How to make 3D paper snowflakes using lunch bags

In this tutorial, I’m showing you how to make large, quick, easy, and affordable 3D paper snowflakes using lunch bags. I’m also turning one of them into a 3D paper snowflake lantern using fairy lights.
If you’ve been following me for a while then you know that I love snowflakes. I recently made the snowflake canvas art and a couple of years ago I made fanned posterboard snowflakes for our tree decor with a free downloadable cutting file.

I love how easy these large 3D paper snowflakes are to make and they are the perfect last-minute decor and craft to do with your family before Christmas

How to make large 3D paper snowflakes using lunch bags

Materials needed:

• 9 lunch bags for one 3D paper snowflake (white or natural brown) – I used brown because I wanted them to be a contrast to my ivory curtains
• scissors
• craft glue
• stapler
• clothing pins or little clamps
• string
• fairy lights (optional) – I used fairy lights and not regular Christmas lights because I love the look and they also don’t get hot like standard strands of light bulbs. Please don’t leave the lights on unattended since they could get hot if torn at spots. And I’m definitely not responsible for anything that might happen!!!
  

Step-by-step instructions:

Here is my video to show you the process and below are the steps in photos:

Music credit: Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Start out by gluing the 9 lunch bags together. The glue line looks like a T as shown in the below image. One thin line at the bottom of the bag and one line going up the center of the bag.

Place another bag on top of the glue line and keep repeating until all the bags are stacked and glued.

Use clothing pins, clips or little clamps to keep the center glue line tight. You can also use something heavy as a weight to make sure everything glues together nicely.

Open up the paper bag fan to make sure the bags separate and open properly before you get to the cutting part.

You can also use a stapler to secure some of the top edges

Draw on the 3D snowflake pattern as shown.

Cut the snowflake pattern with strong scissors. If you are doing this with kids then they might need help for this step.

Here is one option of how you can cut the pattern. You can also round the top or add other nudges to the sides.

Lastly, you need to glue the final edge by applying a thin layer of glue.

Fan the 3D snowflake out and attach the edges with a stapler.

At the end, you poke a hole on one edge and add a string to the hole to be able to hang the 3D snowflake.

If you want to turn the 3D snowflakes into lanterns then you can watch my video to see how to do so.

And here are my other snowflake DIYs…

Click HERE for the DIY artwork

and HERE for the small snowflake ornaments

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Happy Holidays!