It's All How You Frame It

Hello and how’s your sanity? No matter what is going on in your life, if you’ve got stresses, troubles, frets, or restlessness: Craft Back!

If you’ve got some paper straws and some hands (or tool holding apparatus), I’ve got just the quick and satisfying Craft Sanity Project for you:

Paper Straw Hanging Frames

Make mini hanging frames for your instant photos, artwork, baseball cards, or anything flat that you want to see framed by jazzy paper tubes and hung up somewhere!

What You’ll Need

Supplies: Paper straws, bakers thread (or similar fun cording), craft needle, X-acto knife, cutting mat, scissors

You can vary the materials to what you have on hand. Don’t have a craft needle? Just use the biggest needle you can find or even shove the end of a paper clip to make the hole for the string. I haven’t tried this with a plastic straw because dolphins, ok!? Well, I do love ocean life but I think that has more to do with plastic being harder to cut and not nearly as cute.

This is about making something with your mitts. It’s really just a chop, a slice, a thread, a couple knots and you’re done! But if you’d like details, it’s all in the video above. Let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear what you think and see what you make.

What About Crafting Fails?

Are you asking me if I had one last week when trying out a new technique for the HHB Craft Sanity Project? How did you know?

Everyone has their own definition of craft failure. For some it is a single misplaced sequin, for others it is a severed thumb. In my case it was the general omfg-why-isnt-this-turning-out frustration. If you think about it, that is no different than doing other life things like putting air in your car tires with one of those machines at the gas station. You just keep trying. Until your fingers turn black or your tire goes flat. Maybe try a different thing or a different way. You probably didn’t need me to tell you that though.

Thanks so much for reading. I”ll be back soon with whatever I can salvage from the craft fail that I’ve now talked about too much - it’s veering into “oh I was an ugly duckling in school” territory.

In the meantime, don’t let the bastards deflate your tire.