Mountain Crafts

We recently went away for a Girls’ Weekend with my sweet buddies, Julie & Rhonda –(that happen to both be sisters – not my sisters but were so much alike you would think we came from the same bloodline, but I digress.)  Julie and I planned a Surprise Destination for Rhonda’s 40th birthday celebration.

She had NO idea where we were heading and she asked a minimum of 100 times in the car on the way there - “Really!?! WHERE are we going?!?!”  I was loving every minute -  I’m evil like that!  I had asked a sweet friend of ours if we could borrow his mountain cabin for the weekend.  The cabin is hidden in the woods.  You are on a gravel road for 1 mile before you come to the driveway.  So we were nice and secluded in God’s country.

We had an amazing weekend of watching movies, flipping through magazines on the front porch, eating yummy food, and lounging in our PJ’s.  We also found time for a hike and CRAFTS!  What can I say we can maximize 48 hours like nobody else!

Before our trip Julie and I were scouring our “to-do” craft folder and there were 2 different projects we thought would be perfect for our rustic weekend away.  Both involved sticks so what better place to work on crafts with all the supplies already at our destination.

Our first project was from The Painted Hive.  She gave a great tutorial on making a sunburst wreath with sticks.  But I thought I’d show you how ours turned out:

 

We brought some cereal boxes to cut up for our base.  We used 2 pieces but you could definitely use a few more for additional support.  So get your glue gun out and glue the two pieces of cardboard together.

Now take your twine and wrap around the cardboard. Glue the beginning of twine and then twist around the cardboard and glue the end piece as well.

All finished with that step…  Now on to the sticks! We started by sorting the sticks, the smaller the better but having a variance in size provided for a more unique look.

The Painted Hive had used the side with the sticks out front for her “front” and we did the opposite.  A LOT of hot glue was used so I’m not sure how you don’t see that on hers.  But anyhoo.  Kind of make your plan with where you 4 quarters are going to be and then just start filling in.  Until you get this:

Then we added some floral wire for a hook

And voila!  A stick SUNBURST!!

And for our second project, Julie had found this super cute idea over at Delia Creates.  The Spooky Tree Door Hanging was another great idea to work on while away.  Julie just happened to have some old frames lying around so that was free! 

Find your sticks and make your design!

And then glue that bessie in place!  I loved being able to see how the three of us all came up with different looks even though we were doing the same project.  Here’s Julie’s":

And here’s mine in it’s new home. 

I’m still contemplating painting it orange.  Amp it up a bit…  What do you think?

So we did 2 crafts for 3 people and spent $0.00 – that’s how frugal us girls are!

We had an amazing time away!  We laughed at each, rested and worked out (walking up the HUGE hill twice!) what more can you ask for on Girl’s Weekend when one of your dear friends turn 40!!  Yeah I had to say it one more time.