Origami paper stars for garlands or gifts

Making paper Christmas decorations is one of my favorite things this time of year. I found instructions here for making an 8-pointed origami star and tried it out. Lovely!

You can make garlands with them. (The back sides aren't as pretty, so hang the garland against a wall or put two stars back to back.) Or hang individual ones on a Christmas tree.

Or make paper stars to use instead of traditional bows on gifts. If you skip the last step in the tutorial, the back side is flat and easy to tape to a package. These will lay flat for packing presents in a box, and then you can fluff them up again when you put the gifts under the tree.