Learning how to make paper snowflakes lets you explore an endless variety of shapes, just like in nature. For every person who folds the paper and nips away with scissors, a different snowflake pattern will occur. Once you’ve made a few, there are plenty of ways that you can put paper snowflakes to use, from individual star-like hanging flakes to a window full of floating homemade delight.
The Idea Behind Snowflake-Making
By folding paper several times and making edge cuts into it, we can duplicate a snowflake’s beautiful symmetry. Try folding successive triangles before cutting, or simple right-angle folds. Many people enjoy making aleatory cuts to discover the results, but there are plenty of paper snowflake patterns and templates available to show you how to create decorations such as six-pointed stars, daisy-style and almost-circular designs.
With Snowflakes, It’s the Creativity that Counts
Making paper snowflakes is always a success for people who try it. There’s no measure of realism, no perfect result. Each time someone gives themselves the time to create, the experience of making a unique object results in potential decoration, quiet enjoyment, or just discovery. It’s the creativity that counts in making snowflakes out of paper, which is a positive experience for anyone who takes paper and scissors in hand.
Snowflakes of Blue
Ice-blue paper snowflakes look astounding when suspended from the ceiling, and mixed with white paper they can create a more dazzling effect. Folding a paper sheet of blue and a sheet of white together and cutting a pattern will create the rare, elusive duplicate snowflake. Of course, other colors can be used to create a rainbow of snow.
Floating Decorations
Whether you use colored or white, a grouping of snowflakes hanging in front of a wall makes a beautiful, gently moving holiday decoration. They can hang from individual threads, wires, or mobiles to join several snowflakes together.
Colorful Snowflakes as Tree Decorations
Craft stores sell packets of paper with unique colors and patterns, usually found in the scrapbooking section. Once you the paper has been folded and cut, add tree hangers and decorate your Christmas tree with these holiday snowflakes. Give your children markers to personalize them, and you’ll have keepsakes to bring out every year.
Making Your Own Paper Snowflake Blizzard
How many paper snowflakes can you make if you start in the fall and keep going until the holidays? Probably a lot. A great way to welcome winter is to put up a collection of new snowflakes every week, hanging from threads which start as a few and evolve into a blizzard of wonderful and unique designs that will float together like a winter snowfall.
Crafting Snowflakes to De-stress
Life is stressful, and the holidays bring even more challenges that make it difficult to relax. Making paper snowflakes can be surprisingly relaxing — it’s a simple craft with endless possibilities. There’s no limit to the ways you can decorate your snowflakes, from glue and glitter to watercolor designs. Floating in the air at your office or at home, the paper snowflakes will remind you to take a moment and enjoy the season’s joyous simplicity.
Crafting Snowflakes With the Kids
While an adult may seek to create something that looks like intricate lace, children will be excited to make snowflakes with just a few folds and cuts. Edge-cutting folded paper is easy with safety scissors and usually risk-free, but you might want to keep an eye on any pointy corners with the youngest kids.
Following Snowflake Patterns
Look for snowflake patterns in craft stores or online and you’ll open a whole new world of possibilities. You can adapt these patterns to your own work to make new shapes and designs. Patterns can also help you learn how to create more complex shapes without the frustration of experimentation.
Snowflake Family Moments
Put on some music, get a warm beverage, bring out a plate of cookies and then hand out paper and scissors for a group holiday crafting session. Share your work and talk about how you want your snowflakes to look like or how the next one might appear. Just like real snowflakes, these paper creations will come out in much the same way, symmetrical and different from the others.