Hello everyone! Enza here, and today I'm sharing a fun project that is perfect if you are looking to spend some time crafting with your kids. One of my goals during the summer months is find activities that we can do together inside the home, and arts and crafts are always at the top of my list; entertaining for them and very enjoyable for me. It doesn't get any better than that ;)
Paper wands are one of my favorite things to make. They can be used for role-playing, fairy and princess themed birthday parties, party favors, and room décor. The good thing is that you can go from very simple to more intricate designs and always get amazing results that your kids will love.
Here is what you'll need:
- Patterned paper.
- 1/4” wood dowel or pencil (to make paper straws).
- Paper trimmer.
- Scoring board (to make rosettes).
- Scalloped edge paper punch or any border punch.
- Nesting craft dies (you can also use circular objects for tracing, as long as they are different sizes).
- Hot glue gun or liquid glue.
- Embellishments.
I started by making paper straws. You can purchase already made ones, but I wanted to use patterned paper from the gorgeous Flourish collection.
- Cut your paper into 1.5” strips.
- Lay a thin layer of glue along one edge of the strip of paper, making sure it's the side you don't want it to show.
- Place the dowel or pencil at an angle across one corner of the strip. Tuck the corner under the dowel and start rolling, using the dowel as your guide.
- When you reach the end, add a bit of glue to secure the paper and remove the dowel from the paper straw.
Next, the rosettes. I used my die cutting machine to save a bit of time, but if you and your kids are up to it, you can totally make them by hand. Here are the instructions for a 3” rosette:
- Cut a 2” strip of paper from a 12x12 patterned paper.
- Use the border punch to shape one of the edges.
- Score the strip of paper at ¼” along the whole length and fold it accordion style back and forth on the scored lines.
- Glue the ends and adhere the flattened rosette on top of a small paper circle with glue or double-sided tape to keep it in place.
Once straws and rosettes are ready, you can start assembling the wands. I used the nesting dies to create several layers with different patterned papers. The largest circle is the base of your wand topper, on which you can adhere the rest of the circular shapes in decreasing order. Some of the wands have two layers of rosettes, which make them very dimensional, but you can achieve a similar look by simply alternating paper and craft foam.
To add extra details, you can use ribbon, paper bows, chipboard stickers and more. One thing that I recommend is gluing the paper straw in between two layers of paper to make the wand more durable.
My daughter and I had a lot of fun putting these together. She opted not to use rosettes on her wand, but only die cut circles and the super cute dimensional flower sticker from the Flourish collection as her finishing touch.
I hope this tutorial has inspired you today and that you'll consider trying it with your kids.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Enza
Supply list: Flourish - Fragrant (344369), Emma (344364), Poppy (344362), Greenhouse (344371), Poetic (344366), Jardin (344376), Royal (344372), Songbird (344368), Ponderosa (344363), 6x8 Paper Pad (344406), 6x12 Sticker Sheet (344385), Standouts (344396), Decorative Trim (344405), Chipboard Stickers (344386).
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