In The Studio - Part One

It's been busy here In The Studio this week. Holiday gifts are behind schedule due to illnesses and the creative muse disappearing to sleep for a bit, I'm about 3 weeks off my initial scheduled.

I'm making wooden snowflake ornaments from clothespins with my Grandson. He'll be gifting all his favorite people with them this year for Christmas.

They are fun but very time-consuming because I don't have a hot glue gun. I would suggest, if you decide to try these yourself, to borrow one if you don't own one.

I found the idea on Pinterest and have seen many blog posts sharing how easy they are to make, so I thought we'd give it a try.

The concept is simple but working with a 7 year old boy with a heavy hand became a challenge and frustrated us both. The first step, taking the clothespins apart ended in having broken pieces of wood and a slightly impatient child. To soothe us both he asked me if I would do the "hard part" and let him do the final touches. I agreed.

To spare his embarrassment, I didn't take any photos of the broken pieces but assured him he would be able to try doing these again next year if he wants to. I think his fingers got pinched in the springs and caused him to pull a little too hard. I watched him struggle with a few before I asked him if he wanted help. He sighed and said: "oh yes, please!"

You can see in the photos below what I've done so far.

take the clothespins apart, flip them and glue together

glue first 4 in a cross pattern

continue to glue until you have the shape of a flake
(NOTE: we wanted these to hang so I added clear nylon filament wire before gluing the last 2 pieces together)

glue is dry and this one look awesome

Although I love these, just as they are, we'll paint these white and sprinkle silver glitter on them.

I'll share a finished one soon!


Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy