My oldest daughter, Sophie, graduates from preschool next week! Cue all the tears! I seriously cannot believe that I’ll have a kindergardener on my hands in September. I wanted to do something special for Sophie and the other kids in her class, so I made some fun DIY iridescent paper prize ribbons using opalescent tissue paper and pastel card stock. They turned out super cute, so I thought I’d share the how-to with all of you! These prize ribbons are a really cute way of congratulating someone on a recent achievement – like graduation, landing a new job, buying a home – celebrating an engagement, or even offering a quick note of encouragement!
The prize ribbons that I made for Sophie’s classmates all say “preschool graduate,” but I wanted to show them with more general congratulatory messages for those of you who don’t have kids. You can also write your own personalized message by hand on a blank circle! But if you’re worried about your hand lettering skills, you can totally download our free printable downloads through the links at the bottom of the post and use them as needed! There’s one version with school-specific messages and another with general messages that can work all year long! I love the idea of making a bunch of these to have ready throughout the year, or even making an end-of-the-school-year tradition by taking a photo with a new ribbon after finishing each grade! Ooooh, these would also be really fun for a birthday party! So many possibilities!
Aaaaah!! These paper prize ribbons are so colorful and full of iridescent shimmer! I used pastels with pops of navy and plum, but they’d be so good in any color combination. Let’s make some, yes??
Materials
- Cover weight paper / card stock in your color palette
- Iridescent tissue paper
- 2″ circle punch
- 1.5″ circle punch
- Paper trimmer
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Craft glue or a glue stick
- Hot glue gun
- Bar pin back (optional)
To make the DIY iridescent paper prize ribbons:
Step 1. Without unfolding the iridescent tissue, cut the folded tissue into 7.5″ segments. My iridescent tissue contained three sheets per package, so after making all the cuts I had twelve 7.5″ x 18″ sheets of iridescent tissue. Fold each sheet in half lengthwise to create a 3.25″ x 18″ sheet. Accordion fold the iridescent tissue, then staple in the middle and trim the ends as needed. You can leave the ends straight – or make them curved or angled! Gently unfold and use a very small amount of hot glue to glue the edges together and form a complete circle.
Step 2. Punch several 2″ circles out of your card stock. You’ll need twice as many 2″ circles as the final number of ribbons – one for the front and one for attaching the ribbon tail on the back.
Step 3. Download our printable template with congratulatory messages and print them onto colorful card stock. Use the 1.5″ circle punch to punch out each message – or you can punch a bunch of 1.5″ circles and hand write your own personalized message! Use craft glue or a glue stick to glue the smaller circle to the center of a larger circle – this is the center of your prize ribbon! Hot glue the center circle to the center of the folded iridescent tissue.
Step 4. To make the ribbon tails, use your paper trimmer to cut a piece of card stock in half lengthwise, then into 1″ segments (giving you 1″ x 4.25″ pieces). Staple two pieces to a 2″ circle, then trim the edges – just like you would do with a real ribbon! Hot glue the 2″ circle with the tails to the back of the prize ribbon.
Step 5. To make the ribbons wearable, hot glue a bar pin to the back of the prize ribbon. These prize ribbons also make fantastic gift toppers, or you can hot glue a loop of string to hang them on the wall!
Download the printable templates right here:
All artwork © 2017 Oh So Beautiful Paper. All artwork is made available for personal use only. By downloading the patterns you agree to the terms of use.
Photos by Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper
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