1Find a paper cup and a ball.

Your paper cup angel consists of two main parts—a paper cup for the body and a Styrofoam ball for the head. Choose the size for these materials so that the head and body are well-proportioned.

2Prime the paper cup.

This step is only necessary if your paper cup has prints on it or if it has a glossy surface. Priming the surface with white acrylic paint will hide the prints on the paper cup and allow the tempera or poster paint to adhere better to the surface of the cup.

To prime your paper cup, simply paint the outside of your cup with undiluted white acrylic paint.

3Draw the angel's face.

Use a black permanent marker to draw the angel's face on the Styrofaom ball.

4Add some hair.

Cut several strips of crepe pape about ½" wide and 2" long for short hair and at least 4" long for longer hair. Glue the strips onto the Styrofoam ball to create the angel's hair. Curly or wavy hair can be achieved by crumpling up the strips before gluing them on.

5Draw a pair of arms.

Once the paint is completely dry on your paper cup, draw a pair of arms using a black permanent marker.

6Paint the paper cup.

Paint the paper cup with pastel shades of tempera or poster paint such as light blue, pink, or yellow. Leave the angel's hands unpainted.

You can mix your own pastel shade of paint by adding a bit of colored paint to white paint. For instance, you can come up with light pink by adding a tiny bit of red to white paint. To make light blue, add a dab of blue to white paint.

7Draw the wings.

Fold a piece of white construction paper or cardstock in half. Draw a wing shape along the paper's folded edge. Make sure the size of the wing matches the size of your paper cup angel.

8Cut out the wings.

While keeping the paper folded, cut along the wing outline.

9Unfold the paper.

Unfold the paper to reveal a pair of wings.

10Glue some cotton.

You can glue some cotton to come up with fluffy angel wings.

Loosen up the cotton into wisps. Glue them onto both sides of the wings except around the middle section on one side of the wing. This section is where the wings need to be attached to the paper cup body.

11Decorate the angel's gown.

Decorate your angel's gown with star stickers or with glitter glue. You can also glue small sequins or a length of ribbon or rickrack around the bottom of the angel's gown and at the ends of the sleeves.

12Glue the wings.

Glue the wings at the back of your paper cup angel.

13Glue the head.

Glue the angel's head onto the paper cup body.

14Make a halo.

Cut 1/4 of a gold pipe cleaner, which is about 3 inches. Make a 2-inch loop on one end of the pipe cleaner to create a round halo. Bend down the excess length to create a stem for the halo.

15Place the halo.

Gently plant the halo's stem into the angel's Styrofoam head.