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You know what I LOVE about using digital papers? It is so stinkin’ EASY to use my templates!! You just “clip” your digital papers to the layers that you want to “cut”, then you print and assemble! Man. How easy is that? (For a pretty good tutorial on how to use my templates with digital papers, check out this tutorial at The Hybrid Chick!)

I was reminded of the benefits of using digital paper as I was creating this next tutorial for all of you. See, this time I used some papers from my traditional stash. I have a HUGE stash, and it really is begging me to use it, so I did. Of course, my project took FO-EV-AH, but it turned out cute, and that is what counts, right?

Let me introduce you to my newest release:

In THAT little sample, I used some digital papers from the Land of the Free kit by Sarah Jones (The Digichick) and just clipped them to the psd version of my template, printed, scored, cut and glued. Took me about . . . 15 minutes, including download time.

In the version that I am about to show you . . . it took a little longer. Hee, hee! AND, I got my fingers messy. AND, I had to clean up my desktop a little to make room for my project. Darn it. BUT, it is seriously cute, so . . . eh. Six of one, half-dozen of the other, right?

Okay, here we go: How to recreate the cool “every-other-side-of-the-star-effect” (I just made that up!) using your traditional paper supplies and my wonderful new template.

First, grab the “lines only” pdf version of my template and print it on the BACK side of your paper. I printed the template twice, because I knew that I was going to do this fun little technique on them. So, here I have 2 sets of stars - enough to make 1 3D star using this technique with one star left over.

Next, score on all the dotted lines and cut out on all the solid lines. Once again, you see me using my craft knife (which I really should clean, eh?). I like how FAST I can cut with the thing with just a little bit of practice.

Now, fold all of those scored lines.

Fold those lines back and forth, both ways. This little star is pretty flexible! You will see that to make it 3D and make the center pop out, you will need to fold the long sides out and the short sides in. You’ll see what I mean when you start playing!

Now, grab your coordinating star and start cutting out the triangles (trapezoids?) as shown. Again, I used my craft knife to really get in there.

I inked the edges. This picture only shows the start of the inking process. I used the DTP (direct to paper) technique where you pick up your ink pad and swipe it across the edge of your paper. Super fast and funky results!

Next, I put the blue star back together like a puzzle on top of my brown star.

And then, I removed the extra pieces and glued these ones down.

I used some double-sided tape (Tombow, baby!) and applied adhesive to all of the small flaps on both of the stars.

And, now it gets tricky, but hang in there. First, figure out how you are going to attach the flaps to the inside of the stars. I lined them up (as shown) and just got started.

Then, I flipped the stars so the insides are together and then squished ‘em closed. Really, it took a little more precision than what I just described, but once you get going, it will totally make sense and you’ll say to yourself, “I’ll just squish ‘em closed!”

Finally, just squeeze the pointy ends to sort of puff the star.

So Stinkin’ Cute! And, classy, too, eh? (No, I am not from Canada, but once I get started on the eh thing, it is hard to break the habit. I’ll work on it, though. Promise.)

Can you picture this on a mantle leaned up against a picture frame? How about stringing a few of them together on a ribbon for a banner? Oooh. Or, how about hanging them in your windows like Christmas ornaments except with an Independence Day theme? AH! Christmas! How perfect!! OR a birthday! What about making the mini versions and attaching them to gift packages. Or, maybe attaching them to napkin rings! (I’m getting excited, here!)

There are SO many possibilities with this template, and it is so easy to use!

Go get it today!!