DIY: How to Make Paper Stars

Several weeks ago I tweeted a picture of these paper stars when I was mindlessly making them one day and I received several requests from readers if I could do a tutorial on how to make these stars. I've never done a DIY post so I apologize beforehand if the directions are hard to follow....

I was taught how to make these paper stars when I was in high school (which was ions ago) and was told that young Asian girls would make these paper stars and gather them into cute jars to either bring luck or to give to their boyfriend. This was one of their ways to signify how much the girl would like the boy because of the time spent to make all the stars. I also remember being told that the stars could also represent how much time had passed in the relationship so if a relationship made it to the 1 year mark, she would make 365 stars. I must confess, I made stars for my crush whenI learned how to make these HA! Oh the things we do for love...

Aaaaaanyway, these stars don't necessarily have to be limited towards a significant other--friends or family members will most definitely appreciate the time and effort spent on making these. When I visited my relatives, who live in Korea about 8 years ago, my aunt hosted a huge party to celebrate her grand opening of her own medical practice. I made several hundred of these stars for her and gave them to her in a cute jar as a present to bring her luck to her new practice and she loved it so much that she displayed it in her office as a way to remember me. She and her family recently visited me a couple of month ago and she confessed she still has that jar=)

Another option you can use with these stars is that they can act as "fillers" when wrapping presents. Instead of using tissue paper you can cover your present (ideally a small present unless you don't mind making loads of these) with the paper stars and place it in gift bags in substitute of tissue paper. Trust me, it'll look cute.

Let's begin. Hold the paper with both hands and turn it around to the side you don't want showing as the star part. Hold the paper about 2 inches from the bottom with one hand and fold as if you're making a knot over your thumb with the opposite hand.

With that opposite hand, tuck the small end through the hole.

Gently pull the small end through the hole.

Once you pull the small end through, flatten the knot and you will see a pentagon shape forming.

Follow the color of the paper and either fold it over or tuck it in to the slit. I like to tuck it in because then I won't have any weird end pieces hanging and it just looks neater.

Now this the easiest part. You should only have a long end remaining and with that long end, you're just gonna keep on folding it over the pentagon shape.

Continue folding along the pentagon shape...

Keep folding until you have a short end piece remaining (which should look like the picture on the left) and fold until you meet a slit. Tuck that small end into the slit to hide the end piece.

If you still have a tiny end piece left over after tucking it into the slit, just fold it over.

This is the fun part! You're going to pinch each corner with your thumb and pointer finger to "puff" the star out and you will begin to see a star forming...

....and there you have it, a paper star!

Once you practice making a couple of these paper stars, you're gonna think this is the easiest thing ever. It took me awhile to fill up that glass jar pictured but it's one of those things where you can quickly make little by little or make whenever you're bored.

Let me know if you have any questions and I hoped you enjoyed my first DIY. Have a great weekend and as always, thanks for reading=)

Materials Needed 
1. Pre-cut origami paper (You can buy these pre cut origami papers at an Asian stationery or grocery store. If you're having trouble finding them, you could also cut the ends of a 8x11 printer paper since it's about the same length)

2. Cute glass jar.