a couple of years ago i bought a small metal tree from smith&hawkin. last year i folded paper cranes to hang from it. this year i’m making stars from recycled odds and ends. on a piece of matboard, i glued various scraps that otherwise would have gone in the recycling bin or compost: some junk mail, ticket stubs, used teabags (i did put the tea in the compost pile), a doiley from a bridal shower, etc. then i covered it with layers of acrylic paint and gesso. after it dried, i cut out stars. as i have time, i add a bent-wire hook, and some little embellishment to each one (gold thread, a few tiny beads, etc.) i also cut out some smaller stars and covered them with the gold inner wrapper from a chocolate bar (dark, dark, dark, choc!). when i told james what i’d done, he decided we needed lots more of these gold stars . . .in fact, he feels one can never have too many small gold stars. i’m okay with that.
