The kids and I made some lighted wooden star decorations a couple of years ago. For our house and as gifts.
We have loved our star so much and kept it up year round, that I decided I needed to make one for our new home.
So I did. Which was great.
Except that I can’t stop making them!
I made one regular lighted wooden star for above the mantel.
One with kid-drawn oil pastel stripes.
One covered in lace.
One wrapped in yarn.
And one made out of sticks.
Plus I have several other ideas to try!
Here’s the basic tutorial plus how I made the variations…
I highly recommend making at least one of these wood stars for your home! They are so easy and make such a big visual impact! Lovely for Christmastime or any time.
Wooden Star Decorations 5 Ways
MATERIALS
- 5 yardsticks (you can buy these for cheap in the paint department at the hardware store)
- Hot glue gun
- Paint (Acrylics, BioColors, house paint, tempera, etc)
- Paint primer (optional)
- White Christmas lights (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS (for the basic lighted wooden star)
Arrange the five yardsticks into a star shape. (Or use 6 if you want to make a Star of David.) Use a hot glue gun to glue the corners together as well as all the places where the yardsticks cross/touch.
Add a coat or two of primer, if you want to cover up the yardstick markings. (Or white acrylic paint as I did in this instance.)
Paint the star as desired. You can even add glitter to the wet paint as we did last time.
Wrap a string of white Christmas lights around the star and hang.
Wood Star Variations…
The Striped Star
I LOVE this one!
We started with a regular wooden star that I had painted white with acrylic paint. Then one day after school, Maia and I drew stripes on it after school with oil pastels while talking about her day and homework and such.
And then the next day, Daphne and her friend added more stripes until it was super colorful and fun.
The Lace-Covered Star
Oh my goodness! I love this one, too!
For the lace covered star, I started with a wooden star that I primed with white primer.
I stretched some white lace fabric (left over from a curtain I had made) over the wooden star frame, trimmed the fabric to extend only about an inch beyond the frame, then used a hot glue gun to glue the excess fabric to the back of the star.
Does that make sense? If you need more detailed step by step directions, just leave a comment and I’ll answer there or come back here and add more.
I liked the lace covered star in the window…
But I LOVE the color and texture contrast of it against this old wooden door I have propped against the wall in my bedroom!
The Yarn-Wrapped Star
This one is still in progress; it’s taking longer than I expected but I’m enjoying wrapping the yarn here and there while listening to music or audio books.
I’m not sure yet what I want to do with the inside sections of the wood stars. I kind of just want to saw them off, so it’s just a star outline. We’ll see…
Anyway, if you wanted to try a yarn-wrapped star, I would suggest using a thicker yarn. And maybe wrapping each stick individually before gluing them into a star shape.
Or just wrap the entire star, like a bigger version of these little yarn-wrapped popsicle stick stars.
Any other ideas?
The Wood Stick Star
This wooden star is simply made from natural sticks from trees rather than yardsticks. I made this one to go above the mantel but it ended up too large for the spot so we’re trying to figure out what to do with it. Maia has requested that it be hung above her bed, so that’s probably where it will go.
Instead of using a hot glue gun to attach these sticks, I used jute string to tie the sticks together at each intersection. Pretty easy.
I’m enjoying the all natural look of this star, but am also thinking about ways to decorate it…
Perhaps add some branch weaving (wouldn’t a woven star be awesome?!) and/or painted branch art as the lovely Art Bar has done with branches.
How about you? Have you made wooden stars with yardsticks (or regular sticks) yet? Any other ideas other than what I’ve shared here?
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