Origami Lucky Stars
There's a lot of different reasons people make lucky stars, but one thing's for sure: you can't make just one.
After rifling through galleries and galleries of jars full to the brim with these cute little paper stars, I did some reading. Apparently by some traditions, one writes a wish on each of the little stars, and once the jar is full the wish may come true. Others say it is customary to fill a jar and give it to the one they love for luck. Most just think they're cute/pretty.
Regardless of your reason for making them, once you've started, it's hard to stop. You'll find yourself making them with any strip of paper you find. Even straw wrappers!
So let me show you just how to get started. It's a lot easier than you might think!
You can start with any long strip of paper. They sell premade strips, but for the sake of this tutorial I just bought some regular square origami paper and cut it into half-inch strips.
Since they're so folded by the end of it, you can also cut up magazines or scrapbook paper and create all sorts of colorful stars.
Now make a loop at the end of your strip, and fold it down and through the loop as if you were tying it in a knot.
Pull the knot tight, but do not crease the edges. I repeat: Do Not Crease. This will only make things difficult for you at the end.
Flip the pentagram over and tuck the strip into the flap. Cut off any excess carefully.
Now start wrapping the rest of the strip around the pentagram, and when reaching the end tuck in the other end in the same fashion.
Now the tricky part. This might take a few tries to get just right. Carefully push in on the sides with your nail. (Or just your fingertip, if you're a nail biter like me)
Once you've pushed all 5 sides in, you'll have a cute little puffy star.
After about an hour, I had a bunch of different sized stars. You can make them in pretty much any size, they'll turn out about 1 1/2 times the width of your original strip.
So go fill jars and cups with cute little origami stars to give as luck or love to your friends and family!
