Kristen Anne Glover

Five in Tow

Twisted Branch Christmas Card Holder

Twisted branch Christmas card holder

 

Every Christmas, we are inundated with Christmas cards from friends and family.  Each one is a special reminder of the people we care about the most, but too often, the cards and pictures end up in a pile because I don’t know where to put them.

My mother-in-law had a great solution.  Years ago, she had purchased a Christmas card holder which resembled a branch.  It was decorated with bright red birds and greenery.  Ribbons hung down off the branch so she could attach and display all her cards in a cute and very organized way.

It was perfect, but I had never seen one like it in the stores.  Thankfully, it seemed like a very easy craft to replicate, so I decided to make my own.

With the help of some coupons for Michael’s and some creative recycling, the entire project cost less than $5 and took about half-an-hour (minus time rummaging through my craft supplies) to complete.

Here’s how to do it:

Gather:

*One interesting and sturdy branch, 20-24” long, preferably with at least one fork in it

*One wire coat hanger (try to find one with paint chipping off–it’s a great look)

*About 13” of ½” ribbon (not wired).

*1 or 2 decorative birds in coordinating colors

*Artificial holiday berries or greenery picks (recycle an old wreath or use leftovers from another project!)

*Hot glue gun

*wire clippers (helpful, but not completely necessary)

Optional: paper clips and assorted buttons

Before the Christmas cards arrive, display antique postcards or pictures for interest

You probably don’t even need directions once you see the pictures, but here you go, just in case:

Step 1: Using a wire cutter, clip off the hook end of the hanger.  Wrap the remanding wire around the ends of the branch to create a hanger for your branch.  Bend the wire in the middle until the branch hangs straight.

Step 2: Cut 5 pieces of ribbon of varying lengths, no shorter than 2’ each.  Space the ribbon along the branch, wrapping it over the back of the branch and securing with a dot of hot glue.

Step 3: Carefully melt the long ends of the ribbon with a flame to prevent fraying.

Step 4: Decorate!  Secure the bird(s), nest, berries, pine cones, greenery, etc. to the branch with hot glue.  Be creative!  You can use the traditional reds and greens of the season, or go with metallic ribbons or jewel-tones—whatever you like.

Put a bird on it

Optional: If desired, glue assorted buttons to paper clips for a fun way to secure cards to the ribbon.  Package these in a cute tin (recycle and decorate a breath mint) and they’re gift-ready!

Vintage buttons make for very cute paperclips.  Make a bunch for a fun teacher gift!

Hang your Christmas card holder and use the paper clips to display your Christmas cards as they arrive.

DIY Summer Mantel Makeover

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it doesn’t feel like summer until August.  Nevertheless, it’s time to change my spring mantel arrangement into something a little more summery.

One of the things I love about summer is the return of the bees.  I love to watch them on my flowers and listen to them buzzing around my herb garden.  If I wasn’t deathly allergic to their stings, I’d be a beekeeper.  Even so, I’m considering it.  What’s a near-death experience when you can harvest fresh honey from your own backyard apiary?

When it came time to decorate my fireplace mantel for the summer, I thought a bee theme would be fun (not to mention less dangerous than building a hive in my backyard).   The only thing I own that works for a grouping like this is an antique honey jar I bought a few years ago from a little farm stand out in the country.

Antique honey jar

If you remember from my spring mantel makeover, my goal is to decorate my mantel without spending any money (okay, so maybe a little money).  Mostly, I look around for things I already own or can make myself.   Well, one little honey jar doesn’t make for a very interesting summer-themed mantel, so I had some work to do.

First, I created some bee art on a piece of 5×7 canvas I already had.  I printed a bumblebee line drawing from this website onto parchment-style paper, tore the edges, and modge-podged it onto the canvas using a homemade mixture of equal parts Elmer’s glue and water.

Bee art in the making

I painted the edges with black acrylic paint, let that dry, and then dabbled over it with gold.  I wouldn’t normally do this kind of finish, but the canvas sits back in the shadows and the gold helped soften the edges.  I finished it with a little raffia bow.

Bee “art”

As you can see from the photo, I also found a couple of gold coffee mugs to use as vases for the bright blue flowers I picked from my yard.  The wire garland of amber-colored beads was a thrift-store find.  I love it.

