Mmmm . . . this craft smells heavenly! It was inspired by the Bachman's Birch Branch Stars that appeared in the Ideas House a couple of years ago.
5 Cinnamon Sticks
8 to 10 pieces of Yarn (each approx. 18 inches long)
Small pinecones (optional)
Floral wire (optional)
1 and 2. Buy a package of cinnamon sticks. I found some at Cub Foods for $1/package. 15 sticks per package. Find some old yarn or twine. This is a green and white mixture I bought at Wally World. Cut a piece approximately 18 inches long. This is not an exact science!
3. Tie the yarn around two sticks about 1/2 inch from the end of the sticks. Leave a 2 inch tail on one end of the yarn. This should leave you with one long tail and one short tail. Wind the long tail of yarn around the sticks. Around and around we go. Keep going around until the tails of yarn are about the same length. Choose which side of your star is the 'back'. Tie the ends into a knot on the back of the star. Knot a second time. Keep future knots on the same side as your first knot.
4. Lay the two knotted sticks on the table. Add another cinnamon stick so that it lays on top of both sticks. See? It looks like a walking triangle. Use another piece of yarn to tie the new stick to the left end of the horizontal stick.
5. Grab the last two sticks. Lay them underneath the existing walking triangle. Tie one end of each new stick to each leg of the walking triangle.
6. Tie the top of the last two sticks together. It's a star!
7 and 8. Tie the sticks together at two or three of the inner vertices. Snip off all excess yarn tails.
Author's Note: Do not be alarmed if the sticks do not lay completely flat against one another. Do not be alarmed if the star is not perfectly star-shaped. If the imperfection and irregularities of nature start to bother you too much, just drink some wine. This is craft advice and life advice. Must be 21 or older to act on this advice.
9. You
should have at least one piece of yarn left. Use this if you'd like to
hang the star from something. Example: the Christmas tree. Or the corner
of a picture frame. Or a door handle. Loop the yarn through the top
vertex of the star. Tie a knot at the top.
10 (Optional). Add a Pine Cone Clump. Pine-Cone-Clumping tutorial can be found HERE.
If you're unhappy with the shape, experiment with shifting the cinnamon sticks. You should be able to slide the sticks through the yarn slightly. You can also shove the yarn towards the center of the star to help create the desired shape.
You are done! Congratulations! Instead of getting a gold star, you get a cinnamon star. Cinnamon Stars aren't shiny but they sure smell fantastic :-)
Very cute!! You could even "dress up" your ornament a bit more by wrapping the cinnamon sticks with red, green, gold, or silver curling ribbon. Colored yarn would also give a splash of color as would metallic colored thread or even fine wire. With a little more time, you could accent the pine cones AND if you make a bunch of these "rustic ornaments" you could substitute the pine cones with inexpensive ornaments from the Dollar Store ;-) This is definitely a neat - and simple!! - project. If you have children, this would be a great family project!!
ReplyDeleteAre they 3" or 5" cinnamon sticks?
ReplyDelete5 inch!
Delete