more fun things you can do with Lucky Stars.

buy pre-cut strips of paper to make lucky stars.

get diagrams to fold a lucky star here or here.

Though not as popular, a similar method of strip folding can be used to make Lucky Hearts (see below).

Many people, especially children, have been known to sit and fold hundreds of them: it can be a meditative process. A jar of lucky stars can be used as a guessing game similar to guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. Lucky Stars can be strung together to make garland or serve as a beaded curtain of stars. You can thread them into earrings & necklaces or use them as decorative packing peanuts. When they are made in a variety of colors and arranged in layers, or set in clear glass bowls, they are visually stunning. It is also called Chinese lucky star, dream star, wishing star, or simply origami star. I like the idea of repurposing things: the bag can be re-used, and the star gift-tag becomes an extra gift as it can be removed from the bag and hung on a Christmas tree as a lasting decoration.Probably, the easiest and most well known example of strip folding is the Lucky Star. Write your personal message on the circle on the back of the origami star, then attach the star to the cellophane bag by punching a small hole through the top of the washi taped bag, and tie the star on with bakers’ twine.Turn the bag over and place washi tape directly over the first piece to seal the bag shut. Place the gift (cookie) in the bag and place washi tape along the top edge, so the washi tape extends halfway over the top edge of the bag.(I chose a washi tape with colours that complimented the decorations on the cookie). Take a cellophane bag and place washi tape on the bottom end on both sides of the bag.Here’s a gift packaging idea – Attach the gift-tag origami washi tape stars to Christmas gift-bags: This creates a space big enough to write a message if you like: You want the circles to just fit nicely on the back so they are as large as you can make them, but the edges don’t show from the front. Cut circles to place on the back of the star.Punch a small hole in the top of a star point and thread some bakers’ twine through, and tie a knot.Turn the star over and fold the remaining washi tape onto the back of the star and trim the excess off.Cut the tape straight at the end of the point. Then add the washi tape to the folded star by starting the tape near the centre of the star and then following the straight line of an origami fold to a star point.The stars I made were approximately 11cm tall when finished.

First, make the stars out of plain white 80gsm paper.The nice thing about these is that the receiver of the gift-tag can also re-use it as a Christmas decoration, which adds another thoughtful dimension to the gift: This time I concentrated on making lots of these stars to give away as Christmas gift-tags. I played around with this idea for washi tape origami stars in a previous blog post.

I decorated the stars with a variety of bold patterns and in a colour theme of red, green, and white. I love working with washi tape and found a great use for my Christmas-themed tapes by adding them to plain white paper origami stars.

Christmas origami star