Super Stars! A Recycle/Reuse Project

Sparkle, sparkle and so "green"! These were fun to make today & hang over my skating snowmen that are on my table. This Christmas Eve we are having the family dinner with the kids a la A Christmas Story. We are making oriental food. We are always up for an adventure and I love that about my family. I am making my Vegetarian Curry with Cashews & Banh Mi (Vietnamese pork meatball sandwiches), my special Egg Rolls taught to me by my friend Noi, Cucumber Sesame Salad & my own Red Ginger Noodle salad. I've never made Banh Mi before but I made the mayo for it already and it is fantastic. My son couldn't leave it alone & even ate it on toast, it's gone already! So it's fun that everyone is excited. I am grinding the pork for the meatballs so they should be nice & lean. I found the recipe in the new Bon Appetit Magazine . My oldest are bringing their famous crab dip & lemon squares. I don't know what my youngest is making yet. I bought red & white Striped Chinese cartons to serve the salads in & brand new chopsticks. The table will be fun. Both of my boys were eating with chopsticks when they were 2 years old and I plan on using those cute little panda bear chopsticks that I still have to teach my little JJ in the near future. My youngest son was once the center of attention when we popped into a little neighborhood Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, his blond hair almost white shining amid a sea of dark hair, sitting in his high chair, eating something most kids at his age wouldn't touch and with big boy chopsticks, he had the whole restaurant just going gaga over him. He was so cute.

These shiny stars are made of a recycled 2 liter soda bottle, fishing line, glue & glitter. Cut off the top & bottom of bottle. Then cut open the cylinder & cut into strips then squares. I got 12 squares from one bottle. I cut the stars freehand folk arty but you could use a pen & star template if you wanted them all the same. Using a needle make a hole & insert fishing line then tie a knot. Put glue on both sides of the star & cover with glitter. Shake off excess glitter & hang. I put a star on each end of the fishing line. Super easy & something you could do with kids. I think I'll be saving all my soda bottles to make stars for outdoors. I think they'd be great hanging from all my trees no matter what time of year it is!