A Wooden Christmas Star

This project was extra fun for me.  I had seen a very similar item at Hobby Lobby priced at $33.99 on sale for 50% OFF.  I liked the idea but the overall look and quality of the item left me a little flat, not to mention what they were charging for it.  Even at half price I wasn't willing to pay that much for it.  So I made my own and I think I knocked it right out of the park.

 

I did pick up a couple Christmas picks for 50% OFF at Hobby Lobby though, knowing I was going to make this star spending a total of $4.  The pine bough was $2.99 and the berries were 99¢.

 

I used wood I already had in my garage and cut five pieces to 18 inches in length.  Then using wood glue and some brads I glued and tacked the ends together until I had made a star.  It takes a little fidgeting to get them all lined up and the ends figured out as to which one goes on top or underneath.  Then once I had that part figured out and it shaped the way I wanted I marked on the back which point was the top, made sure everything was even and then added a second brad to each point to keep it from moving.  I also added a couple at two other points in the center along with glue.

 

Next I filled in any holes with some spackle to neaten it up, but not too much as I did want it to look fairly rustic.  Once the spackle had dried I have the entire thing a light sanding with some 220 grit sandpaper.  I didn't do a lot of sanding just enough to smooth it so no one, namely me, would get any and sandpaper and to make sure the spots I had spackled were also nice and smooth.

 

I wiped the entire pieces down with a slightly damp cloth and then it was time for paint.  I watered down some gray acrylic paint and used a paint brush to basically give it a "whitewash" finish.  I took my time turning it over and made sure I got it all nicely painted then let it dry.

 

The fun stuff was next.  I cut the long wire end of the pine bough off with wire cutters and used a piece of wire to secure it to the top of my star arranging the boughs to cover the wire once I had done that.  I twisted it good in the back and added a big dollop of hot glue to it in the back just in case it decided to slide down.  Then with more hot glue I arranged pieces of the berry sprig, tucking them into the pine boughs.

 

I made a bow by accordion folding a 24 inch length of velvet ribbon I had in my gift wrap stash securing it at the bottom of the folds with plenty of hot glue and carefully holding it together while it dried.  Then I attached it to the top of the star with more hot glue.

 

To make a hanger I used the remnants of the wire to make a loop, twisted it several times and made a second loop for the bottom of the hanger.  I used hot glue to secure it where I wanted it on the back of the wooden star.  Once the glue had set I then added a short screw in the bottom loop right through the glob of hot glue to complete the hanger making it much more secure.  Using the hot glue first made it much easier to screw the hanger to the star.

And that is it.  Tada!

Hobby Lobby's Christmas star priced at $33.99 on sale for $16.99

And my version of the Christmas star for $3.98 out of pocket

Not only was making my own star much more affordable than purchasing one, but I think mine turned out much nicer, not to toot my own horn, but I'm tooting my own horn.  Plus!  I had a ton of fun making this.  A ton!!