“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The wrapped twinkle lights

Who doesn't love twinkle lights? As a teenager I have to admit I had them everywhere in my room, and I also became obsessed with the movie You've Got Mail, more specifically the scene where Meg Ryan  gives an ode to twinkle lights, which then becomes sad because she goes on to remember her dead mother but anyways. Twinkle lights = perfection.

The only problem I have with these beautiful, inexpensive, bringers of cheer is the ugly green cording. While I know it helps with the whole Christmas tree aspect, being able to blend in and all, it kind of is tacky. So of course    I decided to brain storm ideas to fix the problem, spray paint? acrylic paint? and then it hit me. Ladies and Gentlemen I am in fact a moron to not have thought of this sooner. WRAPPED and no I don't mean in a tortilla, although that certainly works for Chipotle (yummy) but in ribbon! It's so easy and I have tons of left over ribbon, and what else can add to this equation to make it perfect...? uh hello.... the herpes of all crafts... yes I'm talking about GLITTER (apologies for the gross reference)!

So first things first: make sure you have some lights that actually work. ( I actually completed this first strand and then when I plugged it in half of them didn't work so I had to unwrap allllll of it and that is horrible) I would also go ahead and set out the ribbon and pick out your glitter.




The next thing I did was put glitter on the lights, the part that holds the tiny bulbs in. Now I tried using just regular old tacky glue first and I found that it made a huge mess SO  I used this super bright pink nail polish I had and never use haha. It worked great! None of the glitter has rubbed off, so thats a plus but if you don't have any nail polish you want to use I would just use glue. I also used some of the Martha Stewart Glitter, sold at all Michael's stores. Its the best glitter, I'm obsessed. If anyone wants to know specifics just let me know :)

So once the glitter was dried I just wrapped all of the green cord in ribbon, and I actually ran out so I had some scrap fabric that I used also.



This whole project kind of took a while, the wrapping gets tedious BUT I was hooked and watching Gilmore girls so I really didn't even notice after the time went by. So Voila! The finished project! Turned on and off, I hope you enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. Awww! What a cute project! I love twinkle lights too. Even just saying "twinkle lights" makes me happy. And you're right- that green cord is only good when you're wrapping a Christmas tree with them!

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