I made a treetop star tutorial written and ready to post, to finish off my decorating series of my little fake christmas tree. But then, the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School changed everything. I felt an overwhelming grief – still do – and while making homemade treats for my daughter’s teachers was cathartic after learning about the brave teachers who lost their lives protecting their students, I felt compelled to make something to pay tribute to the 26 bright stars senselessly taken away from earth, too soon.
So, today, Christmas Eve, I revised the original star tree topper, and punched out 26 stars, to symbolize those lost lives.
May them rest in peace and guide us with their bright shining lights.
Star Tree Topper
You’ll Need
- Card Stock Paper or thick paper with design of your choice.
- Glue stick or all craft glue
- Scissors
- Modge Podge if you want to make the paper stiffer. (Optional)
Instruction
Since my theme this year is paper, – remember the vintage music sheet burlap ornament, glass ornament with shredded paper inside and paperback page garland? – I decided to use the music sheet to make this treetopper.
Print the pattern from this pdf file, courtesy of Homemade Gifts Made Easy. You can follow the instruction in the post but here are a few things I learned.
- Glue works better than double sided tape, in my opinion.
- Make sure to print the pattern on the blank side of printed paper.
- If you are going to punch holes, do them before you glue the sides. I learned the hard way. Duh, I know. I guess I was rushing.
- If you are going to make the star with a plain card stock, you can cover the sides with pretty paper of your choice. Check out this pretty advent star that the blogger covered with newspaper.
The pdf file will give you three different sizes but cut 5 pieces out regardless what size you use.
Fold the dotted lines inward. I punched out stars but that’s optional.
Glue the sides on each piece to make each point of the star.
Fold the two remaining edges outward. These are the edges that you’ll glue to the other points to connect them.
Lay out the points. It’ll make it easier to visualize how the pieces will fit together. Make sure the two folded edges are facing the same direction.
Glue the outer edge surfaces as these will adhere to the inside the next connecting point.
Connect four points together.
I snipped a tiny portion of the each edges of the bottom two points to make room for the light to go inside. But you don’t have to if you can slip the string of lights inside without tearing the points. I wasn’t confident that I could.
And voilà! (And “yay!” me for creating my first .gif image. I’m so proud of myself. Ok, it’s not so perfect but, hey, you get the idea, right?)
And here is my finished Mr. Imposter. If you have been following my plan to ‘naturalize’ this fake tree, you know how I made homemade decorations to make it look a bit more natural. The proportion might look a bit strange since this tree is short but I think it looks warm and welcoming, don’t you think? You can see the wine bottle lamps I made last year on its sides and I think they add more festive look to the tree. This might be my future christmas tradition. 
Now I am ready for Christmas. Are you ready? Are your gifts wrapped and tucked under the tree?
P.S. My family and I will be making snowflakes during the holiday for Sandy Hook Elementary School, as per its PTSA’a request. It’s one small way to help the students and saff return to school, to a new building, with winter wonderland as a theme with snowflakes. If you’d like to donate snowflakes or any other form of donations to help the school, read about the details here. The deadline for sending in snowflakes is January 12, 2013.
