festive fans

I simply adore paper decorations - and these festive fans look utterly delightful floating on the summery breeze of an Australian Christmas. Bonus: they are so easy to make, and great fun for kids.

Start with an A4 sheet of paper - in your colour of choice. Starting at a short end, fold the paper concertina style. The width of each fold is totally up to you, though the smaller the folds, the 'fuller' your fan will look.

When you've completed your fold and have a strip, fold it in half and crease the fold sharply. Now glue it place so you have a concertina triangle shape.

Make 4 or 5 of these. Again, 5 will make a fuller fan, but 4 is okay, too. The longer your triangle edges are, the more triangles you will need to fill a circle. For example, if you make these triangles by folding an A4 sheet of paper from the long end, you will need a lot more to fill in the circle.

Now, glue the sides of all these triangles together, pressing down firmly, particularly near the centre, where each triangle will join.

And there you have your gorgeous fan. Punch a hole at the top and hang it where you will. These look amazing grouped together.

You can also create rounded edges before you start gluing the triangles together {see below}.