Star of Bethlehem

In order to complete our home representation of The Nativity that includes our statues of The Holy Family and The Three Wise Men, we made a large star to hang over the scene.  It is easy to do and is a great way to recycle Christmas cards.

I saw this star making idea on Christy’s blog, Eclectic Momma, when we both participated in an Advent Link up.  I really liked her easy idea, but did not have time to make these stars during Advent.  I think they are also perfect for Epiphany, the Day of the Three Kings.

FYI: If you need more ideas for recycling your Christmas cards this year, I have some links for you.  Martianne at Training Happy Hearts has designed prayer flip cards for her activity that uses the Christmas cards; you can pray for a family who sent you a card each day, using her suggestions.  Read the full post here.  And, Erika at Raising Little Saints explains how to send your cards to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital for their St. Jude’s Ranch Recycled Card Program.  Read more here.  We’ll be sending our leftover cards to St. Jude’s when the Christmas season is over.  (They also accept greeting cards for all other occasions.)

I started by making my own star pattern because we need a rather large one; our star uses the full length of a yellow poster board.  I made the pattern using a manila folder; to make it even, I folded it in half and cut both sides together.  Since the folder was smaller than I needed for the pattern, I left the points unfinished and used a ruler to draw them out when I traced the pattern on the poster board.

After cutting out the star and sorting through the old Christmas cards for pictures of The Holy Family, The Three Wise Men, bells, stars, wreaths, and pretty borders, my children starting cutting the cards into pieces they wanted to use.  Some pictures they pasted directly where they wanted them.

Others overlap the edges of the star, as Christy suggests.

Here is our unfinished star, with all the pieces of cards glued on.  We will cut the edges and add glitter in a few days, in time for The Visit of the Three Kings, usually celebrated on January 6^th.  In 2012, Catholics celebrated this event at Sunday mass on January 8^th. 

Here is our completed star, hanging above The Holy Family.

And, here is our Nativity, with the Kings arriving to visit.

In 2013 I am linking with:

Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Better Mom Monday, Welcome Home, Keeping Christ in Christmas, Faith Formation in Young Children, For the Kids Friday, Enlaces de Epifanía, Saints and Scriptures Sunday

In 2012, I linked with the January First Friday Link up hosted by Lacy at Catholic Icing.

In 2011, I linked with the the Epiphany Link up hosted by Martha at una vida católica en construcción.  (Unfortunately, the link up is no longer available for viewing; she started a new one for 2013).