Glitter Clothespins for Christmas Card Garland



March is the perfect time to start working on Christmas crafts, right? That way you're not trying to make a bunch of crafts at the last minute!

Every Christmas I hang the Christmas cards we receive. In years past, I've hung the cards from a long branch that I found outside in our yard, but I couldn't find a new branch to use this year, so I just strung some red yarn between our stockings. In order to hang the cards, I used clothespins.

Clothespins are a great all-purpose item. I never use them for what they are intended. Instead, I've used them in craft projects, such as this tuna can candle holder, and I've also decorated some of them to make them festive for card-hanging in years past.

I guess I threw out all my old festive clothespins, so when I went to hang our 2015 Christmas cards, I only had 10 clothespins left and they were pretty bland. My goal was to dress them up with glitter, but I just didn't get around to it during the holiday season. So my second goal was to dress them up before Christmas 2016!

It sort of looks like a crime scene below, doesn't it? But I swear to you that is just red glitter. I already had red glitter and silver glitter in my craft stash, along with some Aleene's Tacky Glue. If you want to be professional about this, use a small foam brush to spread the glue onto your clothespins. Or if you want to be like me, wear vinyl gloves over your hands and use a glove-covered finger to spread the glue.

You're basically just spreading the glue, sprinkling on a bunch of glitter (color to be determined by you), shaking off the excess glitter, and letting the clothespins dry. I only did one section of each clothespin at a time to make sure that the glue didn't stick to the scrap paper I had on my work surface and to ensure that as much of the glitter stayed on. So this might take you some time to complete what with all the drying time, but it's a fun way to spend a Friday or Saturday night.

I swear!


Here are all 10 clothespins glittered up and ready for Christmas! I cut a spare piece of cardboard from our recycling bin to attach the clothespins while they get stored in a plastic zip-top bag. I'm hoping this keeps them from banging into each other and shedding glitter while in storage.

I'll probably have to go out and buy more clothespins and do this all over again before December, but at least I've gotten a good start on the project now!

Comments