Scandinavian Star Curls Ornaments

     I discovered these old ornaments inside a box of Christmas things two summers ago and wondered at their fragility. I knew immediately that these were made from wood shavings because my husband builds furniture in his spare time. He works so very hard and dreams of the day he will someday be free to retire and take up his craft full time, perhaps he will even build a little wood shop out back? 

       In any case, I have often wondered just what I could make with all of the piles of wood curls that heap up on the floors of our garage in mid-winter.

        Upon I discovering these shaved beauties, I thought how delicate, how sweet! But they are too fragile! Who would invest so much energy into something as difficult to preserve as snow? Well, I suppose there must be folks on the internet who have had similar ideas...

• Scandinavian Wood Shaving Ornaments
• How to Make Wood Shaving Ornaments
• 10 Favorites: Scandi-Style Christmas Ornaments

       In order to make similar ornaments like the stars shown here, you will need: a shallow plastic tub for soaking the wood curls, wood shaved curls, bobbie pins, tacky craft glue, and patience. Do not dry the wood curls in an oven as you glue these together. I know that one of the links above suggests this but visitors here should know that some trees contain natural poisons. Their toxins may be released into the environment through heat and you certainly don't want these toxins in a place where you prepare your food! Also it doesn't take very long for such fine shavings to dry out. You may place the stars near a heating vent if you need them to dry quicker. 

       After the wood shavings have soaked a bit, stretch these out and shape them as you like. They can be snipped apart with ordinary scissors and pined into shapes with bobbie pins or clothes pins as they dry. Then glue them into star shapes or snowflakes using tacky glue. Let them dry over night before decorating the Christmas tree or windows with them. You may use hot glue if you prefer, to assemble your creations.

Tutorial for Weaving Christmas Stars With Yarn/String

Left, my ten pointed, woven Christmas star. Right, a traditional eight pointed woven star ornament in reds and greens.

      This Christmas star ornament craft reminds me of a flat Japanese temari. It's origins are, however, most likely in Scandinavian culture. Nordic peoples have been weaving with straw by similar methods for centuries.
       I remember my art teacher showing me how to wrap these same stars when I was a school girl in the 1970s. It is an excellent introduction to simple weaving for older elementary students.
      The process can be made more or less complicated depending upon the age and or experience of the person producing the ornament. I took the idea a step further and invented a star wrap pattern of my own as well. The nice "how to" video below was made by an art teacher for her classroom students. Given the detailed nature of the weaving, I recommend that you watch the video while you craft your own star versions. Although the process is simple, it seems more complex when reading instructions for the method. For this reason alone, I'm going to recommend that you watch the video before attempt to follow any instructions that I include here.

Ms. Gentry made this nice weaving video for her 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.

Supply List For Both Star String Projects:

• multiple skeins yarn, spools of string and embroidery floss
• cardboard
• tacky white glue
• ruler
• scissors
• large sharp embroidery needle (for 2nd star version)

Left, 10 pointed, original star template but I made modifications
to it so that crafters only need to poke a needle through one
 layer. Right, the square template glued together for the eight
 pointed star version.

      Cut out 2 squares of equal size from the cardboard and glue these together, one on top of the other, to form an eight pointed star. (Left)
      If you are making the second star pattern version depicted below, I have provided a pattern for you to print out and trace around below. The second star only requires one piece of cardboard per ornament. You will also need a sharp embroidery needle to poke holes into the cardboard.
      Once your eight pointed cardboard shape is dry, you may proceed to wrap it with the first selection of yarn/string.
      Keep in mind that this weaving project has only a finished front side for young students who have limited experience in sewing or weaving. For every wrap that these students make, they will need to "tie off" their yarn strands on the back of their cardboard templates. However, if you are making these stars and have more experience with a needle, you can make your woven stars two sided. Simply snip, tuck, glue and hide the ends of your wrapped design as you proceed through the steps. I used a large embroidery needle and a bit of tacky white glue to hide my yarn ends as I wrapped.

First wrap step for both woven string stars.

      Above I have included a photo of the first wrap around each of the cardboard star patterns. On the left you can see that the floss is wrapped between each of the ten points on my own version of this craft. On the right I have completed the first wrap for the six pointed star described in the teacher's video above.

Above you can see me weaving a large embroidery needle in and out of the holes made just beneath my star tips.

      After wrapping the 10 point star with blue embroidery floss, I simply repeated the same wrap with yellow. Then I proceeded to make two sets of holes using the sharp tip of my embroidery needle beneath each of the ten points of my star. I wrapped multiple colors of floss in a herringbone stitch through the lowest hole. Then I used a whip stitch to create the feather like tips of the outer points of my star by threading through the upper hole.

The second wrap of the eight pointed star, back and front photographed.

      The second wrapping of the eight pointed star is photographed above. On the left, I show the back side of my work. Note how I have added tacky glue to hold the center crossing ends in place while I work. Also, see in the second wrapping how I have a strand of floss crossing in the back. I will cut this away after I wrap a third and fourth time over the green floss. This will not harm my weave because it is trapped beneath top layers. Keeping the backside clean of crossing strings will make it attractive enough to be a two sided pattern. Just right, above in the photo you can also see traces of tacky glue on the edges of my cardboard template. This glue helps to keep my weaving in place over time and it will also dry transparent.

Left, third wrap. Next, fourth wrap. Middle, fifth wrap. Far Right, sixth wrap.

      The photograph above depicts the 3rd through 6th wrapping sequence for the eight pointed star. After completing these steps, I threaded a finer needle and stitched a cross stitch pattern in green over last top square of my design. I attached a green tassel to the bottom to finish the look.

