Our Baby’s 1st Birthday Party! (DIY Paper Medallion)

So after making the tissue pom poms, I started scouring the internet for some ideas. What I ended up making are paper medallions in different colors and sizes. I have all the materials I needed to make this colorful and easy DIY craft so that is a plus!

Materials you will need: 

1. Construction paper in different colors. Or colorful scrapbook papers. Even old magazine or newspaper will do. (When we were printing our wedding programs, we made some mistakes here and there, but instead of throwing away those rejects, I saved them. I know someday it will come in handy. And how cool is it that I used them for decorating our baby’s 1st birthday party?!). 
2. Invisible tape.
3. Stapler.
4. Glue gun.
5. Scissors.
6. Craft punch (I’m using a rose window punch by Martha Stewart that we bought on sale at Michael’s).
7. Some sort of a mounting tape. (I used a mounting tape that I have, and then some painter’s tape from my leftover painting projects).

TUTORIAL: 

In this tutorial, we won’t go through extensive measuring and all that math! Let’s leave the math to the engineers, shall we? That’s just an added step that I don’t have the time for. If you wish to measure yours, by all means, do so! But for the rest of us who are trying to make these decorations in the middle of the night or while our babies are taking their afternoon naps, let’s get down to business.

Step 1: Lay down your paper and decide how wide you want your fold to be. (Mine was about half an inch and you can pretty much just eyeball it, like I did). You can either fold lengthwise or crosswise. Just remember if you decide to fold your paper lengthwise, the bigger your medallion is going to be and the more paper you would need to make the ends meet. So I fold mine crosswise (to save time and paper!). Fold 1/2 inch from the edge and crease. Crease it well! Turn the paper over and follow the width of your first fold. Continue folding accordion style until you reached the end of your paper.

Step 2: Repeat the same process using the same sheet of paper, making sure you use the same size folds. (For a fuller accordion, use 3 sets of the same sheet and size folds. I just used 2 accordion sets and it still turned out great. However, I think it would have been easier to put it together if I made 3. Less resistance if you know what I mean. But I used staples and invisible tape to attach them together, so it wasn’t that hard). Once you have 2 accordion sets, fold them in half.

Step 3: Turn your 1st set of accordion over. Have the ends meet and secure it with either a stapler or a tape. (I find that it’s not so easy to staple them using the regular size stapler, but I still used it anyways for some of it, specially the thicker paper. But you can just go ahead and use the invisible tape to attach them if you want. However. if you have a small stapler, use that instead. It would make your life easier).

Step 4: Repeat the same procedure to your other set of accordion and you will end up with something that look like this.

Step 5: For a much cleaner look, put a long piece of invisible tape on the top side to gather the ridges of the two ends that you attached earlier. You can totally skip this part if you aren’t so anal about it. But this is how it would look though if you do…

So from this…

To this… (Do you see a little bit of tape sticking out?  Cut that out or fold it to the other side). 

Step 6: Attach the two halves of your paper medallion using either a stapler or a tape. (When using a stapler, always make sure you use the back side of your paper. You wouldn’t want any staples showing. You can even use a thin layer of hot glue if you’re using a thick paper).

Step 7: Gather the ridges together and placed a small piece of invisible tape in the middle. (Make sure the tape is not bigger than the piece of paper you are going to use to to attach in the middle of your medallion).

Step 8: Using a whole punch or scissors, cut out a small circle or flower to go in the middle of your medallion. (I happen to have a craft punch by Martha Stewart so I used that instead). Attach this to your paper medallion with a hot glue to give it a more finished look.

You can also try tracing the ends of your medallion or your floral center with different coloured markers to give it more character. Or even add glitters! There are so many other ways you can do to further enhance this very easy DIY craft. Literally, the sky is the limit! Just let the child in you have fun! Enjoy!!! ?