This was something I didn't quite anticipate feeling nearly as much as I have felt in these last months since quitting my full-time job to work from home. (And I probably would not feel the same way if there were piles and piles of things to do around the house.) But I was dying to just get out and go somewhere, usually shopping - grocery, music books, clothes, miscellaneous errands - they're all the same to me. I just wanted to get out.
So after finishing all my "work" for the day, I allowed myself to indulge in a new craft endeavor I wanted to experiment with. I made a list of the places I was going to go and the items I needed. I had planned on stopping by Joann's, Hobby Lobby, and then Michael's for three different items. I usually try to consolidate as much as possible, but when these stores limit you to one coupon per transaction per person per day, it's worth going to three separate stores to use three separate coupons when they're all within the same street block of each other. I'm not going to reveal what items I was purchasing so the next few paragraphs are going to sound very vague, but I'm doing that on purpose.
I got to Joann's and looked for item #1. They didn't have it. Online it said they had three in stock. Clearly the stock was not there and the website not updated. Big sigh. I ended up buying item #3 intended for Michael's because it was on sale and a better price than Michael's. I got back into my car, drove down the street about 2 minutes to Hobby Lobby. Instead of buying item #2 intended for Hobby Lobby, I ended up using my coupon to buy item #1.
Once again, I got back into my car, crossed the street, and went to Michael's. Of course, I was supposed to get item #3 at Michael's, but I had already purchased it. So instead, I looked for item #2, intended for Hobby Lobby, which I couldn't buy because I had already used my coupon and wasn't going to spend more on it than I had to. Well, turns out Michael's doesn't carry item #2, and the most similar item they did carry was almost 3x the price at Hobby Lobby. I was not pleased and left without completing my trifecta of craft supplies.
I debated going back to Hobby Lobby again and just seeing if they'd let me use a coupon again to buy item #2. After all, I had left the store, drove to a different location, and then returned. However, as much as I think the people at Hobby Lobby would have let me use the coupon anyway, I turned the other way and went home.
Having arrived home without the three necessary items to complete my craft, I couldn't make any progress on that at all. So instead, I decided to start (and finish!) another craft. I had seen a piece of wall decor at Hobby Lobby as I walked in done in this style which refreshed my memory of having wanted to try it myself. After grabbing my things, but before checking out, I stopped by and inspected it a bit just to see how it was made. Mentally, I created a step-by-step instruction list on how I would go about doing it.
Since I came home missing one item for my originally intended craft, I switched gears and worked on this other DIY project inspired by the one I saw at Hobby Lobby. I had all the necessary materials since they were leftovers from previous projects.
Materials:
- one piece of MDF board or wood board cut to desired size - we had leftovers from building some shelves a year ago.
- nails - they don't have to be extremely long, but they should be nails and not screws. I used some finishing nails we picked up at a garage sale for cheap. I think the whole box was 25 cents.
- paint - we had paint Jonathan picked up one day after work which I've used for previous art projects.
- string of various colors (multiple strands of thread or a skinny yarn work well) - these were leftovers from my giant cross-stitch.
- hammer
- scissors
- pen or pencil
- scrap paper
Steps:
- Paint your MDF board or wood to desired color. Let paint dry and add additional coats as necessary following the instructions on the can.**
- Using a piece of scrap paper, sketch out your desired shape and then cut out with scissors.
- Place the paper on top of your wood or MDF board in the position you want.
- Carefully using the hammer, put nails in around the paper to create the outline of your shape. Nails should be spaced about a 1/2 inch apart. They can be closer or further apart depending on your discretion. (You can wear gloves and safety glasses if desired, but I didn't because this was very tame compared to other projects we've done. I would recommend the gloves if you're a neat freak because the nails do tend to wear off their coating onto your fingers so if you don't want black/grey fingers after, wear gloves.)
- Remove the scrap paper after you're done placing nails around the outline.
- Take string of various colors and wrap around the nails, tying knots to secure once you've placed it the way you want. This is actually the most time consuming step. It took me about 20 minutes to put the nails in and then about an hour to tie all the string on the way I wanted.
**Note: I had my MDF board pre-painted from another previous project so I didn't have to wait for paint to dry. Obviously if you start from scratch, it'll probably be a 2-3 day project because you'll have to wait for the paint.
I did a very simple heart design and chose to lay out my string in a rainbow fashion going from the warmer colors into the cooler colors. I arranged it like this partly because these are the colors I had and so I was limited with what was leftover from my cross-stitch.
So there you have it. My Friday afternoon (back up plan) DIY project. :) I see these all the time being sold at stores for decor for $10-$30 dollars depending on what it is. It's really not that hard and depending on what you have on hand, the cost could be little to nothing.
Final cost : $0. Gotta love leftovers :)
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