DIY: Folded Paper Napkin Ring

This is a simple way to create napkin rings that are just made out of paper—no gluing or taping required. They aren’t too hard to make, disposable and inexpensive.

SUPPLIES

• Large paper
• Ruler
• X-acto knife 
• Self healing mat
• Pencil
• Scissors

DIRECTIONS

— 1 —

Measure and mark the size of your paper strip. With X-acto knife and ruler, cut a long strip from your selected paper on the self-healing mat. (My paper strip is 12 inches long and 1 inch wide.)

— 2 —

With image side down, align the paper strip to the ruler.

— 3 —

At 4.5 inch, fold Edge 1 straight down.

— 4 —

Bring End 2 around to overlap End 1. End 2 should stick out 1.5 inch from the left edge of End 1.

— 5 —

Fold End 1 up.

— 6 —

Fold End 1 down.

— 7 —

Fold End 2 to the right.

— 8 —

Fold End 2 and tuck the end into the opening beneath it. (If necessary, cut the end so it’s not more than half an inch so it’s easier to tuck under.)

— 9 —

Fold End 1 up.

— 10 —

Fold End 1 and tuck the end into the opening beneath it. (If necessary, cut the end so it’s not more than half an inch so it’s easier to tuck under.) Folded Paper Napkin Ring complete. Slip Folded Paper Napkin Ring around a napkin.

Tip: The Folded Paper Napkin Ring I created here has a 6-inch circumference. However, you may wish to measure the circumference of your napkins before creating a Folded Paper Napkin Ring (as some napkins are thicker than others), and from there, gauge the length of paper you need.

Note: I used an old wall calendar that was a 12-inch square size, but you could also use 12-inch scrapbooking paper.

The 12-inch size paper limits the napkin ring’s width, as an increased napkin ring width creates more surface area that then requires more length to cover that increased surface area for each fold. If you want to create a wider napkin ring, use larger paper (e.g. fine art paper or wrapping paper). Or you could even cut open a brown paper bag and create strips from that paper (and stamp it to create a nice pattern on it before folding it).

In this Folded Paper Napkin Ring, I stamped the center (once it had been made and slipped onto a napkin). Consider stamping personal names, significant dates or holiday related images onto the Folded Paper Napkin Ring.