Nordic Stars
/It’s not abnormal for me to start my Christmas projects early each year. However, this year I started much earlier than usual. Knowing I had two upcoming surgeries, I needed to get a head start and the idea for this year came in December of last year - 2025. I’m keeping the main part of it a surprise until after the first week of December 2026; however, I do want to share one small part of it today. As many of you know I have a slight addiction to ribbon. I also love to learn new skills, and this was one of them.
Last year Studio Carta offered a Nordic Star kit, and I knew it was a hafta-do! When I got the kit, in addition to her new book featuring ribbon projects, I couldn’t wait to dive in. These stars have more steps than I’m willing to count from beginning to end. The first star took me over an hour to figure out because I had to keep going to the website and pausing at each step of the tutorial. Then rewinding it over and over before I finally got it right. How people through the centuries in Europe came up with this process is beyond me?!!! I can only attribute it to their being trapped inside their Scandinavian homes during the frigid winter months and being bored! As I recall, the original ones were made of paper, but they can be made with either paper or ribbon. I obviously chose ribbon.
https://studiocartashop.com/products/the-ribbon-studio-book?_pos=1&_sid=063127859&_ss=r
I’ve mentioned Studio Carta before. The quality, colors and variety of their ribbons is top notch. I used the “Loose Weave Cotton Ribbon” in the “Dark Emerald Color”. I can get roughly 27 Nordic Stars from one 54-yard roll of ribbon. The stars are easier to make if the ribbon is stiff and this ribbon is perfect. Being 100% cotton, it also holds a finger press crease nicely. Someday I really do want to visit Angela’s brick and mortar store in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
https://studiocartashop.com/products/loose-weave-ribbon2?variant=844748597
These stars are a true labor of love and by the time I get them all finished for Christmas this year, I will have made a minimum of 169 . . . 😊 Thankfully they no longer take me an hour. I soon got it down to 45 minutes, then 30, and now I can whip one out in 13 minutes from cutting the four ribbon pieces to trimming the final excess piece. I would never have committed to making 169 of these at an hour a piece!
I’m so grateful I stuck with it. This is true in so many things in life. Things that are worth doing are worth putting the time and effort into. I’ve also been grateful to have a non-stressful project to do while I rest and recover from my surgeries.
Learning new things and discovering our hidden talents brings LIGHT into our lives as well as the lives of others as we share the things we learn and create.
My wish for you this week is to look for a new project to learn. The further you go out of your comfort zone, the higher your gratification will be upon accomplishing the task and learning a new skill. And if you’re like me, there will be some that turn out to be a big fail. When and if that happens, just smile and know you gave it your best shot and move on to something else. Don’t let it define you, let it move you to discover a new skill or talent and watch your world fill with LIGHT!
Love Ya, Les 😊