Springtime Pinwheels and Tutorial

This spring I am decorating with pinwheels.  They are so cute and fun - and easy to construct and display.  I've seen them as garlands, standing in buckets or vases like flowers, as well as on cards and scrapbook pages.  For these seen here, I used some gorgeous papers by American Crafts.  It's best to use a 2 sided paper, and these yummy spring colors are a perfect choice!  You will also need: ruler, pencil, hole punch, brads, glue dots, buttons, and a ribbon (if you want to string them into a garland) or lollipop or popsicle sticks (if you want them to stand up).

Step 1: cut your papers into square pieces.  I used a 6 inch square for the large pinwheels and a 3 inch square for the smaller pinwheels. 

Step 2: mark the center by using your ruler and drawing a light pencil line from corner to corner.

Step 3: Cut on your marked lines almost, but not through, to the center.  Leave at least 1/2 inch.

Step 4: use your hole punch to punch one hole in each opposite corner (4 holes total).  If you can get to the center with your hole punch, make a hole there also.  I had to use an awl to make my center hole.

Step 5: use a brad to secure the opposite corners to the center.  This was a bit tricky on the small pinwheels, but it can be done.

Step 6: adhere a small button (mine are from Cosmo Cricket's "Salt Air" line) to the center of your pinwheel using a glue dot.

Step 7: essentially your pinwheel is done.  Now you just have to decide how to use them!  I used glue dots to adhere a lollipop stick to the backs of the small ones and stood them up in a small tin (that used to hold loose tea).  There is some foam inside the tin to keep the stick steady and I punched a hole through the cover with my awl.  I decorated the tin with matching papers from American Crafts and glued a mound of green moss to cover the tops.  For the garland, I threaded my ribbon through a large (yarn) needle and simple wove it through the backs of the pinwheels to join them.  Because the holes are small, they stay put and don't slide up and down the ribbon.  I think it looks cute on my kitchen door.  It makes me happy to look at.