Moon Phase Wall Decoration

Moon Phase Wall Decoration

Today, we're going to make this decorative wall-hanging with phases of the moon!

This is a nice, simple craft that's perfect for teens and tweens. It can be easily adapted to suit other crafters as well, by adding decoration or by simplifying steps!

To begin, you will need light and dark paper (black and white work fine, but you could also opt for gray, navy, tan, purple, or some similar combination). You will also need tape, scissors, a pencil, string, a plain hanger (or some sort of stick, if unavailable), glue, paint (white and gray), a small paint brush, and an optional circular object to trace. 

Start by tracing and cutting your circles. Mine are about 2", but almost any size would work (as long as all of the circles are the same size). If you don't have an object to trace, freehand the first circle and then use it as a template for the rest.

 You'll need a total of 4 dark circles, and 7 light circles. 

One dark circle will be left whole, but the others will need to be cut into 2 pieces each. Cut one dark circle in half, and cut the other two with a curve about 2/3 of the way across the circle. It doesn't have to be exact.

IMPORTANT: Do not throw away the small pieces from your dark circles. All of these pieces will be put to use. 

With the exception of the full dark circle, glue each of the dark pieces over a light circle. You should end up with one light circle, one dark circle, two circles that are split halfway, two with one dark third, and two with one light third. 

Now you get to decorate the moons! I used a very fine tipped paintbrush to add white dots to the dark paper for stars. If you're feeling particularly inspired, you could add some purple or blue to the "background" too.

I also added some gray paint splotches to the white paper to form craters. 

Give your paper a moment to dry. It shouldn't take too long, as it's only a few light speckles of paint. 

While the paint is drying, cut 5 pieces of string. These should be just slightly longer than the hanger you are using. The string will be trimmed later, but it's best to start out with all five at similar lengths. 

Tie one of your strings so that it hangs down from the center of your hanger (or stick). Tie the other 4 so that there are 2 on each side of the center string, equally spaced.

Flip your moon pieces over, and tape them to the strings. The hardest part about this is making sure everything is in the right order. A nice trick to keep track of these is to check that the darker "space" side of each moon is pointing toward the center, and the lighter "moon" side is around the outer edge.

The moons will form a diamond shape with the all space circle on the top center and the all moon circle on the bottom center. 

The moon phase cycle is now complete! All you have to do is trim the strings that stick out underneath the moons, and add any extra decorations you want! Washi tape, ribbons, wrapped yarn, or other designs can be added at this time, or the hanger can be left with a minimalist look.

Enjoy!