Iron Star Garland Dupe

I fell in love with the beautiful Iron, gilded metal star garlands – I knew I could create a dupe with items I already had on hand.

In our first home as a newly married couple, I filled our 700 square feet apartment with my grandmother’s hand me down ornaments from the 60’s. It was because thats what I had and we were on a very tight budget. It was more so because I’m way to sentimental and love incorporating memories into my home decorating whenever possible.

Our apartment building was built in 1918 and was full of beautiful dark wooden trim and original built ins. It had old hissing radiators that steamed up our windows which overlooked the snowy city during the winter months. The vivid pinks, blues, greens, silver and gold of that 1960’s era enhanced the vintage feel of our place. My mom and I found the perfect tree topper to go with Grandma’s decor at target that year. It not only matched the bright colors of my Grandmother’s ornaments but also lit up with the same vivaciousness of the 60’s.

Personal Style Changes

We left our beautiful and cozy apartment for a cold and bland house in the suburbs. The blank walls of our 1980’s build looked awfully sad next to my Grandmother’s dazzling ornaments and tinsel. Our walls did not stay bland for long. We worked hard on adding character to our home through the years and with it, came my own ideas and style for our Christmas Decor.

Ask, can I re-create this?

In recent years, I have opted for natural garland rather than tinsel. Calming colors rather than hot pink but I still love some shimmer in my decor – especially at Christmas! I remember seeing these garlands around stores last year and adoring them. This year, I was tempted to buy one when I saw some for purchase on Anthropologie’s website and Magnolia. I also knew that I could create the same look or at least “feel” on a free morning with supplies I already had at home.

I loved the look of this garland against the greenery of a the Christmas tree branches and the bright lights reflecting off the iron. It is a simple piece of decor that can make an impact.

Supplies Needed for “Star Garland”

• Thick cardstock paper of gold or silver. The thicker the paper the more like iron and less like paper your garland will look
• 24 Gauge wire – The larger the gauge the thinner the wire
• Cricut
• Scissors
• Elmers Glue Stick or Hot Glue and Hot glue Gun

How to make Iron Star Garland dupe

1. Gather your supplies to create the look you want. I loved the look of the gold star garland and already had thick gold paper on hand. I think this would look classy in silver with silver stars and wire too!
2. Cut wire to your desired length. This will help you know how many stars you need to cut out. Keep in mind that you will need to “sandwich” two stars together to attach to the wire. So, you’ll need double the amount of stars to complete your garland. The amount of stars will also depend on how big your stars are and how far apart you want them to be on the garland. My garland is about 4ft long and the stars are roughly 1.5-2 inches apart. I used 18 stars so 36 altogether.
3. Cut Stars. I created a template using Cricut Design Space for my stars to cut them out. There was already a free design that had these different stars in multiple sizes. I loved the variety of the stars which gives the garland some extra interest. *One note here is that I “mirrored” the image when designing my template. When I did this, I ended up with two designs. This was so that when I attached the stars to my wire, I was able to put two stars back to back and have the design match perfectly. If you plan on using a star design that is exactly symmetrical you can skip this step.
4. Lay out Stars next to Wire to preview. Lay out your garland on a flat service and place stars along it to preview where you’d like them to be. Also match shapes together to be sure they align correctly. I placed all my stars on our dining room table. My daughter helped me make matches.
5. Connect stars to wire. This can be done using a simple glue stick, but I think hot glue would hold up better if you plan to use it from year to year. Just put glue one side of a star, hold it under the wire, then attach another on top! I used an an Elmers glue stick and it did work great! But, I did this on a Saturday morning with two littles and we didn’t have time for anything extra!