Thrifty Thursday • Wire Hanger Star

I was searching the internet lately for some ideas for party decorations.  Surprisingly, Google was not my friend in finding star decorations.  We are having a small "Stella" party for her birthday, which means we are having a "star" party.  Most of the star themed party ideas I've come across are for rock star parties or movie star parties.  Not really what I am looking for.

We have a lot of extra wire hangers, and of course I have a whole bin full of gift bags and tissue paper from all the baby showers for Stella last year.  Remember, I keep things I think I will reuse!  So...I came up with the idea to make hanging star decorations out of the wire hangers and tissue paper.

Hanging on Stella's closet door (it matches her room for after the party)

I'll hang the stars from the ceiling for the party.

What you will need to make one star:


one wire hanger
8-10 sheets of tissue paper
about 40 inches of craft wire
hot glue
scissors
fishing wire or ribbon

First, let's make the wire hanger star:

1.  Start out with a wire hanger.  

2-3.  Use your thumb and fore finger to straighten the top bumps to form the top of the star, so that it looks like the picture in #3.

4.  Find the center point of the bottom of the wire hanger, and bend it inwards as shown in the picture below.  This will make the bottom indentation of the star.

5.  Start rounding out the two ends of the wire hanger.
6.  You will work the two pointed ends of the hanger to point inwards, making the ends of the wire hanger now the two side indentations of the star.
7.  Work with the wire to make the five points of the star as sharp as you can, so that it looks more like a star than a flower.  I guess, you could always leave it as a flower, too.  Just round out the top point of the star, so that it is like a petal.

Now your stars are ready to be dressed up!

I was inspired to use tissue paper to dress up my wire stars from this awesome blog post, where you can learn how to make the tissue paper pom-poms.
To get the same look for your star as mine, you will need the following sizes of tissue paper rectangles to make your pom-poms:

Star center (fuschia):  cut out 8 rectangles for each pom-pom flower (5" x 3.5")
Star legs and points (light pink & hot pink):  cut out 8 rectangles for each pom-pom flower (3.5" x 2.5")
To utilize the most out of your tissue paper, I folded my tissue paper sheet in half 5 times to get the 5" x 3.5" rectangles and 6 times to get the 3.5" x 2.5" rectangles.  Make sure to cut open the folds, so that you have individual loose rectangles.

*NOTE:  You want the pom-poms for the points and legs of the star to be smaller in size, so that you can tell it is a star and not a flower.  I made the center flowers larger to add some fullness to the star.

Now, for embellishing the wire hanger star:

1.  Stack your tissue paper rectangles for your pom pom.

2.  Fold them accordian style about 5 times.
3-4.  Wrap your craft wire around the center (you only need about 1 1/2" of craft wire per pom-pom, since these will turn out to be fairly small).  (I snipped the wire off of the bead bouquets that I use for the center of my Snappees that I found in the bridal section at Hobby Lobby)

5.  Round each end with a pair of scissors.  This will make your pom-poms look more like a flower.

6.  Fan out the accordian fold as shown in picture #6.

7-8.  Start separating the tissue paper layers from each other, fluffing it up to look like a flower (TIP:  be very gently when separating the tissue paper, so that you don't tear it apart)!

9.  Hot glue your tissue paper pom-poms onto your wire star, by placing the dab of glue on the center of the pom-pom where the wire is wrapped around.  

10.  Turn the star over, and wrap the tissue on the back side around the wire, pressing the tissue together to glue the whole pom-pom in place.

11.  Glue the bigger pom-poms on the 5 inverted points of the star first.  Then glue the rest of the smaller pom-poms on.

12.  Bend the hook of the hanger to make more of a circle for a nicer look.  

13.  Attach fishing wire to hang from the ceiling or some matching ribbon to hang it on the wall, and you're done!

I'd love to see your creations if you make one!  Feel free to post a link to a picture in the comment section if you do!

I think these would be cute to make around Christmas and New Year's with festive colors or red, white and blue for the 4th of July.  Hey!  Labor Day is coming soon!!

Thanks for joining us!

Eva

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