Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Finally, Finally here is the post on how to dress up a barn star. I've been wanting to do this for a good year and a half but haven't sat down and taken pictures of the process.

Thank you to whoever bugged me on formspring (the little box for questions on my sidebar) because you kicked me into gear.

First you will need:

• Barn Star or a metal star
• scrapbooking paper - 10 sheets of 12x12 paper
• Scissors
• pencil
• ruler
• modpodge
• paper towels
• glitter spray (optional)

Here is the star I used. You can do any size. Sometimes you can't find the color you want.  I suggest buying spray paint and painting it the color you would like.  Only a little bit of the star will show though - unless you want a lot to show or none to show.  You can decide.

 The top star is the one I did for my nursery - it's finished and is the same brown and black as the naked one.  You can see my Project 365 picture of it here.

The easiest way to make a template is to trace it.  I tried using a ruler, but it's really hard.  Unless you have a compass (like you used in geometry).  I found a piece of 12 by 12 scrapbook paper that was thin and I would probably never use. 

 

  Lay it over one of the triangles and then use your finger to follow the creases.

Then fold each side.  

Here is my first side folded.

When you fold them over  you might want to cut the extra paper away so it doesn't get in the way.

Fold the bottom under and then crease the fold.

After you have all of your creases - cut out the triangle. If your lines aren't perfectly strait that is okay.  You can fix that later.

Next you will decide how much of the star you want to show.  I personally like about a quarter of an inch.  Just a bit to separate the papers.  Slide your triangle down so that just a bit more than what you would like shown is shown.  

1 - I slide my paper down 

2 - it's off the star

3 - I creased along the bottom of the star and then folded the paper up - placed it back on the star to see if the amount of star that is shown was enough for me.

Making sure it's exactly what I want

I clipped off the little tail to make it a perfect triangle

Next, organize your scrapbook paper in the order you want it to go around the star.  You can choose 10 different papers or 5 different papers so you'll have each repeated once throughout or all the same.  Whichever you want.  I like to make the two that are facing each other compliment each other - then I make sure that any of the papers that are touching aren't too much alike so they don't clash.  But I think this part is personal preference.  You can always move them around when you are finished cutting them out.

I have a black and white room - so all of this paper is black and white.

Notice there are only 9 sheets.  A lot of scrapbook paper has another pattern on the back that uses the same colors on the front.  I decided to use the front and back of one of them.

Next we will trace the triangle.  Take your template and figure out where you want your first paper to go.  

1 - place the template face up on the paper you are going to use.

   - slide the template under the paper with the top face up

2 - flip it over and you should see the bottom of your template.  Keep it that way or you'll have the triangle going on the opposite side of your intended side.  I hope that makes sense.  You might find out on your own - I mess it up at least once a star.

3 - Mine-as-well get one edge perfectly strait.  Line up the template with an edge of the paper

 

Then trace the triangle!  For this first one, trace a faint line so you can use the ruler to make the line more strait.  Your ruler line will be the dark one.

Here is my first trace.  It is a faint line and has some crookedness.

To straiten the line, place a ruler along it and then trace a darker line over your faint one. 

Then cut it out!  

A little advice; don't mutilate your extra paper.  There is enough left over you can use the excess for more stars or other projects.

 

Here is my first peice.  Put each one where you'd like them to go as you cut.  You'll stick them to the star when you are finished cutting all of them out.

For cutting out the rest I used the first paper I cut because it's edges are strait.  

1 - place it on the side you want your paper to sit

2 - place it face up on the paper you are going to use

3 - slide it under the paper face up

4 - flip the paper over and trace and cut!

Repeat this until you have all of your triangles cut out.

 

All are cut.  Now is the time to look at it and decide if your paper is where you want it to be.  I think there is too much white down in the bottom left.  So I switched and now I have this:

 

I think it looks much better.  

The next step is to Mod Podge your star; that will glue your paper to it.  

You will want to put some sort of liner down to protect your surface.  I use tin foil.  

 

1 - Mod Podge

2 - I use paper ripped up paper towels, but you can use a paint brush or newspaper.. anything that will smear Mod Podge around.  (If your using paper towels use a new one for each paper because paper towel falls apart easily and you don't want chunks of that in your mod podge)

3 - smear it all over the side that you will lay your paper over

 

Once it is all mod podgey put your triangle piece of scrapbook paper on it, straiten it out so it's right where you want it and then smooth it out with your finger.  You'll get the mod podge coming out of the sides - that is good.  Don't wipe it up - it dries clear and it helps keep the edges of the paper glued down.  

 

The picture on the left has 4 triangles glued down and the picture on the right has all of the 10 peices of paper glued to the star

The next step is optional.  If you would like glitter on your star then do this and if not, then skip it.  I like the glitter because it just gives the star a tiny bit of shimmer.  You can't hardly see it, but it's enough for me.

Go outside or out in your garage and lay down some sort of liner.  I use a cardboard box we cut open. 

 

Spray the whole star.  Let it dry for around an hour or so, then come back and get it for the last step.

Your going to cover the whole star in a layer of mod podge to seal the paper.  It also gives it a finished glossy look.  If you like the matte paper look then just be very careful while you are initially mod podging your paper onto the star to not get any of it on the paper so it's totally uniform.  

1 - I find it easiest to just dump some of the mod podge onto the star 

2 - spread it around with your paper towel.  A little tip: Make it look as nice as you can, because even though it's drying clear you can still see how you wiped it on when the light hits it.

3 - Finished!  Now just let it dry and your done!

 

Here is mine finished

And here I am holding my finished product!  All showered and clean and everything. 

(me, not the star)
 

Now, the cool thing about making this yourself is that you have the paper you used and you can do other projects with that to make accessories that match the star for your room.  Coordinated accesories!

For example, the star I made for Naomi's nursery.  I took the colors from her bedding and picked out the paper.  Then I bought the letters of ner name and used that paper and decorated them so now that color pallet is carried throughout the room.  And it's much cheaper than buying the accessories that come with the bedding.  Even though I did get a few that I couldn't recreate because I couldn't find the same fabrics: the valance, changing pad cover and mobile.  

Here is the star I made for her

 

 And here is her name with the same paper (I took this picture while I was working on it so it isn't the finished product.  I haven't hung them in her room yet, but I'll try to do that this week so I can post a picture of that all finished up)

 

I also made a shadow box with her blessing dress and shoes.  I used the same paper for the background.  I'm also going to do a painting where I'll copy some of the art from her bedding.  I need to buy paint brushes for that.  But, her room will be the only fully decorated finished room in the house!  I don't mind.... it's definitly the cutest.

Hopefully in the next week or two I'll finish her room and I can post pictures of all of her art and how it flows.  

I hope this made sense.  If you have any questions about any part of it either comment, send me an email or ask a question in my little box on my sidebar.  

And I want to see what you made!  So send me a picture of your finished product or the link to your blog post about it! 

One more thing.  You can do anything with these.  I have a Halloween/Fall one and I have all the paper cut out for a few Christmas and Winter ones.  I've made 3 for friends baby showers for their nurseries.  You can tie ribbon on the top for something extra or you can use more scrapbook things to decorate it even more.  I have seen people hang these then use them as a magnet board for pictures.  

Good luck!