By Caroline Brewton
Editor-in-Chief
I found this cute DIY project on Pinterest, though its original source was the blog House of Humble. I was looking for something to decorate my apartment for Valentine’s Day, and to take my mind off the fact that I’d be spending the day at work instead of being romanced, I decided to take on a project. To save myself some money, I adapted the project to incorporate things I already had in the house. I’d give the project a medium difficulty rating. It requires a basic knowledge of sewing, and I recommend being careful with the hot glue gun. Apart from that, it was pretty straightforward.
Materials:
1 glass jar (I used a Ball Mason jar from Hobby Lobby. I got the large size. It’s important to make sure the jar is large enough to fit your hand in).
1 Stick
2 small, feathered birds, small enough to fit in the jar side by side and light enough not to weigh down your stick too much.
Fabric scraps in coordinating colors (I used shades of blue that I had around the house.)
Sewing thread (I used white.)
Faux Spanish moss
Rubber band
Ribbon
Scissors
Saucer
Ball-point pen
Needle
Wire cutters
Directions:
First, take the Spanish moss and chop it into small pieces to simulate grass. Drop the pieces to the bottom of the jar until the entire bottom is covered and you have a layer of chopped Spanish moss about 1/4 inch thick.
Next, prepare the garland that will go on your stick. To make mine, I cut small diamonds out of the fabric scraps, which I folded in half and hemmed together to form upside down triangles. I used small stitches and matched up the sides, alternating fabrics. I sewed the triangles into a garland, leaving about two inches of thread on each side to tie the garland to the stick.
After that, prepare the stick. Make sure the stick is big enough to touch the sides of the jar inside where you want to place it. Cut it if necessary using the wire cutters.
Decide where and how you want to place your birds. I angled mine and had them face each other. Since they came on wire, I simply wrapped the wire around the branch to place them there. If your birds are not wired, I suggest using hot glue.
Finally, to finish the stick, the ends of the garland to each end of the stick. Trim excess thread. I put a dot of glue on top of each place I’d tied the garland to make sure it stays in place.
Next comes the hard part: setting up the stick in the jar. I took one end of the stick and dabbed hot glue on it. I angled the stick to fit the entire thing, as the stick was longer than the mouth of the jar was wide, plus it had the birds and garland attached. I hurriedly stuck the glue-containing end to the wall of the jar. After holding it in place for a few seconds to let the glue dry and ensure a good bond, I gently lifted the other, glueless end to the mouth of the jar and dabbled glue onto it to. I fastened it to the opposite wall of the jar.
Use the saucer to trace a circle onto the fabric. Cut out. You might need to trim a little off the circle so that you don’t have too much fabric. The fabric will cover the lid of the jar.
Screw the lid back onto the jar and use the fabric to cover it. Make sure the fabric is smooth on top. To this end, I placed several dots of glue on the rim of the lid before placing the fabric over it.
Place the rubber band over the fabric and lid. Use the ribbon to hide the rubber band by wrapping it around and tying a bow.
Happy Valentine’s Day, crafters!
