Holiday Pin It/Do It - Pin #1

We are 12 days into the most recent Pin It/Do It challenge and I have accomplished two of my promised eight pins.  Project #2 will be posted tomorrow.

Woven stars made from book pages may be my favorite craft of the year.  They are so simple, but look complicated.  They can be adapted to fit any decorating scheme and sized to fit any tree.  Here is the original pins - single star and double star:

http://houserevivals.blogspot.com/2010/11/make-woven-star-from-vintage-book-pages_29.html

Of course I had to make my own alterations.  The original is made from strips of book pages, folded lengthwise into thirds.  I did this on my first one, but for the rest of my stars I just used slightly heavier paper cut into 1/4" strips. The necessary weight of the paper depends on your intended use.  The single strips were sturdy enough to hang on the tree (with very careful packing when storing), but if you want to use them as package decorations or sitting in a bowl, they might need to be heavier.

I was instantly in love and started making them from every paper I could find.  I used vintage book pages:

and gold craft paper

and pages from an old hymnal

I also made a couple from double-sided card stock - different Christmas pattern on each side. I liked the 2-color effect, but the card stock was almost too stiff.  It worked well for larger sizes, but for smaller ones it needed to be more flexible.  Scrapbooking paper would work, but remember that both sides of the paper are going to show, so papers with a white flip-side might not be as pretty - unless you want to use plain red and make a candy-cane effect.

Speaking of sizes, the original directions call for 8" strips.  This makes a finished star of about 7 inches - allowing for the curve.  This was a bit bigger than I wanted for tree ornaments, so I made the rest of mine from 5-6" strips.  I like this size much better.  I'm going to try smaller ones, also - I'll let you know how that goes.

The original pinner embellished her stars with glitter and pom-poms to cover where the hanger is attached.  I am hanging my stars with ribbon or pretty beaded hooks I found at Hobby Lobby, so I left off the pom-poms.  Always looking for ways to simplify, I decided not to mess with regular glue/glitter.  I bought Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint in a shade called "Diamond Dust".  The paint adds just a dusting of glitter that twinkles in the tree lights, but doesn't cover the design on the paper.  The spray also adds some sturdiness to the thinner papers.

Here are the supplies I used - all easy to find and inexpensive. A quilting ruler makes for quick marking of 1/4" lines and if you happen to have a rotary-cutter blade you don't mind dulling, you could even cut your strips that way.  I just marked my lines in pencil and cut with good old scissors. I used craft glue, but Elmers would probably work fine.   I recommend making several stars at once, working assembly line fashion, to allow time for glue to dry a bit before moving on to the next step.

 

Have fun and be creative.  Let me know if you invent your own adaptations.

Pin It/Do it is sponsored by Trish at Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity