Handcrafted celebrations

Step 1: Gather
Collect your materials together, including a selection of green Resene paint in a pleasing range of shades.

Step 2: Undo
Look inside the bag for the seam where the edges of the bag has been glued together. Use your fingers to gently separate this to create a flat sheet. If necessary, give the paper a gentle iron to flatten.

Step 3: Fold and Cut
Fold the paper into lengths, approximately 7cm high and 26cm (or 52cm) long, depending on the size of the bag. Cut along the folds using paper scissors.

Step 4: Paint
Paint the paper strips with stripes of alternating colour using your Resene testpots. Allow to dry and use a small paint brush to add dots, contrasting lines or other details. Allow to dry.

Step 5: Fold
Cut any of the longer paper strips in half, so they are all 26cm long. Fold each paper strip evenly into 4.

Step 6: Cut
Cut the folded paper into a simple geometric tree shape, including a trunk. This makes 4 trees. Repeat this process until you have at least 20-40 trees.

Step 7: Sew
Thread a strong needle with a doubled length of coloured cotton. Make a small stitch in and out at the top of each tree to connect them together in one string. Take care they don’t get tangled as you do this.

Step 8: Hang
Lay the bunting on a tray or other flat surface. Use small pins or removable adhesive to hang up the bunting.