Tutorial: Using Paper Strips to make a Floral Decoration

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those paper scraps that you are left with after all the crafting activities with your kids? Most of you must be throwing them away for they are of no use after all the craft work. Generally, I avoid throwing any paper scrap and I stash them away for later use. I use them for making paper collages or in greeting cards or for some little craft project with my daughter.

Last weekend I was on a cleaning spree and I found a bag full of paper strips that I had kept aside from my previous workshop. My daughter was too busy watching TV and I wanted her to be away from it. So I decided to engage her in some craft activity that would keep her away from the electronic screen atleast for some time. I had something in my mind when we started but I was not very sure of what to do with all those scraps. I let my daughter take the lead.

Her first job was to segregate all similar color paper strips. And that she did quite swiftly. Next, I taught her to make loops and glue them. Once the loops were ready we were quick enough to make some hearts shapes and then the flower pattern and then I knew what we would do with those flower patterns. We stapled all the flower pieces and made a linear flower decoration. Once done, it turned out to be a pretty decoration that we hung from the ceiling in our kid's room.

Hanging Floral Decoration

Material required: Paper strips, glue, stapler, scissors.

Here the paper used was rainbow paper strips left over from our previous workshop. The size was about 6" long by 1" wide. 

Paper Strips Scraps

Tutorial: Follow the captions given below the pictures for detailed instructions. Here's how we did it.

Paper Strips Sorting

Step 1: Adding Glue to the edge

Step 2: Gluing the strip in the shape of a loop

Step 3: Made all the loops and sorted them based on colors

Step 4: Glue together two units to make a heart shape.
Make many such heart units. 

Making this heart shape is an easy task and my daughter usually loves getting involved in crafting activities which doesn't require much of complication. This is where her job ended. She loved making the hearts. And from here I had to take over. She also arranged them into a flower pattern after which I took over and stapled all the units together.

Step 5: Arrange groups of 5 pieces forming a flower pattern

Step 6: Staple all the units one by one.
Note the flower pattern forming in the centre as you staple them.

The flower patterns are ready

Step 7: Staple one flower unit with another unit

Step 8: Add a loop at the top of the unit for hanging it

Done: A decoration piece hanging from the ceiling of my kid's room.

Suggestion & Tips:

Apart from using it as decoration in the kid's room, the above decorating piece can also be used for decorations during parties. Choose the color of strips as per your requirement or theme of the party. It could also be used for decorating the nursery room for kids. Also, the entire assembly can be made longer or shorter by adding or removing the flower pieces as per your requirement.

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