A Rustic Christmas Star

Are you the kind of parent who leaves your preschooler at kids' birthday parties?  I never used to with my first, but now I see it as an opportunity to steal away for 2 hours and get a few things achieved, without all the hoo ha that goes along with dragging a little one around.  My little girl is very confident and with the benefit of an older brother, who has introduced her to the ways of the kiddo world much earlier than he ever was, I feel very confident too, that she is more than able to fend for herself.  However I do draw the line at beach parties.  There is no way I would leave my 4 year old at a party here.  Even with the best intentions, there are too many risks, not to watch her like a hawk.

So what so you do after the polite chit chat amongst the other mums has been exhausted and your little one is following a fairy around on a treasure hunt with a face full of corn chips?  I shall tell you.  You walk around under the gum trees looking for sticks equal in length and diameter that's what.  I'm sure there would have been other more interesting things to do BB....... that's before blogging, but it seems now, any spare moment is spent thinking about the next post.  The funny thing is, as I was stuffing the sticks into the Beach House Brat's beach bag, a new on the scene mum asked me what they were for.  I showed her a rough outline of the star I was going to make with them and said it was for my blog.  

"Your blog?" she said.  "I'm a social media advisor to corporates."  So I found myself chatting to her for the next half an hour about some of the more interesting social media campaigns which had gone wrong for some corporates and how some of them just don't get it.  The potential there is amazing and very interesting and another post in itself.

So when I got the sticks and an over tired but very happy Beach House Brat home,  I fiddled around with them and here's the result.  A very low cost, environmentally friendly rustic Christmas star.  The how to is below, but before I launch into that, I think these would look great tied with Nordic style red ribbon or bakers twine.  I think you could also make smaller ones with tooth picks and bakers' twine.  You could also stick shells or rosemary to it.  You could make a huge one from driftwood for your front door, depending on your decorating theme. 

So you will need 5 sticks, roughly the same size and diameter.  Mine were 25cm.   You will also need some twine. 

Make the first 2 into the shape of the letter "A"

For the cross bar of the "A", you will need to weave it over and under.  At first, I made the mistake of just laying it across like this and the finished product was just not as sturdy.

Don't do it like this.  Weave the cross bar over and under for strength.

It will still work if you don't weave it over and under as you can see here, but it is not as strong.

For the remaining 2 sticks of the star, place them like so, making sure the ends overlap and cross.

Tie them off with your twine of choice (about 15cm) and trim up once you've tied it.

This one may replace the star on my Christmas ladder

Or it may be hung from my chandelier or be placed on the mantel.  I'm not sure as yet.

Right now it is on the ladder and looks right at home with all the other twinkly bits.

Your in Christmas Chaos.  And if you want some help with that, don't forget to check out my Christmas Page here.

Today I am linked up here

Clever Chicks
Craftomaniac
Sunday Showcase
Metamorphosis Monday
Table Top Tuesday
Cow Girl Up
Take a Look Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Pin'spiring
52 Mantels
No Miniamlist Here
House of Hepworths
Transformation Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Show and Tell Friday