decoration

Wicked Wicker

Yesterday I was at a friend’s birthday party, and one of the other guests brought a huge bundle of freshly cut willow switches so we could make some wicker fishies. That was fun! I had never tried it before, but it was on my bucket list :)

As you can see in the pics, it’s quite simple – even the little girls could do it.

Only if a switch is brittle, weaving becomes tricky.

We decided that my first fish was a herring whereas Johanna’s (the little rascal with the tongue) fish was a wicker whale. “My whale can be your herring’s auntie!” – okay :)

My second fish turned out a little larger. It’s a jumbo Veiltail goldfish :D
<--- That's me :)

We have a willow in our garden, and I'll check its wicker capabilities this spring...

The color range of the different types of willow is amazing, it lets you create a fancy stripe design.

My fishies are hanging from our porch ceiling now – how do you like it?:

Winterish wreath made of old CDs

Posted by Anke on 25/11/2011 2 Comments

As you might guess from my projects, I love recycling and repurposing, making everyday-stuff into something new.

I have a gazillion old CDs which I saved for “the light-bulb moment”, and it came last week. Why not make a cool wreath?

I guess this wreath would look great on any office door or at your entrance if you love music.

You need:

12 CDs
white matte spray paint
double-sided tape
nice ribbon to hang the wreath
deco snowflake stickers and/or ornaments
foil to protect your working space ;)

Step 1: Arrange your CDs
Put one CD on a flat surface. Then group 6 CDs around it. To state the obvious: the shiny side of the CDs should be on top ;)

Step 2: Glue the outer CDs together
Rip strips of your double-sided tape and connect the six outer CDs as shown in the picture.

Step 3: Add the second layer
Now remove the protective foil from the tape strips and, centering the CDs directly between two of the first layer, attach the second batch of 6 CDs (the final CD will be the one from the center).

Here’s an example of some ornaments I used. Remove the ribbons if you use ornaments… Get something with a nice shape, you’ll need it for the next step:

Step 4: Now comes the fun part – spraying!
Be careful to cover your working space with foil. Place the wreath in the middle and put your snowflake ornaments or stickers (upside down and without removing the stickers’ foil) nicely on top of your cds. Arrange the items carefully, you won’t be able to change it later. Now spray an even coat of matte white spray on top of your wreath. You might have to repeat this step one or two times until the color is opaque.

Step 5: Let dry…
… be patient! Let the paint dry completely, then remove the ornaments and/or stickers. You’ll see the shapes of your ornaments sparkle in a nice contrast to your white paint. Now turn the stickers or ornaments around and attach them to the wreath. I chose to only attach the mirrored snowflakes, the others looked too intricate for my taste. I found some cute felt stars in my stash which I attached instead.

Step 6: Now hang and enjoy!
Thread a nice organza ribbon through one of the CDs’ holes and hang your creation to greet any guests.
Have fun!