Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain #4

Happy Tuesday!

I welcome you today to Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain#4, the finale! To see previous posts, check out Series 4 on the Series page.

As usual, today's craft, the cracker box bracelet, comes to you straight from the recycling bin, the best place to shop for craft supplies in my opinion. As its name suggests, it is made from a cracker box, plus I've given it a little "je-ne-sais-quoi" by topping it with painted egg carton bits which you may or may not recognize from here.

If you want to take a cracker at it, look no further!

Tutorial: Cracker Box Bracelet

I used the same method outlined here to create the bracelet chain. Only, instead of telephone book pages or junk mail, I made the links out of a painted cardboard cracker box. The links are also significantly smaller: 3/16" (4 mm) wide and 2-1/4" (5.6 cm) long.

Note: I must tell you that this bracelet was not easy to put together. If I were to make another one, I would think twice before using cardboard. Because each link is so small, its thickness and rigidity when folded makes it hard to work with. The bracelet material should remain flexible even when folded on itself. I suggest making your links out of junkmail or some such recyclable paper, folding each link the way Gary Dushl does with gum wrappers in his video tutorial.

That said, the cracker box did make a very solid and pretty bracelet. The niftiness of its construction becomes quite apparent with the use of the thicker cracker box cardboard too. It's just a bit challenging to link together and definitely requires patience.

Here's the finished band.

Now to make those egg carton doo-hickies:

1. Cut out the center square bits of your egg carton using an Exacto knife.

2. Trim the edges of the cut-out bits.

3. Smoosh the corners of the cut-out bits between your fingers.

4. Repeat 1-3 a few times. In the end, I used only three egg carton cut-out bits.

5. Give your cut-out bits a primer coat. I used gesso but white acrylic paint would do the trick nicely. Let dry.

6. Paint them with orange liquid acrylic paint - or whatever colour you wish - all over. Allow to dry. Apply a second coat of paint. Allow to dry.

7. (not shown) Paint the edges with a few coats of metallic acrylic paint. When dry, glue the egg-carton doo-hickies onto the bracelet. To make your bracelet super-strong and long-lasting, coat it a few times with varnish or Mod-Podge.

And there you have it, your very own, cracker box bracelet!

A dandy thing about this bracelet is that, to a degree, it is elastic! When I slip it over my hand, the links will lengthen. But I can then tighten it up around my wrist again by pushing the links close together once more. Isn't that sweet?... I say!

Now please, enjoy your day, and I'll see you again soon!

Linking to Get Your Craft On!

Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain #3

Hi there. I'm late. Sorry about that. The boy has had the flu all week... He's quite ill... So my attention has been elsewhere. But, I squeaked out a post, thank goodness. Shall we get to it? Let us go.

Welcome to the third installment of Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain! To see what fun I've been having with these nifty chains, visit my previous entries in the series: Installment 1 and Installment 2.

Today I'll be showing you a few different things:

• How to make a large quantity of chain links in very little time [which makes this a much more efficient project than when I first learned (two weeks ago now... so long ago...)]
• How I've used the chains as a frame in a couple of different projects.
• How to make the rosette I first made in Installment 1.

Making Lots o' Links

1. Using junk mail, or phone book pages, cut out narrow sheets. Mine are 3-3/4"(9.2 cm) wide (this measurement allows me to get 2 strips from 1 phone book page, but I make all my strips this width for consistency's sake).

2. Fold a strip in half lengthwise.

3. Unfold the strip, and fold the long edges in so that they meet the center fold. Refold in half lengthwise.

4. Fold all your strips in this way.

5. Mark a strip at increments of 3/8" (1 cm).

6. Clamp several folded strips together using a clip.

7. Make links by cutting through all the folded strips at the marks you made.

8. You'll get many many links in no time.

Now you have everything you need to make the chains. Here's the video tutorial that shows how to do that! It's surprising how long a chain you can make during an hour-long TV show... Have fun!

Making a Frame

For my first project, I cut a slightly larger than plate-sized circle from one of the months of an old astronomy calendar (could not throw it out... could not). I also cut a similar circle from a pizza box. Then I glued those two circles together.

