Series 2: Part 1 - AND THEN THERE WERE TREE

I'm starting a new series! Yippee! I ranted a teensy tiny itty bit the other day about my 10 part series (The Feast of the Flower which is still going on btw... and, yes I'll finish it...). But I can't help myself. I have a 3-part series that's taking up valuable space in my tiny brain and I have to purge it to make room for thinking.

This series is called "And Then There Were Tree". Because it's about making trees. I like plants, K? AnyWAY, I was inspired by Arlette over at the wondrous crafty blog Polka Dot Pineapple. She makes these really cool recycled denim coasters using the remnants of jeans. And so I ran with the denim disc idea and came up with three simple little crafts of my own.

Series 2: Part 1

Today I begin with a tree mirror. Place the mirror in your child's room or gift it to them as a back-to-school locker decoration!

You will need:

• the long jean seams that SEEM useless but aren't (I used the seams from 2 pairs of jeans for all 3 crafts in this series.)
• those little decorative metal buttony things on jeans
• a small round mirror (I thrifted mine for pennies.)
• box board (I used a cereal box.)
• craft paper (A gift from my artist friend Bubby.)
• pencil
• craft glue and a glue gun
• scissors
• pins

1. Making Denim Discs:

Take a jean seam.

Apply a dab of craft glue on the end of your seam.

Start coiling the seam around itself.

After some coiling add another dab of glue.

Continue this glueing and coiling process until you have a disc. Pin the end in place. Let dry.

Make a bunch of these discs of all different sizes.

2. Mirror Design:

• Take your mirror and play with the arrangement of denim discs around the mirror.
• Once you have your design, draw out the shape onto the box board and the craft paper.
• Cut out both the box board and the craft paper shapes. Don't forget to cut out the hole for the mirror.

• Make a hanger by sewing a loop of denim onto the top of your box board shape.

• Now glue the back of the mirror to the box board shape.

• Using a glue gun, glue the craft paper shape to the front of the mirror, and THEN using craft glue attach your denim discs to the craft paper.

• For a final fun touch, glue on those little decorative metal buttony things from your jeans.

And your arboreal mirror is DONE!

Have yourself a great day!

P.S. Today I'm linking!

Handmade Monday @ Olga's Home and Garden Blog