GIANT Snowflakes! - Christmas Break Project #4 -

 Grab your supplies for GIANT Snowflakes!

6 pieces of printer paper cut into a square (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches)
Scissors
Scotch tape
Stapler
   
My middle son made these at school last year and I have been wanting to make a bunch ever since!

Begin by folding your paper in half, corner to corner, to form a triangle.

Cut 3 slits to the center on each side, being careful not to cut all the way through.
 

Unfold your paper.

Begin by rolling the center diamond, corner to corner, and taping.

Flip the paper over and roll the next diamond corners toward each other and tape. You can see here are the corners rolled into each other.

Repeat with all the strips, flipping the paper over each time until you have taped all the strips to form a "petal" like this:

 Repeat 5 times with remaining paper.


Take 3 of the "petals" and place the free ends together and staple. Repeat with remaining 3 "petals".  Now you have 2 halves which you will staple together in the center:

Now, staple each petal to the next one at the taped corners to join all of them as one and help the snowflake retain it's shape without flopping apart.

Ta Da!  A GIANT Snowflake!

Join me tomorrow for Fizzy Fun! (Gather baking soda, food coloring, vinegar, and an eye dropper so you are ready!)

My Snowflake Display!

As you know, pretty much as soon as Thanksgiving dishes are cleared we are cutting snowflakes around here, and this year was no exception!

Last year, I added a bit of sparkle with plastic icicles and strings of glittered balls...

This year, we made a bunch of GIANT snowflakes to play with the texture and add some depth...

Later in December, I'll teach you how to make giant snowflakes of your own!

My Snowflake Display is Here!

My kids have been known to make hundreds of paper snowflakes in a season, and truthfully, they are one of my favorite things to make, too! I could sit at the table with them and cut snowflakes for hours! But what to do with these delicate, lacy wonders? Last season, a moment of inspiration struck me while watching the movie Elf. My kids looked at his over-the-top snowflake, paper chain display in the department store and let out a collective "oooooooohhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" and I had my solution.

We decided to duplicate the glowing mass of snowflakes in our house and I later used it to decorate for the Polar Express Party. I took some photos last night as we decorated the doorway between the kitchen and family room. This will, literally, cost you less than $5 to create yourself and it's just magical enough for the kids to really appreciate.

I have white woodwork, so I doubled white lights and strung them across the doorway with tacks. Haphazard is best, kind of up and down.

Next, to give it some dimension, tack up a paper chain. It will give it depth yet still have the same glow at the snowflakes.

Attach your snowflakes, some to the chain, some to the light strings, some to the woodwork. I found some snowflake shaped paper doilies to add a bit of blue this year. You could also just cut some flakes from light blue paper.

I went to the dollar store (my favorite place!) and picked up some glittery snowflakes, plastic icicles, and "snow ball" ornaments and hung them from clear thread at various heights. Check out the "glow" when we turned off the lights!


You can see the same idea at work here at our ski condo. This "winter tree" doesn't have to come down after Christmas, and was made from a branch anchored in a flower pot of bricks and stones.


Make some of the flakes from bright origami papers as I did here to kick it up.