Blog a la Cart

Oh my gracious, goshess! (Sunny’s mixed up hybrid of “oh my goodness gracious” and “oh my gosh” which I will never correct because it is the most adorable thing ever – who cares if my kid speaks in mixed metaphors. It’s like my Swedish friend Maja’s phrases “I am cracking down!” and “It is out of this control!” – another two phrases I shall never correct and quote frequently.)

Fin Tangent.

With all that being said – POPCORN ON A TREE!

As promised, I made a popcorn garland for our tree at Sunny’s urgings. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to blow her mind, again, by the presence of popped corn on a conifer.

We glitzed it up a little thanks to a can of silver spray paint and some sparkly colored sequins. Here’s the blow by blow.

Materials: 
Popcorn kernels
Brown paper sandwich bag
Fishing line or thread
Needle
Embellishments (sequins, beads, cranberries, etc.)
Spray paint in desired color

Directions:
1. Pour 1/4 c. of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag, fold down the top two or three times, throw in the microwave and pop for 2-3 minutes. Listen for when the kernels pop more then 3-4 seconds apart. Then the bag is done.

2. Dump popcorn into bowl and allow to cool. If desired, spray with spray paint once cooled. I sprayed outside on an old brown paper grocery bag.

3. Using a needle threaded on some clear fishing line, pierce the popcorn and thread onto the line. I interspersed sequins between each piece of popcorn.

4. Keep threading until the strand reaches your desired length.

To entertain Sunny during the project, I set her up with some yarn, a plastic tapestry needle, and some pony beads and let her strand the beads onto the yarn so that she could mimic what I was doing but in a much more child-friendly way.

5. Drap the garland on your tree or from your mantle and enjoy!