Honey beads

I added some candles and a giant letter Z from the clearance section of my local craft store.  It’s supposed to represent “Bzzzz” but it would probably work better if I had a giant letter B.  Oh well.

Still, the mantle needed a little extra something, so I decided to make a honey sign, like something you might see at a farm stand.  I rummaged up a piece of scrap wood from the garage and painted it up.  I wanted it to look rustic and weathered, so I didn’t worry that the board was a little dirty and rough.  All the better!  Still, it needed something so I wrapped it in a bit of leftover chicken wire from the garage (instead of decorating mantels, I should probably clean my garage).  I love that chicken wire has a honeycomb pattern.  Perfect.

The many uses for chicken wire

It turned out cute, although a little more “country” than I was going for.  I might put a glaze over it to tone it down a bit, but then again, maybe I won’t.  Maybe I’ll just stick more stuff in front of it…

Finally, I arranged everything this way:

Arrangement #1

But that was a little too balanced, so then I arranged it this way:

Alas, I still hate my fireplace surround.

Then I moved it back the other way.  I can’t decide which way I like it better.  Furthermore, I think the entire thing turned out a little too “cute” for me, but it is kind of casual which I like for the summer.  I’ll probably tinker with it some more.  I will sit here in my chair and stare at it and think of ways to make it less cute and more artsy instead of cleaning my garage like I should.  That’s probably a really good use of my time.

So there you have it!  My summer mantel on a budget.  What do you think?  Is it too cutesy, or just right?

Save the Broken Books!

If you are a parent, you have undoubtedly come upon a crime scene like this:

Oh, the carnage!

The victim: A perfectly good book

The perpetrator: Chubby Hands

The crime: Shredding pages when Mom thinks Chubby Hands is sleeping

It’s hard to know what to do with books once they’ve been victimized.  Tape?  Staples?  Sometimes that’s the best way to go.  But we have some books in our library that have been taped so many times, they resemble a collection of Egyptian mummies.  Any reasonable person would throw those books away.

But I’m a bibliophile, and I can’t stand throwing away books, especially since the most abused books in our library are my favorites.

So instead of throwing out those beloved books, I turned them into magnets!  Every day, I get to enjoy these little reminders of the many sweet times I’ve spent reading to my children.  That’s much better than tossing them in the trash!

Guess How Much I Love You?  I love you so much I can’t throw you away.

Here’s what you need:

1 ruined book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar makes darling magnets!)

1 (or more) packages of bubble magnets (see below)

Modge Podge (you can buy it at the craft store or make your own using equal parts Elmer’s and water)

Scissors or a 1″ paper punch

Craft glue or a hot glue gun

Here’s what you do:

The process is very simple.  I picked up a couple packages of bubble magnets at Staples for about $1.99 each.  You can get the clear plastic bubbles at the craft store, but they’re way more expensive and don’t include the magnets!

Staples magnets=cheap and effective

It is very easy to peel the magnets apart and remove the previous graphic.

Using the magnet, find images or words from the book that you’d like to magnify under the bubble and trace it with a pencil.  Cut it out with a sharp scissors.  If you have a  1″ punch, you could use that to punch out the images instead, but the punches don’t work on board books.

Brush modge podge on the underside of the bubble

Brush modge podge on the underside of the acrylic bubble, being  careful not to get it on your fingers or on the top of the bubble.  Place your circle cutout face-down into the goop and flip it back over onto some aluminum foil or parchment paper.  You should be looking at your image under the plastic bubble!  Press out any air pockets and continue with the rest of the circles until you are finished.

Modge podged and ready to dry!

Double check to make sure you didn’t get any modge podge on the tops of the bubbles.  If you did, wipe it off with a damp sponge.  Double check for air  bubbles as well, and then use a heavy book to weigh down the tops of the magnets while they dry.  This may take several hours.

Once dry, glue the magnets to the back of the bubbles using a hot glue gun or heavy-duty craft glue.  Allow to dry completely.

That’s it.  You’re done!  Aren’t they adorable?  I love them so much, I actually look for broken books at thrift stores.  They make great gifts for baby or bridal showers, teacher appreciation gifts, or even a travel tic-tac-toe game for the kids (just use two different books for the pieces and a metal tin to serve as both the game board AND storage container).   Have fun!

Book magnets make a great Valentine’s Day or teacher appreciation gift!