Neighbor Gifts - Paint Stick Ornaments

For the life of me, I CANNOT find the original poster who is the creative genius behind cutting paint sticks and making them into Christmas ornaments! Please, please let me know if you know who it is, so I can give them credit. :)  Lesson learned in bookmarking ideas I like even if I don't need the tutorials.

 I used a combination of the 5-gallon paint sticks and the 1-gallon sticks (the "Snow" ones are 1-gallon, "peace" are 5-gallon). I couldn't tell too much of a difference, so next time I'll probably just stick with 1-gallon since they're given away with less begging at HD. ;)

1) I cut the smaller ones at 4" and the larger ones at 4.5".
2) Painted them with acrylic craft paint
3) Used my daughter's $1 alphabet stamp kit to write a couple words
4) ModPodged and glittered
5) Drilled small holes in corners and stuck wire through for hangers.
6) Embellished

 Of course I had helpers the whole time, so they had to make their own to give to grandmas and aunties and some of our favorite neighbors as well. Here's the 4-year-old's stack:

You should see this kid with a drill... Just kidding. But she's a great little painter and embellisher. ;)

Aloha,

charlie

Chicken Wire Christmas Card Display

Better late than never?  That's going to be the theme for the next few posts... I still zipped through quite a few projects during the last couple weeks, but finding time to do photos and posts has been a little difficult! So be patient with me as I throw some more Christmas stuff at you. Maybe someone can use them next year! ;)

For my Christmas card display this year, I wanted to go simple. I had purchased some chicken wire for a different project for $2.50 at Home Depot, but I wasn't paying attention and purchased the 2" wide holes...didn't realize it until after removing packaging and unrolling! Shoot!!

But it worked great for this. I cut across the entire strip at 5' long, and it has one connecting wire running up the center of the entire length (a 10' roll). So after cutting at 5', I folded it in half right at that center wire, and then I STAPLED it to my wall. :)  Since this color isn't staying (might not make it through the weekend), stapling was an excellent option for me as you basically don't even have to fill holes! Since they're so small, paint fills them in (learned this trick from my ex-painter husband. Ex-painter. Not ex-husband. Same husband all 9 years.)

I have the prettiest friends and family. :)  I just love looking at them! Thanks for making my house prettier for a little while, guys!

Aloha,

charlie