In 2007 I wrote a crafts article for the Family First supplement of Mishpacha magazine in which I showed the readers how to make Noah's Arks from paper plates and fill them with animal silohuettes cut from the abstract animal patterned papers shown here.
Recently after drooling over many beautiful images I'd seen in the blogsphere of fabric bunting banners,
I had the idea of making some from paper. My original thought was to make something really beautiful from gorgeous scrapbooking paper, but when I came across some of the sheets of the animal patterns that I'd saved, I decided to give it a try with those first, before surrendering my small collection of beautiful papers to the project.
Back then I created the patterned papers on heavy-weight colored paper together with children ranging from 5-12 years old and I did some myself as well. We used round stickers, some with their centers punched out with a hole punch, and some cut in half. We painted, we stamped with the side of an eraser, with a small sponge and with the stiff end of a paint brush. We blew patterns with straws and pink ink, and drew patterns in wet paint with the end of a paintbrush. We made patterns from cut pieces of sparkled contact paper. These are just a few ideas — there are so many possibilities!
I cut triangles in two sizes using a templates I made from a heavy piece of cardboard, and then folded the tops over a piece of yarn, using tape on the back to secure them. One could of course use a stapler but you'll see the staples.
As it so happens, I have a blank wall between two sconces in my dining room that was a perfect place to hang my new creations, and another one between two Morroccan lanterns over the couch. For the time being my walls are looking a little less blank, and definately a lot more cheerful.
I used these hung flat on a wall, but they also look great hung across a space, and they would also make great Succah decorations! (Hot summer afternoons spent indoors are a great time for that rather than waiting for the pre-holiday rush! )
Whatever you choose to do with this idea and how you choose to do it, enjoy the process and remember, you don't need the excuse of a special occasion to make decorations, do it just because! And please take a few moments to leave me a comment, I'd love to know what you think.
