Monday, May 6, 2013

Cute Tute! Boredom Buster: Super Cute & Easy DIY Embellished Clothespins, Part 1

Sunday was a laaaaazy day, that was FINALLY not accompanied by rain!  HURRAY!  Unfortunately, the earth's climate decided to overcompensate in another, equally as lazymaking atmospheric way:  a random cold snap.  I don't mean from 75 degrees to 68 degrees (which would be bad enough), I mean it was 45 yesterday morning when I attempted to walk to the RV to measure some windows.  I had to wait until noon to get them measured, when it was closer to 50 degrees.  W...T...F?!

So I decided to tackle some of the projects for the RV that will be final details.  I had wanted to do this stuff after the inside structure was completed, but it unfortunately looks like THAT will be our last-minute project.  Scary, but I have faith.

OK, ok, without further chattiness, I present to you...



Boredom Busters are generally really easy projects that you probably have all of the supplies for already, can do in a few minutes or hours depending on how crafty and embellished you want to get, and can involve kids in if you wanted to as well.  I'll be posting as many of these as possible!

This Cute Tute is "Part One" because I will be expanding on this project and sharing that soon, too!  Stay tuned to see what we end up doing with these fun clothespins.

You will need:

Clothespins {I got mine from Wal-Mart, I'm sure they're available anywhere}
Paper {I'm using a vintage Geography book from the '70s to match the groovy vibe in the RV}
Mod Podge {I never even try anything else, that expensive crap really is the best craft adhesive ever}
Junk or Cheap Paintbrush {Mine never recover from being used with Mod Podge}
Scissors {And/or a paper cutter/guillotine if you've got one}
Embellishments {Get creative!}


I'm a big fan of maps, and I want lots of them in the RV, so I pulled this book from my scrapbooking stash.














  I picked this up a few months back for a project and it has gazillions of pages left.  The washed-out look of the pages is just what I was looking for.  I chose the Introduction page, because I really liked the color striations on the page and thought they would make some cool "natural" looking clips.  I like some zhuzh in my...well, my everything, actually - but I wanted to keep these fresh and simple for the travel photos I plan to smush in between their wooden teeth in the near future.


 Using a paper cutter, cut strips of desired paper slightly thinner than the clothespins.  for mine, somewhere between 1/2" and 3/4" was the right size.

I used lots of different images, and words, too.  Choose whatever you think would be a reflection of the photograph or memento it might hold - even if you haven't taken it yet!  










Apply Mod Podge to your clothespin surface and add the paper.  I made most of mine with the strip over the metal portion, but you can cut a division between them if you think that looks better.  


If you're using thinner paper like mine, you definitely want to make sure you're not applying too much Mod Podge to the surface.  More is not better - it can cause your paper to wrinkle later.





    Add  your desired strip of paper to the top of the clothespin. To smooth any wrinkles and improve adhesion, VERY LIGHTLY roll the handle of your brush along the length of the clothespin over the paper so that all parts of the paper stick to the Mod Podge.  When you're happy with the flatness, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the surface to seal the paper.
Keep going until all of your clothespins are completed.  If you want to add embellishments, like stamps, stamp the paper first and be sure to allow to dry before applying to the clothespin.  It's hard to see how these came out, but they are pretty cute!


   This is how mine turned out! You can click the images for a larger view to see more detail. I was super happy with how adorable they were in person. Definitely one of those crafts whose charm is underexpressed in a photo!

So...have you made these before?  Did you use this tutorial?  Feel free to Pin this article, comment, introduce yourself, and/or link me to your blog if you've got one, I'd love to see how yours came out!

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