How to Make Paper Fan Decorations

It's hard to believe how easy it is to make these gorgeous paper fan decorations. You and your kids will absolutely love making these lovely paper fans to hang around the house for a party, a holiday celebration, or just to give a room some beautiful bursts of color. (It's an awesome idea for decorating kids' rooms.) The hardest part will be deciding where to put all the lovely hanging fans you make once you are done!

• You'll need just a few materials to make these beautiful hanging paper fans:
  
  
• Various sizes of colorful, good-quality decorative paper in pretty colors and designs (available at crafts stores or through retailers like Paper Source)*
• scissors
• glue stick or a good double-sided tape such as Therm O Web's Supertape
• Scotch tape
• baker's twine or thin ribbon (You will need about 3 to 4 feet for each fan.)

*NOTE: Each fan will require 2 to 3 sheets of paper equal in size.

To begin, make a fold approximately one-inch deep along one side. (I started with a piece of paper that was about 10" x 8", so the 8" side was facing me. You can also use a square piece of paper. The size of the sheets of paper can vary, but just make sure that you use the same size sheets for each fan.)

Turn the sheet of paper over and make another fold. Keep flipping over and folding, stopping when you get to the end and run out of paper. (You are creating accordion-style pleats, which will then be opened into a fan when you are done.)

Once you've finished making all the folds, trim off any excess at the end with scissors.

Take another sheet of paper of the same pattern and fold it exactly the same way as the first sheet. Fold both of the folded strips of paper in half.

Next, tie the twine tightly around the middle of one of the folded strips of paper. Then use your double-sided tape or glue stick and paste the middle edges together to make a semi-circle. (This will be one half of the paper fan decoration).

Take the twine and put it around the middle of the other folded strip of paper, joining the two halves together.

Put double-sided tape on the strips of paper to join the two strips together, making sure you also tape the middle of the second strip together to form the other semi-circle.

Tie a knot at the top of the twine at the desired length (depending on how much you want the fan to hang down). Tape the twine to the back of the paper fan decoration to secure it to the fan.

When you are done, your hanging paper fan decorations will look something like this. You'll no doubt want to make several and hang them around the house to add beautiful pops of color to any room!

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