{Beautiful Nest}: clothespins

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Clothespins meet dictionary....

I love old books, but my absolute favorite are old dictionaries...I have a soft spot for dictionaries in the first place, but there is just something about the ones with those time worn pages that I cannot resist!

Combine that with tea dyed clothespins, my latest obsession...

And you get this:

{These were such a cinch to make, and a very inexpensive craft as well!}

And just in case you'd like to make these for yourself, I thought I'd include a little tutorial...

What you'll need:

Dictionary or other book~ if you do not have an old one, a new one will work too!

Mod Podge

Clothespins~ I used both large and small ones.

Black tea, such as Lipton.

Q-tips

Now I tea dyed my clothespins, an idea my sister {Belle} saw at Nancy's Tidbits...I thought this was such a wonderful idea! To dye mine, I soaked them in black tea in a bowl for about 24 hours. (You could always omit this though and just leave them as they are if you do not want them dyed.)

Once they are dry, tear a page out of your book and find where you want to trace your clothespin...I try to avoid choosing words such as "grease" or "prison", as those sort of words do not seem quite right! That is the only thing about using a dictionary! ;)

After tracing it, cut the narrow strip of paper and bring out your decoupage glue...

I used Q-tips to cover the clothespins with the glue because they were just the perfect size. I found it took only a thin coat of the glue to adhere the paper, because it was so thin.

Put the strip of paper onto the clothespin, carefully adjusting it if needed. Smooth out any creases, and repeat this process on the other side of the clothespin! OR leave it with just one side like this...I did it both ways, and think it's cute either way! :)

{ I am going to turn some of these into fun magnets for our refrigerator!}