February Pinterest Trial #2: Popsicle Stick Bracelets

I tried something from my craft board this time. I made bracelets out of large popsicle sticks! It was so easy! Here's what you need:

Popsicle sticks
rubber bands
a jar, vase, cup, or other round object that is about the same size as your wrist.

Here's what you do:

Step 1: Boil sticks for 15 minutes

Step 2: Gently start bending the sticks with your hands. I tried curving 7 sticks and one snapped. The instructions I followed said about 1 in 5 will snap, so I was lucky. By the way, it doesn't hurt when they snap so you don't have to flinch.

Step 3:Depending on the size of your wrist, and the size of your jar, vase, etc., either wrap the stick on the outside of the glass and secure with rubber bands, or put it inside the glass and just let it sit there.

Step 4: Okay, don't stress yourself with this one, wait for the sticks to dry. This took 4 days for me, but can take anywhere from 3-7 days. If you think they're dry, but aren't sure, pull one off and if it keeps it's form than it is most likely dry. You'll end up with wooden bracelets!

Step 5: Cover the bracelets with paper, twine, raffia, etc. I used red and straw colored raffia to cover two of mine. If you cover with paper, just use mod podge! I would suggest using a strait stick as a guide to cut your paper. And you're done! So easy!

Celebrate the Little Holidays

February 4th is Mailman Appreciation Day. We (everyone at the office I work at) like to celebrate those strange, wacky, little holidays. Since the 4th was a Saturday, we celebrated a day early. This is what we had waiting for our wonderful mailman, Dave.

We all signed the card and left it on the counter with our out-going mail. I had written a little poem at about 11:00 one night when I couldn't sleep that we put on the card. Hope you can read it in the picture below. It was taken with my cell phone camera which isn't very good.

He loved his little card and brought us a thank you card the following Monday. We are now on even better terms with this wonderful man!

February Pinterest Trial #1: Valentine's Day Wreath

Here is the first of what will probably be many Pinterest trials for this month! This one is a Valentine's wreath of argyle style hearts. It was super easy to make.

Supplies:
wreath form (I used a 12" Styrofoam wreath)
gray yarn
red and pink felt
hot glue gun
pen or marker
heart stencil or pattern
scissors 

My heart pattern was about 2 1/2" wide. Start by marking the hearts onto the felt and cutting them out. I used 6 hearts from each color of felt, 12 hearts in all. For a larger wreath, try 8 of each color.

Next, wrap your wreath form with the yarn. This was the most time consuming part of the project, and it only took me about twenty minutes (I had to stop every now and them to stretch my fingers). Use hot glue to hold the start of the yarn in place as well as the end.

Now, take your hearts and, alternating colors and direction, space them out on your wreath. Once you have them laid out to your liking, glue them down. Finally, take your yarn again and circle it around the wreath crossing over the heart going counter clockwise and clockwise to create the criss-cross pattern. Use some ribbon (I just used some of the yarn. I didn't have any ribbon on hand.) to hang the wreath up.