A Joyous Sukkot!!

Sukkot is the only Jewish Holiday where we are commanded to be Joyous...we live and sleep and eat in our Sukkahs and enjoy the blessings of family and togetherness.  I like to decorate for this holiday with Sunflowers because to me, they are a Joyful flower!  The colors of the flowers work well with the harvest-y theme that most of us strive to create in our Sukkahs, too.  In honor, I created this Paper Garland using the Rosh Hashanah paper called Sweet New Year.  The beautiful deep greens, reds and yellows made me think of Sunflowers and the Lulov and the Etrog and I was inspired!!

I found the sunflower shaped doilies at my Dollar Tree store today, hidden amongst all the Thanksgiving merchandise.  I created a pinwheel using the Sweet New Year paper by accordian folding the paper at 1 1/2 inch intervals, then folding the whole sheet of paper in half and glueing the middle folds together using strong adhesive.

I then used the same paper and did the same thing.  I trimmed a little upside down u off the ends so the pinwheel would look more flower-like and glued both sides together so they now looked like this.

I made some custom buttons with my Epiphany Crafts button maker and layered a Sunflower Doily with a button on the main pinwheel.

Then I punched a hole on either side and threaded twine through it and sandwiched the doilies around the twine, two on each side.  I cut circles for the middle and added a custom button in the middle. I decorated  both sides of the doilies and pinwheel so that it looked cute from both sides.  All together the craft took me about 30 mins...and it is something that I will be able to recreate for more impact with other papers.

I hope you enjoyed this Sukkot Craft and that you all have a Joyous Sukkot!