Monday, December 12, 2011

Rustic Twig Star-How to!






 This is a super easy craft.  I just love the country rustic-ness of them!
Years ago, while we lived in Smithers, BC, and my 3 older children were the only children!!, we joined with another homeschooling family and made crafts to sell at a local Christmas craft fair.  This was one of them.  We made them using red wool to join the points, but I thought of using raffia when I was cleaning out a cupboard last night and found a big bag of it!
First, you need to get your snipper from the garden shed and go out and snip off a bunch of willow type branches.
Now, snip off 5 pieces of the same length...5, 6, 7 inches...however big you'd like to make it.  I start using the thickest ends and work my way up the branch with later ones.
Then, cut yourself some pieces of raffia or wool or embroidery floss...whatever take your fancy!  They need to be long enough to tie around 2 of the twigs twice. (Try saying that 3 times fast!)
Now, you begin tying ends together!  You need to tie them as tight as you can, without breaking the raffia, wool or floss.  I wrapped the raffia around once, tied in a single knot and then wrapped it again and tied in a double knot.


Sweet Pea thinks she can help!


Keep tying ends in zig zag pattern.

Remember to tie them tightly!
Now you've got all 5 tied together! Yay!

Now it's time to form the star shape!  Carefully move the twigs into place.  The 2 ends that are not tied will go together as one point. You will need to lift one of the twigs from the end around the back, which will tighten everything up!
Non-tied ends together in front.
The one end is now around the back.
Now tie those last 2 ends together!  You can now adjust the twigs to form the shape.  If you like, you can hot glue the joints in place with a small dab between the twigs.
Trim the ends of raffia, wool or floss to whatever length pleases you and add a hanger. Ta da!!


12 comments:

  1. Now those are perfect. Glad to say hello to you also... have the best Christmas. Vikki and Bryan (HappyTrappers)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice! My kids would love to make these - thank you for the instruction :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the rustic look of these. Thanks for the tutorial. Now I'll need to find some willow twigs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These look awesome! I'll have to make some with my leftover twigs! So glad we found each other in the link party!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These look great! They'd make great ornaments or gift tags. Thanks so much for linking up to Dare to DIY!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love stars! I love the rustic look of these!
    I'm a fairly new blogger. My daughter got me hooked also (she is 16) and now we love sharing our blogging adventures... Anyway, I'm following you! Would love you to visit me :)
    Sherry's Bees Nest

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are so cute and your directions make them seem so do-able! I'm pinning these to try them with my kids this year. (If your kitty can help you, my kids probably could too.) Nice to find you you on The Weekend Retreat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Meredith! Thanks for stopping by! I love these stars. They go so well with our rustic house. Hope you and your kiddos have fun with them!

      Delete
  8. So simple and inexpensive to make, I need to make this next year. Perhaps add a few embellishments. (o: Thanks for the idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Aspen! Don't you just love cheap crafts? You could definitely add a few things to change it up...maybe coloured floss, pine cones, ribbon bow...so many possibilities!

      Delete
  9. Wow! So easy! I'm going to make a Garland.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make my day. I love getting feedback from you. Please take the time to let me know what you think of this post, and also, if you are a blogger in need of some blog-love, leave your site address so I can go visit you too!