Paper Snowflake Decorations

(Day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas)

I'm sure you've noticed by now that Host the Toast's "12 Days of Christmas" are ending the day before Christmas.  This is because 1) Christmas advice won't help you much if I post it ON Christmas, and 2) You and I are both going to be too busy giving out (and receiving, hopefully) amazing Christmas presents to even think about logging on the computer.

What you will be thinking about (besides the aforementioned amazing Christmas presents) is how your house looks like a bonafide Winter Wonderland thanks to all of the paper snowflakes you made and strung up.  Don't worry, making and hanging gorgeous paper snowflakes is easier than you might think, and to top it off it's the cheapest way imaginable to decorate for Christmas.  I'm here to walk you through getting beautiful paper snowflakes hung up before Christmas morning!

When I decorated for the holiday party I hosted, there were two types of snowflakes:  hundreds of little ones I made from cutting folded paper, and a large 3D on my friend Megan made for the hanging centerpiece.  I could go through the steps telling you how to make these, but there are already some great sources out there.  For the small snowflakes, check out Vintage Junky's tutorial.  For the 3D ones, follow the instructions on the youtube tutorial below by kongo204.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd24LcZ0iAs
 
One thing I realized was that making the snowflakes was easy, but hanging them was going to be a pain.  I had hundreds of snowflakes, and I didn't want to hang them up individually.  Also, tape never seems to hold on my ceilings.  I could not find any promising way on the internet on how to hang them, just a million tutorials on how to make them.  I came up with an easy fix, though, and I hope it helps you, too:  fishing wire and removable picture hooks.

All you have to do is stick removable picture hooks on your walls just below the ceilings, all over the room.  Then, take fishing wire and knot it around the picture hooks and string it around the room, connecting hook to hook.  Eventually, you should have a sort of web of fishing wire right below the ceiling.  Cut about a foot and a half of fishing wire, tie or tape a snowflake to each side, and then hang the wire with snowflakes over a strand of your "web ceiling", so both snowflakes hang down on either side.  Do this for all of your snowflakes, and it will so much faster and easier to put them up and take them down!

Happy snowflake making!