Creating a Tobacco Stick Decorative Star

by Brooke Bowman

3 Materials

$20

2 Hours

Easy

When we decided to move back to our hometown and put down roots, we did so about a mile from my grandmother’s home place. This is a little brick home on the side of the road, flanked on both sides by cornfields where there used to be rows and rows of tobacco planted. My grandmother was raised there and she and my grandfather lived there for a few years as newlyweds.

My brother lives there now, and one day we decided to walk over to visit him. While we were there, we explored the old sheds and buildings that surround the property. In one, we found a stack of old tobacco sticks. Seeing as farmhouse chic design is a very popular home trend, we brainstormed things we could do with those delicate sticks. Here is what we came up with.

creating a tobacco stick decorative star

When we first saw the sticks, we thought about making them into a picture frame. We could nail four together, then visit our local mirror and glass shop to get a piece of framing glass custom created to fit the shape. Yet, finding four pieces that were similar in size proved to be a difficult feat. Plus, we had more than just four to work with. So, after a little bit of thinking, we decided to turn the sticks into a decorative star!

We started by creating our first center triangle. We did this by finding five sticks that were similar in width. We then cut each one to be the same size. From there, we simply nailed them together at the ends, working to create a Moravian star shape. We had to overlap the end of each piece of wood so we could nail them together. As my grandmother was Moravian before she married my grandfather, we saw this to be a fitting touch and one she would definitely approve of and appreciate!

We added a simple metal hanger to the back of the top and nailed it to our laundry room wall. We had so many sticks left over at the end of this process that we decided to make a star for my brother and sister as well.

My brother keeps his in the kitchen and my sister, who worked with a bathroom designer to create the perfect washroom for her dream home, chose to put hers over the vanity. It is a simple, rustic decoration that truly looks sweet in any area of a home!

Throughout the year, we love to hang things in the middle of the star to celebrate each season. Here, you can see we added a few fun green and red bells for Christmas. The star also looks great with fresh flowers woven between its pieces, with paper valentines perched around it in February and with red, white and blue streamers around it in July!

Ultimately, we just wanted to create something simple that would give us a little taste of home, no matter where we went. When we move in a few months, this will be one piece that we are definitely taking with us.