Picture/card holder

Do you ever have a great idea that you so excited about doing. It looks so cute in your head, it even looks great on paper but when you sit down to do it, it doesn't work out and just doesn't look like you thought it would. Well that happened to me with this project. I was so excited about doing it, I even thought I would make one for someone else. When I sat down to do it, things just weren't working out and I had to rethink the whole thing. Luckily, it turned out pretty good and it all wasn't a complete waste of time.

First I started with this pail that I got from the dollar store. I didn't really care for it, so I spray painted it brown.

Next I covered the pail with cute paper. This was my first problem I encountered. Who knew that putting paper on a pail wouldn't be super easy. The curvature of the pail made it difficult. So I had to lay the paper on flat, trace the bottom of the paper where it hit the bottom of the pail and cut it. Luckily the ribbon covers up a lot because the lines weren't super straight.

Next I wanted to make some "grass" or really a filler for the pail, so I cut several little strips out of paper. The width varied for each strip, it was pretty random.

Next I put them all through the crimper to give a little more texture.

Next came the metal loops. I was thinking was would be able to get some thick wire to bend into a cute spiral shape, but that didn't work. I was super excited when I found these poles at Home Depot, it is a sign holder (for garage sale signs). One problem though, I need to bend them into spirals. I soon learned that it is not easy to bend steel, it's a pretty tough material. Luckily I have an awesome husband that is strong enough to bend them and cut them to sizes that I needed.

I filled the pail with floral Styrofoam (to hold the metal rods) and rocks for adding decoration. I then placed the grass in various spots and at various lengths to add color.

Finally, I place bent rods into the Styrofoam.

Just like that, you have a very cute photo or card holder. I plan on having it as a card holder during the holiday season and a picture holder the rest of the year.

Eventhough I had a couple of problems, I love the outcome. When I was actually making it, it really didn't take very long, what took long was figuring out how to do it. Now that I finally have it all figured out, maybe I will make one for someone else :)