I am a high school English teacher who’s married to a middle school English teacher, and we have one furry baby named Lily. My outlet is my crafting, and I share my crafty endeavors with the blog world over at Pitter and Glink.
I was excited when Rachel asked me to be a part of the Craft Stash Bash because I have a huge craft supply hoard stash! (I recently made over my craft room because my stash was getting out of hand!) When thinking of a project to do that utilized my stash, I stumbled upon the cutest popsicle stick art on Pinterest. I have lots of canvases and popsicle sticks, so I was inspired to make my own popsicle stick art.
I first laid out the popsicle sticks on the canvas, creating a pattern that I liked. I had to cut off the ends of the sticks to make them fit together almost like hardwood flooring.
I didn’t want the wooden sticks to look new and perfect, so I boiled some tea bags. I know that sounds totally random, but it’s not! I wanted to use the tea to “stain” the wood. I didn’t have any wood stain, and this project was about using my stash, not adding more to it.
I placed all the popsicle sticks in a glass jar and poured the tea over them. I let the sticks soak for a bit. While they were soaking, I painted my canvas. I used three different shades of brown to create a wood look. (The wood look wasn’t really necessary because the wooden sticks ended up fitting together pretty closely in the end.)
After I had let the popsicle sticks soak for a while, I took them out of the tea and let them dry on a paper towel. Then it was time to attempt to put my popsicle stick puzzle back together. After I recreated the “pattern,” I glued the sticks down with hot glue. Then I had a cool looking wooden canvas, but I had no idea what to put on it! What did I do? I went to Poets.org! I just started browsing through some poems written by some of my favorite poets, and I found the perfect poem by E. E. Cummings called “maggie and milly and molly and may.” The poem is about four little girls going to the ocean and finding different treasures, and since it’s almost summertime, the last two lines spoke to me: “for whatever we lose (like a you or a me) / it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.” (Please excuse my English teacher nerdiness.) I decided to use the last line on my wooden-stick-covered canvas.
I used my Silhouette to cut stencils of a wave and the quote from contact paper. I used a brush and a tiny bit of paint to stencil the different elements on the popsicle sticks. Then I had to finish the edges of the canvas. I chose to use something else from my craft stash: thin rope.
I wrapped the rope around the edges of the canvas and attached it with hot glue. Not only is my craft stash a little smaller now, but I also have a unique, summer-inspired piece of art!
I love the rustic, somewhat nautical look of the piece!
I think my favorite part of it is the rope-covered edge.
I also like how the wooden sticks got a little warped from being in the tea bath.
The piece looks perfect paired with my apothecary jar of shells that I’ve collected from different beach trips. I hope this has inspired you to start using some of your craft stash. I’m so glad that Rachel invited me to be a part of the bash so that I could get rid of some of mine! I’d love for you to head over to my blog to check out my other projects.
You just may find another project to inspire you that would utilize something else you have in your stash. Happy crafting!
About Rachel
Craft blogger. Color lover. Mess maker. Mom of three. You can find me at Lines Across sharing my creative adventures and tutorials on how to make stuff.
I found your awesome blog while searching on pinterest for some 'grown up' popsicle stick crafts. This post is so great!!
I would love to include a link to this project in a "Popsicle Stick Crafts – Not Just for Kids" craft roundup article I'm writing (for squidoo SoCrafty online magazine). Would it be possible to use the photo of the finished project in the article? The photo will be linked to your post, as well as a link in a short blurb I write about the project, and of course I'll credit Pitter & Glink via LinesAcross.com .
This is incredibly amazing popsicle art! Thank you for sharing this awesome idea. Perfect for the kids. We also did a Popsicle chain reaction activity out of the same materials you used. You should check this out! EarlyLearning.Momtrusted.com: Popsicle Chain Reaction
Thanks for having me today, Rachel! I'm loving this series!
I love this!!! You have a great blog!
That is so cute! I'm seeing endless possibilities with this craft!
genius! I absolutely love it! nice work Bethanny
That is gorgeous.
I found your awesome blog while searching on pinterest for some 'grown up' popsicle stick crafts. This post is so great!!
I would love to include a link to this project in a "Popsicle Stick Crafts – Not Just for Kids" craft roundup article I'm writing (for squidoo SoCrafty online magazine). Would it be possible to use the photo of the finished project in the article? The photo will be linked to your post, as well as a link in a short blurb I write about the project, and of course I'll credit Pitter & Glink via LinesAcross.com .
Thanks in advance!
This is incredibly amazing popsicle art! Thank you for sharing this awesome idea. Perfect for the kids. We also did a Popsicle chain reaction activity out of the same materials you used. You should check this out!
EarlyLearning.Momtrusted.com: Popsicle Chain Reaction