Feature Friday- Popsicle Bracelets!

So I was looking through my vintage craft book collection and ran across a 1970 Pack O un maga!ine" #his maga!ine s$eciali!es in childrens crafts and while I have no children at home% Im always ha$$y to try and take a good idea and run with it" #hey had instructions on how to take a sim$le $o$sicle stick and turn it into a bracelet" &ell% Im certainly on board for that" #he thought of being able to make wood $liable $ut all kinds of ideas in my head" 'ut well start with the $ro(ect at hand which ha$$ened to be bracelets" So (ust in time for )aster 'askets% lets $ut together some cute bracelets" &ith bling"

For this project I used:

Po$sicle sticks *bought the industrial strength si!e bag from &al+,art because this $ro(ect might go in future directions-

.rinking glass *for forming+ use a glass with a to$ o$ening that is slightly smaller than you want your bracelet to end u$-

)mory board or sand $a$er /crylic $aint Stick on (ewels *for bling,od Podge

#he instructions in the maga!ine called for allowing the $o$sicle sticks to sit in water overnight" Once they have become com$letely saturated% it was sim$le enough to curve them to fit into the to$ of a drinking glass"

I found that I still had to work the wood% warming it with my fingers% to make it $liable enough to fit into the to$ of the glass without s$litting" ,y success rate was about 001"

So% I tried it again% but this time I used a $an of water and boiled the $o$sicle sticks for about 20 minutes and then allowed them to sit in the hot water for another 20 minutes" #his time my success rate for uns$lit $o$sicle sticks was about 301" )ither way works well and if you arent as $icky as I am% your success rate might be better" #he sticks are chea$% so Im okay with a bit of error"

Once the sticks are formed in the glasses% I allowed them to thoroughly dry overnight and then easily removed them from the glasses"

I then used an emory board to sand them so that all edges and $aint surfaces were smooth"

4ow for the fun $art55 I used my acrylic $aints to $aint in designs" I wanted them fun and colorful" 6e+ wetting the sticks with $aint will cause them to o$en u$ a bit *hence the reason that I used a glass with such a small o$ening-"

/nother o$tion for the bracelets at this $oint would be to decou$age using scra$booking $a$er" Or you could 7uill it% or a$$ly fabric% or se7uins% or $om$oms% whatever your cra!y mind or your ingenious children come u$ with"

,y final touch was to add stick on (ewels that I found in the discount bin at the craft store% and then add a final $rotectant coat of ,od Podge"

/ sim$le craft with cute results5 4ow what else can we do with bent $o$sicle sticks8 9mmm::

If you en(oyed this tutorial% you might en(oy my Ice ;ream ;art 'ank tutorial" ;reating a miniature ice cream cart out of a wooden bank" Or if you are wanting to make something cute for the kids rooms% check out my li$ lo$ Pillowtutorial5