Yesterday, I told you I had another adorable candy cane project for you and here it is!  A star made from  candy canes and starlight mints.   How cute is this?  I think they are super adorable.  They look good enough to eat, but don't because they are sprayed with acrylic sealer!

If you know me, you know that I LOVE stars.  My family likes to tease me about it because I have them all over the house.  I can't tell you why I love stars, I just do.  They resonate with my soul, especially when they are in the night sky.  I also have a great fondness for candy canes.  Their red and white stripes are representative of Christmas time and joy and happiness.  Who can't smile at a red and white striped candy cane?  When I saw one of these stars made from - of all things - candy canes, I knew there was another project in my future.  Here is what you do.

  Start by unwrapping 10 candy canes and 20 starlight mints.  This will make one star.  (I bought boxes of candy canes at Target for $l.29 for 24 canes.  A bag of Starlight mints were less than $2.00.)  You also need a hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks, some kind of acrylic sealer (I used Mod Podge matte clear acrylic sealer), and a covering for your work surface.  I use brown craft paper.

Glue 5 sets of candy canes together at the top and bottom like this making "hearts".  Use plenty of hot glue and watch your fingers!  Let the glue set. 

Once the glue sets, place your candy canes in this order and I will try to make this understandable.   First, look at this picture.

Notice how the tops of the candy canes are laying.  I started with the bottom right "heart" and laid it flat on the table.   Continue by laying another heart to the left with the tops of the crooks butted together.  Now, lay a heart on top of these two, adjusting the crooks to cover the ones underneath as close as you can.  They will never fit perfectly.  Continue to the left by laying another heart on the table, but here's where it gets tricky, lift the left side of the previous heart and lay it over the heart you just put down.  This heart is now under the previous heart and over next heart.  Now, lay the final heart over the heart you just laid down and the first heart that started the star.  You will have "under, over, under/over, under and over".  I know this sounds confusing, but just look at the picture.  After you have them all adjusted, begin gluing them together.  Lift one side of a heart at a time and place hot glue on the candy cane underneath where it will be attached. Make any necessary adjustments and press the top candy cane into the glue before the glue sets.  Continue gluing around the star.  Don't be concerned if the glue runs.  When it sets it will simply pop off the candy cane.  Then I trimmed any "globs" with small scissors.  Your star should look like this at this point minus the starlight mints.  Again I forgot to take a picture.  

Now, working one junction at a time (where the hearts join together), put a generous glob of glue at the top and bottom of each heart and place a starlight mint over the glue.  Let the glue set and turn the star over.  Glue mints to all the junctions on the other side.  After the glue is good and dry, remove all globs and glue webs.  After all the glue sets, spray both sides of the star with clear acrylic sealer to preserve the candy.  That's it!  You are finished. 

This really is not hard I promise you.  The hardest part is unwrapping the candy canes without breaking the crooks!  Make sure you have some extras on hand.  I saved all the broken ones to use in peppermint bark.   

Make a hanging loop at the top with ribbon or string and hang your stars wherever you want.  I hung a couple in the front window because our porch is done in a candy cane theme.  I could not get a great picture, but this is what they look like.

This is a really fun, inexpensive and easy craft.  It makes a thoughtful gift for a secret santa, neighbor, friend, or teacher that comes from your heart and hands.  They also don't cost you a lot of money!  How about tying some on Christmas gifts?  That would be lovely.  There are lots of possibilities here.

I hope you enjoy making these beautiful stars.  They will "light" up your Christmas.  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
Vincent Van Gogh