about cutting slits and folding the pieces correctly, and these cool paper sculptures are quite simple to make. 

Everything is explained in this old post from 2016, and there is a photo tutorial as well.

So give them a try - or check out some of the other posts I have done on snowflakes, that are a bit of a thing for me, I guess...

Flat Fun Friday

As you know, I'm very fond of making Fröbel Stars, so much in fact, that I dedicated a lot of hours, trying to describe and demonstrate as many variants as I know, in this post, an absolute go-to spot for Fröbel enthusiasts. 

Because I like making them, I buy lots of those ready made strips, that are so abundantly available in the Christmas season here in Denmark. They come in so many pretty patterns and colors, and I have amassed quite a boxful. 

So, I like to play around with them, and come up with alternative ways of using them. These Flat Weave Stars I originally made in 2013. Back then I made special color/pattern strips for them (you can still download and use those, of course). 

The ones in these photos, I made last night, from some of the different Fröbel strips I had. Because a Fröbel star needs four strips, you eften end up with 'leftovers' in certain designs, and these are just made from a mix of whatever was there.

For each of these you'll need eight half length strips. 

Here is the original post from 2013, with a photo tutorial on how to make them. Fun and easy!

The tutorial explains the very simple principle, and the easiest way to make them (the folded strips laid out flat on the table and then woven, hence the name). I made them with 2 x 4 strips, but you could make them larger, smaller, or not even square - experiment, and have a happy Advent 3rd!

Update - I made this last one, seen below, and I thought it might be nice to add that image as well.

As you can see, this was made with 2 x 6 strips, and you could make them very large, as long as the number is even, and the strips have a little extra length for maneuvering. They're quite fun to make!

It's Concertina Friday!

Today's blog throwback is all about concertina folding, as I like to call it. Something I like to do, even though it can be a bit fiddly to turn into a flat, round ornament - but with a bit of patience and practise it is super easy. It's perfect for gorgeous flowers and stars, I think, and it doesn't involve a lot of thinking or complicated folding sequences - all you have to do is make a whole lot of really, really sharp and even folds. 

The Solino Stars (top) and the Dip Dye Flowers (middle) are both from 2013. They both include a perfectly finished design to download, which you only have to print, cut and fold. Both blog posts have a few bits of practical advice on the how-to.

The Gold Stars (bottom) post from 2016 is a kind of tutorial in itself, explaining the easiest way to make something like this - tried and perfected by me, and it involves making a little tool for super quick and accurate folding. These gold ones are made from thin, glossy gift wrap, which I find particularly suited for this kind of folding.

Have a lovely weekend, everybody!