The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 5: Simple Wooden Star Ornaments

Inside: A versatile little craft, these Clothespin Stars are a great project to make with the kids this Christmas season.

How to Make Clothespin Stars

Oh my stars! Clothespin Stars, that is. It’s day 4 of our marathon 12 Posts of Christmas, and we have a great little craft project for you. Making star ornaments from ordinary clothespins. Mom put together a couple of these last year, and I liked mine so well that I left it out all year long. So when she suggested this for our ornament project, needless to say, I was all in.

What You Will Need:

• 6 – 8 clothespins (the kind with metal springs) per star
• cardboard to make 1 3/4 inch circle (cereal or cracker boxes work great)
• materials for decorating the stars: raffia, ribbon, buttons, wooden cutouts, Christmas card cutouts, pine cones, paint, tea for staining. Editor’s note: Not all of these materials are needed. Get creative! Choose the materials you want. 
• glue gun and glue sticks

Making the Stars

1. Remove the metal spring from the clothespin by grasping the ends while simultaneously twisting and pulling them away from each other (like you’re forming an X with the sticks) and pull off the spring.
2. Paint or tea stain sticks and allow to dry before gluing. You can also choose to leave them plain, as we have done with one of the stars.
3. Glue the flat sides of the sticks together to form the points of the star.
4. Take your cardboard and cut out a circle about 1 3/4 inches in diameter to make a base for the pins. (You don’t want this to show. Mom suggests coloring it was a magic marker to match the color of the sticks.) Note: A variation of this step is to make a larger circle (2 3/4 inch diameter) from some other material, such as the galvanized steel circle Mom used for one of the stars, in which case you want it to show. This might take the form of plain or painted wood, colorful cardstock, painted cardboard, Christmas card cutouts, tin, galvanized steel, etc.
5. Glue points of the star together on circle base. (See photo.)
   

   

6. Decorate the star. Here’s where you want to unleash your creativity. We like the natural look, so I formed a bow out of three strands of raffia and glued it to the center. Then I chose a thin piece of red ribbon to glue on top of that bow. I finished up with a tan wooden button glued to the center. (I was actually inspired by Nordic ornaments I have seen with splashes of red on straw-colored materials. Picture above.) If you like glitzy and shiny things, I’d suggest painting the star and applying glitter. Or use a wooden cutout, which are easy to find in hobby stores, to glue in the center as in this 6-point star Mom also made last year ( picture below).
7. Attach a hanger to the back by making a loop from jute or ribbon that matches the look of your star and hot gluing it to the back of the ornament. Make sure it’s centered properly so your star will hang right.
   

   

    

   Now, post-haste, go find a tree on which to hang your masterpiece. Stand back and admire the work of your hands! Happy Christmas decorating!