As promised, a tutorial on how to make an ornament similar to my Snowflake ornaments! There are so many variations you could make on this basic concept: change the shape, color, rossette material... the possibilities are endless! Have fun being creative...

:: sparkly star ornament tutorial ::

supplies: white mat board (or a similar, heavy-weight card), fine glitter, yarn, scrap of lightweight fabric (I used cotton lawn), string to hang finished ornament (or ribbon), thread (to match your fabric and yarn), scrap cardboard, hole punch, metal ruler, scissors, xacto knife, craft glue (Modge Podge), hot glue, pencil.

Print off the star pattern (template should print off at 4 1/4" tall) or draw your own template free hand. Trace the shape onto the white mat board. Mark where you’d like the hole for stringing as well.

Cut out the star using an xacto knife (be careful!! I’ve jabbed myself more times than I care to remember!) and the ruler. Punch a hole where you marked the dot for hanging; the larger the hole, the bulkier the stringing material can be. (So if you’re using ribbon, be sure to use a large-hole punch!)

Using a foam brush (I really love these!!), apply a coat of craft glue to the front of the entire star; make sure its applied evenly and relatively thick--but not globbed on (the object is that it isn’t dry by the time you get to the next part!). Sprinkle the face of the star with glitter, covering evenly. Tap off excess and set aside star to dry. Note: You can repeat this step on the back of the star as well. This first version I didn’t, but have on other ornaments since and love the effect!

Cut a 5/8” wide by 9” long piece of fabric. Seam the ends together (if you’re making a large quantity of these, I find doing it by machine speeds things up. Just be sure to put some tissue paper under them to stabalize as you sew if you’re fabric is very fine). Run a line of basting stitches along one edge, leaving a tail of thread at the beginning and end (do not knot!).

Pull the basting stitches to gather, closing the hole in the center of the fabric rosette. Arrange gathers a bit so the fullness is evenly dispersed.

With the scrap of heavy cardboard, cut out a template to make the yarn pom pom with. There are two methods to do this; I’ll show you the one I use, and link to another at the end of this step. Cut out a rectangle 4” x 2”. In the center, mark around so you create a “window” with a border that is 5/8” wide at the top and bottom, and 7/8” at the sides (see the image for details). Cut out this center window.

With the yarn, begin wrapping around the template, wrapping firmly but not tight enough to stretch yarn. I usually do one even layer first across the window of the template.

Continue wrapping 2-3 more layer of yarn until its built up a little. I usually just judge it by eye; a couple times of making these and you’ll have an idea of how many layers you need for a full pom pom. With a piece of matching yarn, thread around the wrapped yarn, through the “window”.

Pull the threaded yarn around the wrapped yarn and tie (one, loose-ish tie is sufficient for now). With one hand, hold the knot in place, and cut the yarn off the template.

Pull the tied yarn tight (but not so tight as to snap it), and knot. Pull the pom pom gently from the center of the template.

The pom pom will look a bit wild at this point, so trim and shape it to give it a nice, round shape. I usually chop off as much as 1/2” in order to get it nice and even. Alternate method: great tutorial on creating pom poms with a bit of a different approach here.

With a needle and thread that matches your yarn color, secure the knot end in the fabric rosette, taking a couple backstitches in the center (just so the knot doesn’t pop out). Thread needle through the center of the pom pom.

Go back through the center of the pom pom and rosette. Repeat a couple more times to secure the two together.

Secure end in the fabric rosette (on the bottom side).

Hot glue the rosette/pom pom to the center of the glittered star. Thread a piece of ribbon or string through the punched hole. Viola! A beautiful new ornament for your tree!!

Variations:These would also look super cute with different center materials. For the rosette, try pleated paper, circles (or stars!) cut with decorative scissors, ribbon gathered into a rosette, printed fabric pleated into a rosette, stripe or plaid material cut on the bias and gathered. For the center of the rosette, use a button, charm, vintage fancy earring (the old-fashioned, clip on kind!), or even a smaller glitter star!

With the star itself, you’re not bound to this being a tree ornament only: try making multiples and stringing them up like a banner! You could make 13 stars, each with a letter (and one blank) to spell out “Merry Christmas”!! The possibilities are endless... have fun using your imagination and Happy Holidays!!

If you made an ornament using this tutorial, I'd love to see it!