My tassels for these ornaments were made from embroidery floss. I have also included a simple video below that demonstrates the basic method that I used.

Click to download the largest file, 10 point star shape template.

More Christmas Star Crafts for Children:

• Christmas star patterns for all kinds of crafts!
• Star of Bethlehem craft from Equipping Godly Women
• Stained Glass Nativity with Star

Craft Easy Nativity Star Ornaments

This Nativity ornament is so easy to make but yet it looks as though took a long time to craft!

      I just love the way this easy little star ornament turned out. I took very little effort on my part to produce it. Depending upon the stickers you use, this project could look quite different. I purchased these nativity stickers at a Michael's hobby store but you could find similar ones at any number of retailers. This is a perfect Christmas ornament project for those who love to scrapbook.

Supply List:

• plastic star ornament container
• white glitter
• white school glue
• sand paper
• wire hanger and one cotton ball
• silver tinsel
• Nativity stickers

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Rough-up both the inside and outside of the plastic ornament container with sandpaper. This will help the glitter stick to the plastic surface.
2. Then layer white glitter on both the outside and inside of the plastic star. You may choose to brush on the glue but I used my finger tips instead. Make sure to give the ornament extra coats of glitter around the edges of the star.
3. Glue inside the ornaments a small amount of silver tinsel. Many retailers sell this material for mere pennies during the holiday season.
4. Now add extra glue to the backing of your stickers and firmly press these to both the inside and outside your glittery star!
5. Cover and wrap a wire hook with cotton batting using white glue. Twist the wire through the plastic hook or hole provided and hang the ornament on your tree.

Left, plastic star ornament containers come with two sides; so you can craft two separate miniature dioramas. Next, rough up the surface of any plastic form in order to give it a surface that will except glue/paint. Center, apply the glitter and glue generously in stages. Far right, glue inside the star ornament a bit of inexpensive tinsel. This ornament has real bling!

More Nativity and Advent Ornament Crafts:

• Read and download patterns about planets and stars from http://christianclipartreview.blogspot.com (Chrismon patterns)
• Stained glass nativity picture
• 2010 Nativity Projects from that artist woman
• Nativity star ornament from the happybrownhouse

Craft a Yarn Wrapped Star

I finally found a use for some of my Grandmother's old, mismatched buttons! I think these look charming on the yarn wrapped stars above. I can't wait to decorate with handmade ornaments, such as these, for Christmas this year!

      Here is a yarn wrapped star perfect for any folksy Christmas tree. It is constructed from ordinary, household materials that you can find in the drawers, recycling bins and craft boxes of almost anyone's home. You will need to collect the following items to make a star similar to the one I have completed above: masking tape, an old jar lid, a pair of old brass buttons, yarn (any color), newsprint and tacky white glue.

      The first part of this Christmas craft involves the wrapping or 'masking' of a star shape from a recycled jar lid and the crushing of newsprint. Cover the jar lid entirely with masking tape. This will enable the sticky white glue to adhere to the surface of your recycled star. Then crush the newsprint into a long thin tubular-like shape. Take your masking tape and wrap it around the crushed paper shape to form the points of the star along the edge of the jar lid; just as I have shown below. Then twist and wind the yarn in small areas using generous amounts of tacky white glue. Include a brass button glued to the center of both the front and back of the star to add a little sparkle to your homemade ornament.

Just Left, is what your star shape will look like before you begin to wrap it with yarn. One the right is star ornament with it's points wrapped first. I used a variegated yarn and several additional embroidery flosses to wrap my recycled yarn ornament.

More Yarn Wrapped Ornaments:

• A yarn wrapped star by livelaughrowe
• I just love these yarn wrapped shapes from "Getting Fresh with Oreck
• Why not wrap your name in yarn for the Christmas holidays? by Full of Boys
• Here is a sweet little frame you can hang from a tree by kraft farm.

Craft Froebel Stars for Christmas

Origami Froebel Star by Jo Nakashima

visit his site for more paper folding.

      A Froebel star (German: Fröbelstern) is a Christmas decoration made of paper, common in Germany. In English it does not have a commonly recognised name; it can be referred to as Advent star, Danish star, German star, Nordic star, Pennsylvanian star, Polish star, Swedish star, Christmas star, or Froebel star. It is also sometimes incorrectly called a Moravian star, but the Moravian star has at least 26 tips instead of the 16 tips of the Froebel star.

      The three-dimensional Froebel star is assembled from four identical paper strips with a width-to-length proportion of between 1:25 and 1:30. The weaving and folding procedure can be accomplished in about forty steps. The product is a paper star with eight flat prongs and eight cone-shaped tips. The assembly instructions can be aborted midway, producing a two-dimensional eight–pronged star without cones.

      Crafting Froebel stars originates in German folklore. Traditionally the stars would be dipped into wax and sprinkled with glitter after being folded. The star can be considered a form of origami, because it is made of identical paper sheets and assembled without glue. However, as it combines folding with weaving it is more a "fringe" subject of origami.

      The Froebel star carries the name of the German educationist Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852), founder of the Kindergarten concept. He encouraged the use of paper folding in pre–primary education with the aim of conveying simple mathematical concepts to children. It is, however, likely that Froebel did not invent this item and that it had already been within the realm of general knowledge for a long time. Froebel did encourage paper folding as an activity for young children and he popularised discourse about children's activities, which is how his name and the folding instructions might have become related.

      Descriptions of how to fold a Froebel star date back to at least the 19th century. In Germany the name Fröbelstern has been the common name for this paper decoration since the 1960s. It is used as ornament on Christmas trees and wreaths, and to make garlands and mobiles. Froebel stars are very common in Germany, although few people know how to make them.