One of the main decor items I use when it comes to decorating our mantle are 3 wide mouth glass jars/jugs that I picked up at Wal Mart awhile ago. They are 3 different sizes & super versatile. I’m able to use them year round just by filling them with items that go with the different seasons. Over the summer they’re usually full of sea glass & summery things. For fall and Halloween they’re full of mini pumpkins, gourds & black and orange glass balls. Christmas brought strands of lights that made everything twinkle, gold steel brush trees & other little treasures. So of course I tried to find a way to incorporate them into our Valentines theme. Why not, right?
I found some paper straws we used last Easter in the cabinet, grabbed some cardstock from the collection and brought out my bff. The glue gun. Cut your cardstock roughly 2″ long, fold in half to create an edge and then open back up . Lay a strip of glue down on the non folded edge and place your straw. Cut down the sides of the straw that will be hidden in the cardstock. You want to do this so that you can flatten the straw down, it makes for easier glueing and cutting later on. Put some glue on the flattened straw and fold the paper over. Repeat the same steps on the other end of the straw using a longer strip of cardstock. I cut mine 5″ so that my feathered part would be about 2.5″. Take your scissors and cut an arrow-head on the short end and a feather shape on the longer end. Use your glue gun to glue all the edges together. Take your scissors again and on the feather side of the straw cut a fringe on both edges, and give them a ruffle.
It’s really that easy! I used some baker’s twine to wrap around the straw on a couple and tied a knot at the base of the feathered portion. I also spray painted a couple of the straws gold to make then different and then ended up spray painting the arrowhead and feathered part of the yellow and pink striped ones gold. I’m really loving gold spray paint lately, you may or may not have already noticed this. #sorrynotsorry
They sit at a good height in the smallest of the 3 jars and tie in nicely with decor we already have on display. Now to fill the other two!