Decorate for Any Holiday Using Empty Thread Spools

If youve got wooden spools - or even Styrofoam ones - you can make all sorts of decorations for Christmas, Easter, Halloween and other occasions. In fact, you do one basic thing with the spools then use that to make the decorations themselves. Sound a little confusing? Its not. If you can slide spools on to string youve got the holiday decorations all under control! The spools you use can be painted or not. Use large ones or small ones. Combine small and large ones to create a totally different look. The spools can be Styrofoam or wooden spools. If theyre Styrofoam check the label to see that the paint you select is compatible with Styrofoam.

Use holiday-theme fabric or felt colors to give the spools a festive look. Youll easily find cloth that is suitable for making holiday d?cor at any fabric store. Cut pieces of it, or of colorful felt, then wrap the pieces around the spools. Instead of fabric or felt you can also use decorative paper. Simply glue a piece of the chosen material around the spool. Other things you can use instead of painting or covering the spools include rubber stamping methods and even metallic tape.

After youve decorated the spools as you want begin sliding them onto a piece of twine. Make sure the twine is longer than you want the finished spool rope to be. Slide on as many spools as you want then finish the ends by tucking them inside the hole of the spools. So, start with a length of twine, scoot the first spool nearly all the way down to the end of the twine, leaving a few inches hanging off. Continue the spool pattern you want, then when you get close to the end, stop. Take the ends, add a little glue to them, then push them into their respective holes in the spool. Between the holes you can tie small pieces of fabric to give the spool rope a little more holiday theme. Cut rectangles of fabric with pinking shears and tie one between each set of spools. That way, you use fewer spools and create a more colorful rope. Make small ropes to use as curtain tie-backs. Make long ropes to decorate a banister at Christmas. Use a small rope, made of small spools, to make a country-look lampshade. Instead of wrapping the spools with cloth you can even make each one into a character by using paint, wiggly eyes and other cheap craft supplies. There are few limitations when it comes to decorating with the spools. They can be used on mantles, cornices, around party tables and many other places.