Cinnamon Stick Stars

At Christmas time, one of my greatest joys is letting my friends and loved ones know how important they are to me with a little "something".  Very often, it's lots of Christmas goodies.  My Pinterest addiction has inspired me to give them all a little seasonal gift at the beginning of Christmastide this year so that they can get in the spirit and enjoy it all month long.

The first item in the package will be a cinnamon stick star.  I pinned the idea from Rosy-Posy's blog last year, loving the idea of using up the cinnamon sticks I had left over from a previous project.  The original project crafter collected some of her supplies from the great outdoors with her children.  How cool!  I had to resort to my local craft stores, where I found cute sparkly berries, and a small wreath for the greens.






Armed with my glue gun, I tried a few different formations to get the stars to look right, and have all the sticks connect together.  Sometimes the bend or shape of the stick will determine how you place it in the star. This way seemed to work out the best:


Start with an upside-down V.  The third stick is connected under one of the arms of the V.

The fourth stick connects on top (or next to) the other arm of the V and the fifth stick connects the two lower arms, one side on top and the other under. (Remember, it depends on the bend and shape of the sticks, so each star will be a bit different).

Next, I snipped a piece of greenery off the wreath, and glued that along the left side.

Finally, I glued one of the bunches of berries into the greenery (but also made sure that it was connected to a stick below)

All we need now is a ribbon to hang it with and it's all set.  The stars came out so cute, but I don't have enough!  I need more cinnamon sticks and berries!

 

Too bad there isn't a 24-hour craft store around here, I'd go get some right now!

What Christmas crafts are you working on?