Scrapbook-esque Barn Star

So for Christmas last year, my friend Amelia and I went into overdrive and crafted as much as possible.  We were determined to make as many gifts and decorations as we could.  And we totally succeeded, I wish I had more photos, but the ones I have will most definitely be put into this blog.  Needless to say, there was glitter all over her dining room after I was done with it, but it's now become a joke between all who know about my glitter obsession.  With all of this crafting, I had one gift that I truly put the effort in and loved how well it came out.  My stepsister was in her freshman year of college and I was determined to give her an awesome gift that she could proudly display.  I'd like to think I did just that.  This gift took a lot of time, though, so I'm saying this up front: I'm advising you to use the tutorial on the webpage I'll give later on.  She does a fantastic job and I couldn't possibly compete.  I just want you to see it's possible to do.

 The final product:

So this star ended up looking amazing, but honestly it took four of us on a Monday Craft Night to get it to this point.  You wouldn't exactly look at it and think it was all that complicated, but it is a bit tricky.  But I will give you the pointers I wish I'd had beforehand.

1. As far as the scrapbook paper goes, I bought one of those large books that has lots of options, that way the paper definitely went together.  Ashley lives for purple, so picking the color scheme was easy.
2. Print twice as many pictures as you need.  You will mess up.  I did all black and white because I love black and white, but you choose what works best for you.
3. When choosing the pictures, make sure you have a good mix of close ups and ones that are taken from far away.  Having some where the people are smaller will help you, I promise.
4. Before cutting the pictures, use the stencils adamantly to make sure they work where you're planning.
5. Use the stencils.  They're found on the website.  They will help you.
6. Use this website tutorial. It's phenom

Finding the star was actually the hardest part.  I ended up getting it off of Amazon after endless hunting at Christmas Tree Shops and Michael's.  However, you may have better luck, so definitely try them first.  I wanted a big one, too, so Amazon just worked better for what I wanted.

Long story short, try this star out.  Hey, make one for yourself!  I'm most definitely making another one soon because I was so thrilled with the way this one came out.  Pretty sure Ashley was a fan, too, so that helped!  It's an awesome gift that's pretty inexpensive, but means so much because of the effort put in.