This Christmas, no part of your home should be left undecorated! Add some festive cheer to your garden fence with this D.I.Y. decoration, creating a display of gorgeous shooting stars with just some balsa wood and fairy lights.
This affordable and easy project sees fairy lights draped from a central star shape to create an illuminated trail. Repeated over your fence, you can create an entire wall of beautiful stars, a beautiful decoration for the Christmas period, or all year round.
We’re using solar lights for this project, meaning they are incredibly sustainable and won’t cause your energy bills to skyrocket. Providing they are placed high enough on the fence, they are also child- and pet-friendly, making for a low-maintenance and low-cost option.
If you don’t have a garden or suitable outdoor wall, these shooting stars can also be installed inside, but should be kept close to a window for the solar lights to charge during the day.
Tools and materials:
• Boyle 12.5mm Blue Dowell Balsa Wood x4 pcs
• Craftright 3m/10ft Tape Measure
• Craftright 12 Piece Carpenters Pencil With Sharpener
• Craftright 500mm Hand Saw
• Command Mini Clear Adhesive Hooks - 6 Pack
• Crescent 370 x 4.8mm White Cable Ties - 100 Pack
• EyeShields Safety Glasses
• GRUNT 75m Jute Twine
• Lytworx 100 White LED 2 Function Solar Fairy Lights x4 or Lytworx 19.9m LED Solar Fairy Lights with USB Charging x4
• Trojan 140mm Heavy Duty Stubby Scissors
1. Measure and cut the wood
Start by estimating how large you’d like your star to be. If your balsa wood is quite long, you may need to cut it in half. If you do need to cut it, measure to halfway and use a hand saw to cut.
2. Form your star
Form a star shape with your dowels.
3. Twine the wood
Wrap twine over each point that the wood meets to secure the shape. Secure the twine with super glue and leave to dry.
4. Wrap the fairy lights
Wrap the fairy lights around the dowel, leaving a trail of lights that will create that shooting effect.
5. Position the hooks
It’s time to determine where you’ll hang your stars! Map out where the star will go on your fence and the three ends where the lights will trail the star to get that shooting star look. Once you know where you’re going to hang it, affix your hooks to the designated area of the fence.
6. Attach the star
Hang the star on the end hook with your lights trailing to the other hooks on your fence.
7. Hide the solar panel
Use a planter or extra decorations to hide in front of your solar panel which will sit on the floor below your star.
Start making!
Looking for decorations for your outdoor area? Check out our range of solar fairy lights, perfect for all-year lighting.