9. To frame my picture, I took a chain.

10. After placing a plate in the middle of my calendar picture, I applied a bead of white PVA glue around the perimeter of the circle. I then placed my chain on the bead of glue using the plate as a guide to keep the chain along a nicely circular path.

11. I trimmed the chain and inserted the end links into each other and glued them in place.

12. I removed the plate, and voilà, a picture framed!

The "framed" astronomy calendar page will decorate the closet door of the boy's bedroom. I'll be making a few more of these to create a unique astral door decoration!

For my next project, I cut a circular ring out of a cracker box, and glued two chains to it.

Making a Rosette

I made a few little rosettes as shown in the following photo. And glued those on my ring...

... creating a sweet telephone page candy wrapper chain wreath!

I can imagine adding a few coats of paint to this wreath and framing a round mirror or a simple clock face with it, can't you? The possibilities never end, do they?

Well, now I'm off to tend the sick...

Have a healthy weekend and I will see you again soon!

I'll be linking here!

Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain #2

Happy Family Day! It's a teensy post today as I am spending this great little holiday with my family!

Welcome to Series 4 - Candy Wrapper Chain #2!

Yes, it is the 2nd installment in this series of simple crafts made with the lovely candy wrapper chains. In the 1st installment, I dressed up a gift with a few lengths of chain. Easy and effective too!

Today's craft is a decorative lamp shade sleeve that can be slipped on or off your lamp shade whenever you wish to freshen up the look of any lamp.

To make the sleeve, I simply created a removable cone made from a large sheet of newsprint trimmed to fit the shade exactly. I then decorated it with lengths of candy wrapper chain! Find out how to make candy wrapper chains by checking out this great little video tutorial right here. I enlisted my whole family - including my sisters and brother-in-law who were visiting - to help make the chains! Weren't they sweet to help? We made our chains out of the phone book, but they can be made from virtually any kind of paper.

And see? The sleeve slips off easily, so you can have fun creating a few different ones for a variety of looks and seasons!

Now you have yourself a fantastic day and I'll see you again soon!

Linking to Today's Creative Blog.

Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain #1

Welcome to a new crafty series, Series 4 - The Candy Wrapper Chain #1!

Let me begin by saying this:

I lead a sheltered existence.

See, until last Friday, I hadn't yet heard of the allegedly famous candy wrapper chain. It was only when my artist and blogger friend Cathie a.k.a. Clevelandgirlie was kind enough to enlighten me on the subject, that my whole world opened up to the enormity of these alluring little chains.

You, of course, already know about the chains. And obviously, you know about this guy, Gary Dushl. Of course. He's the guy who has single-handedly built the longest candy wrapper chain in existence. I would wager it's the longest handmade THING in existence made by a single human. More than likely, right? I mean, he started in 1965, and he's still going strong 46 years later, so... yes, probabl-ee. Isn't that something? Isn't that 12 and a half miles or roughly 20 km of something? Holy mackerel, I wasn't even alive when he started. Like, holy mackerel, eh?

And also, you already know how to make the candy wrapper chain. It's not like it's new or anything. Right? But just in case you - like me - are also 46 YEARS behind the times, here is a video tutorial that shows you how to make them.

So, I've spent a little time since Friday playing catch up. I know. Kinda late. Nevertheless, I'm happy to report that I've learned how to make the chains! Yessirree! Except I made mine out of the telephone book because I used up all of my candy wrappers making these.

And, I love them... They are so pretty and useful!

For example, my chains have already doubled as ribbon!

And I've made this eclectic flower bow by simply coiling the chain around itself many times...

It looks sort of like an artichoke, or something mildly vegetable-y, don't you think?

There are people out in the world making wondrous things like bracelets and bags and baskets, and probably intergalactic space vehicles as well, all out of candy wrapper chains. Just google candy wrapper chains, or gum wrapper chains. You'll see. It's pretty amazing stuff!

Thank you Cathie for catching me up with the times. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Anything? No flying cars, or household robots that make bread? If, so, I'd love to hear about them!

Oh, and, by the way, I'm not done. You haven't seen the last of the candy wrapper chains here, no no. No no. This is just the beginning, see. Series 4: to be continued here!

Now have yourself a fabulous day, and I'll see you again soon!