DIY Shabby Chic Star

Want to make a large shabby chic star for about 5 bucks? It's so easy and takes under an hour. I loved the way this turned out so much, I ended up making two ~ one for indoors and one for the front porch. 

(Thinking ahead to the holidays... wouldn't a big star rock some twinkle lights?)

Here's how I made this:

I really wanted to find vintage yard sticks, so I hit some garage sales... no luck. I sulked for a bit and then I swore like a sailor I said to myself: you can't always find what you want, when you want. 

If you can't find any vintage yard sticks either, head to The Home Depot and pick up new yard sticks. I can't speak to any of the other box store yard sticks ~ but Home Depot yard sticks are really sturdy. Although they're not vintage, they're easy enough to paint to create a vintage/shabby chic look. 

These were .79 cents each, and I bought 10 for two stars. 

First, I had to fool around with the yard sticks to make a star, and spent a few minutes to get the points of the star even. Once they were even, I used a dab of hot glue at each intersection to keep it all in place. 

I left the glue to dry for 15 minutes, and took the star outside to give it a more rustic look. I started with spray paint.

(A few words to the wise ~ do NOT spray paint indoors, near your husband. Do NOT spray paint in the basement, near your husband's motorcycle. Do NOT spray paint outdoors near your husband's truck... I think you get my point.) 

A light coat of black spray paint covered up the raw wood. In the bright sun, the paint dried in minutes, so I added a second coat of the black. A few minutes of drying time, and it was ready for a coat of white indoor/outdoor paint. 

If you look at the picture below you can see that I painted only a thin coat of the white paint, so that the black would show through, giving the star a weathered look. If you wanted a more weathered or chippy look, you could go over it with sand paper, but I thought it looked fine as is, and didn't bother. (Read: I'm lazy!) 

The finishing touch was a little twine wrapped around each point, and sealed with a little hot glue, to keep little hands unraveling it! 

And there you have it! One is in a hallway indoors, and the other one is on the front porch. 

What do you think ~ will you make a star? Or, do share ~ do you have any cool yard stick projects?

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