Friends are like stars...

This was a fun project I started after seeing toilet paper and paper towels rolls in use on Pinterest.  The paper roll idea comes from Susan Meyers and was featured on Ada's Interior Design webpage.

What you see above is the finished project.  I had to ask my friend to send me a picture since I neglected to take one before passing it on to her as a gift!

Here is what I used:

-  Toilet paper rolls
-  Paper towel rolls
-  Wooden, unfinished star
-  Tacky Glue
-  Scissors
Not shown:
-  Black acrylic paint
-  Blue acrylic paint
-  Black spray paint
-  Gold spray paint
-  Newspaper


First steps:

1.  Cut rolls once lengthwise  (I used my eye to
     cut them, but feel free to use a ruler for more
     precise, straight line.)
2.  Cut rolls into strips with a width of about 1 cm

Next, I painted the star black and let it dry.  I glued two of the longer strips from the paper towel roll together to make it even longer, and then glued this to the top right portion of the star.  I did the same for the bottom portion.  This gave me my "working area."

Then, by trial and error, I used the strips from the toilet paper rolls and the paper towels and started gluing them in places I thought looked nice.

Once my working area was filled in and all the pieces were glued accordingly, it looked like this:

*This is the only picture I took before gifting the project to my friend.  Note that the star is plain - In preparing the steps for this post, I found that it's much simpler to paint the star before gluing the strips to it!







The thin cardboard strips are very easy to manipulate so to add a more rounded edge to the pieces, wrap the strips around a pen, marker, or--what I found useful--a small bottle of paint.

Finishing touches:  I spray painted the wispy details black and added a very light, intermittent coat of gold spray paint for a shimmer effect.

On the black star, I dipped a crinkled piece of newspaper into a dark blue acrylic paint and blotted the entire front of the star. I added a friendship quote and freehand stenciling using a gold marker.