Take a Break: Paper Mobiles/Chains

This past weekend, I was visiting with a friend and noticed that she still had the chains of paper snowflakes, we made last December fluttering in her windows. Using punches, some were 3-D. These were made by cutting small slits and sliding one snowflake into the other. Since snow is big business in Vermont, we had a variety of punches in various sizes. Simply cut from white paper, and strung on thread, they are beautiful to see, even if it’s black fly season.

I could understand why she didn’t want to take them down because what could be as lovely? Well this weekend is Memorial Day and the official start of summer, so below are ideas for chains or mobiles, your choice.

Five-Pointed Star: Start with two sheets of paper. Use one to make the star, following the directions for a 5-Pointed Star in One Snip. The second sheet cut in half horizontally. You will now have two rectangles. Make a five-pointed star from one of the rectangles and cut the second in half. Again make a star from one of the rectangles and cut the other in half. Keep working until you can no longer divide and fold.

You can then chain them by size, mix and match with other designs, or stack them together to make an interesting multi layered star.

Five-Pointed Star Outline: Make some of these using the technique described above to provide an various sized star outlines for your star mobiles. You can also link these together in a chain, by cutting one of the star tips, linking it through another star outline and then tape or glue where you made your cut. Once they are hanging, no one can tell that you used glue or tape.

Fold an Origami Butterfly: Use colorful origami paper and these will look delightful floating in a gentle breeze. The goldfish is a good design that lends itself to a mobile or chain.

Punches/Cookie Cutters: Martha Stewart offers a wide array of paper punches that work well. They’re expensive, so try to get them on sale. If you have cookie cutters, just trace and cut.

Modern Colorful Mobiles: This project calls for strips of vellum sewn together, but you can achieve something similar by using paper and gluing or taping. I work in the First Aid Room at my local ski area in the winter and we made a variety of hanging mobiles using hearts, snowflakes etc. It’s amazing what you can do with a glue stick and tape. Unless you look up close, you can’t tell.