Today I am here to share with you another one of my late mother’s traditions. My mom was full of creativity and tradition and ideas long before the era of Pinterest, and I delight in carrying on her traditions. One fun thing that my mom always did for us was to place a star on our “dressing room” (bedroom door) the morning of the opening of one of our plays when we were in high school. Our friends noticed it and wanted “in,” so we even started making them for our friends to hang in the school and theater (after the high school years) dressing rooms as well. I had those stars hung up all over my room, as did my sisters. They didn’t come down until my family moved in with my dad to save money and I redecorated so that the kids could have their own rooms. I found most of our stars in the crawl space in the basement. Here’s a sampling for you:
It started with just a poster board, glue, and glitter. Then it evolved to glitter glue itself. (Duh —- real glitter is MESSY!) Eventually she got a little more involved with things like lace and feathers, but overall things stayed fairly simple. Did we care? No way! Special things do NOT have to take a ton of time in order to be appreciated, or even treasured! Let’s take a closer look at a few. Adelaide was the fanciest one she did. How my clumsy, goofy sister got to play one of the dream rolls of this sassy dancer I will never know! 😉 But she was totally hilarious doing it!
Shipoopi would be a shipoopi dancer from The Music Man. Also my sister.
This particular star was in the bag of stars belonging to my youngest sister. Ummmm….?????
I believe it was for a musical review against racism or something. Regardless, it made me laugh. “Anti-Prejudice Woman.” SO random.
Here is the best door decor that she ever did for yours truly. I’m not sure why she went SO all-out on it, but I totally love it. This was when I played Tiger Lily in the musical Peter Pan during my senior year of high school.
(In the song I sang in the show it talks about how they “makem too much noise.” My mother found that particularly hilarious since I am an excessively loud human being.)
The picture is of me as an 8 year old, wearing a costume that I made myself. My mom had a bone marrow transplant when she was 35, at the beginning of the 13 year battle with breast cancer that eventually took her life. She came home on Thanksgiving Day and my sisters and I gleefully met her on the doorstep in homemade Pilgrim and Native American Indian costumes. You can read more about that story HERE if you are interested.
The cutest thing about the stars that I found in the basement? I had forgotten that my dad had carried on the tradition for my sister who was still in high school when my mom died. Good, good man. (This is for The Christmas Carol and Once Upon a Mattress.)
Last week I got a text from my girl Heather, who was one of my BFFs in high school and then my roomie in college. She’s so dang fun! Miss that girl!!! She did dance team and the musicals with me in high school and remembered the stars that my mom made. Her little girls are now dancing divas, and she wanted to make them stars, so she requested a tutorial. Here ya go, Heather. I hope that some of you out there decide to adopt this tradition for your own familes. I used this opportunity to make a star for my girl the day of her very first dance recital, and she LOOOOOOVED it! She still thanks me for it daily. Sweetest.
For this tutorial you will need poster board, scissors, THIS PATTERN, a pencil, glitter glue, and any other embellishments. (I used rhinestone sticker tape and large flowers from Michael’s and small rhinestone flowers from Walmart.)
This is a simple pattern that I made for a star. I just trace my mom’s old stars. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT!!! I’m ok with that, but if you aren’t then feel free to measure precisely. For those of you who are lazy crafters like myself, print out these pages and tape them together. DOWNLOAD THE PATTERN HERE. Trace and cut.
Once you have traced and cut, gather your embellishments.
I decided to decorate the edges of the star with rhinestone sticker tape from Michael’s.
Grab your glitter glue and write the child or character name, along with anything else that you want to include.
Add any other embellishments once the glitter glue has dried. I used more rhinestone sticker tape from Michael’s, large rhinestone flowers from the $1 bins at Michael’s, and small rhinestone flowers from Walmart. (The glitter glue was from Walmart too.)
All done and ready to surprise a sleeping ballerina . . .
Think she’s pleased?! 🙂
Time to get ready for the big recital!
Precious girl.
She danced fearlessly, and as the other kids filed off the stage she was the only one to stop and take a dramatic, sweeping bow. She is SO my child! 🙂
If you would like to read about more of my mom’s traditions then you should check out these posts:
Christmas Advent Wreath Tradition
Secret Cupids: A Valentine’s Day Family Tradition
Christmas Ornaments: A Tale of Tradition
The Halloween Goblin
Gratitude Hand Turkeys: A Thanksgiving Tradition
New Year Reflections: A Family Night Tradition
If you would like to read more about my mom’s battle with cancer then you should check out these posts:
What My Mother’s Battle With Cancer Taught Me About True Beauty
Motherhood: It’s Worth Fighting For!
Snapshots of the Emotional Stages of a Mother-Daughter Relationship
Latest posts by Sarah Westover McKenna (see all)
- Harry Potter Birthday Party - March 22, 2019
- Christmas Caramels - December 14, 2018
- Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe - December 12, 2018
Melinda says
June 30, 2015 at 9:26 pmEven better than the super star, is the story of your traditions, and your lovely mom.
Here from Sunday Features.
Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories says
July 3, 2015 at 2:25 pmHow adorable! Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday linkup. Pinned to our linkup board. I hope you stop by and linkup 3 more posts this weekend.
Melissa Vera says
July 6, 2015 at 6:15 pmWhat an awesome memory and tradition to carry on Thank you for sharing this on the #HomeMattersParty and I hope you will come back and share again.
creativejewishmom/sara says
April 23, 2017 at 5:47 amSuch a sweet story and love that you are carrying on the tradition, I hope my kids will do the same with some of the craft fun I do for them! (Well, at least my daughter, not likely that the boys will be crafting like mom, sigh…..) Thanks for sharing on craft schooling sunday!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
April 24, 2017 at 10:33 amYou never know! My boy loves to “craft” alongside mom. I’m making something intricate and sparkly and he’s trying to make a statue of Pikachu (Pokemon). Haha! But we are having fun together, so that’s what counts! 😉
Lillian Stevens says
April 23, 2017 at 8:01 amWhat precious memories from your childhood that you are passing along to yours!
Visiting via Bloghetti and so glad I stopped by!
Have a Lovely week!