My gobsmackingly awesome niece is due to turn eighteen next month and I’ve been wondering what to gift her for a while. I know I wanted to make her something, but I was unsure exactly what I could do. My boys were sitting down watching Sleeping Beauty, I was half listening as the fairy godmothers were blessing Aurora when it suddenly clicked, my niece needs to begin her adult life with a Fairy Godmother, and that’s exactly what I made her.

In a jar.

Within each of those stars are a blessing for her life as an adult, there are eighteen stars, and they cover everything from job interview success to never dating idiots, some are funny (May your armpits always remain miraculously hair free during the summer months) and some are serious (May you and those around you always know your worth), each star is a blessing, and she can either chose to leave them as is within their jar, or open them up and see everything that I wish for her. These are great for milestone birthdays (or anniversaries) but I think would be especially awesome for a baby shower, with each attendee writing a blessing, and the resulting stars being displayed in a jar in the nursery.

You Will Need

• Coloured paper. I’ve used a pad of scrapbook paper, but coloured printer paper is fine. DO NOT use scrapbooking card, the stars will not be able to be smushed into shape when it comes to the final step.
• A rotary cutter, ruler and mat.

Full tutorial after the jump…

1. Cut your paper into 1.5cmx 30cm strips. When cutting from a pad of scrapbook paper I like to insert my cutting mat between the sheets. This way I don’t have to pull them out and risk losing what’s left over or it getting crumpled.

2. Write your blessings inside each of the strips making sure to leave an couple of centimetres clearance at each end.

3. Tie a knot in the strip, near one end, press the folds.

4. Tuck the flap on the bottom of the pentagon into the envelope of paper above it. Tear or cut some off if it’s too long (that’s why you leave some space before and after the writing).

5. Fold the long strip around the pentagon, keep on wrapping until you near the end.

6. Tuck that flap into the star, again, cut any excess off if it doesn’t fit.

7. Pinch the edges of the pentagons together to form the points of the star. This should cause it to puff up and become three dimensional.

And you’re done! It’s likely to take a few tries to perfect it, but once you’ve got it you can make these with your eyes shut. It took me about fifteen minutes to make the eighteen stars I needed.