I needed a flower loom for a crochet project I’m doing, but didn’t have one. I went to three different craft stores and no success of finding one. I could order one off the internet, but that’s more money and time than if I just made one myself. So I headed back to the craft store in search of supplies.

All you’ll need is a 3/16″ wooden dowel, a package of wooden rounds, scissors/small saw, and some glue. I used hot glue for this tutorial, but you may want to use a wood glue or fast-drying epoxy, since the hot glue won’t hold up to a lot of tugging and pulling. And if you can’t find round wooden shapes, you can always use square ones, and make a circle using a compass. You’ll cut (or saw, whichever is easier) your dowell into 1 to 2-inch pieces. For a larger loom, you’ll want 10-12 pieces. First, glue four pieces to the opposite sides. You can mark the center of the circle with a pen so you place the pieces evenly.

Then you’ll position the remainder of the pieces in place.

You can do the same with smaller rounds, making different shape looms. For the large loom I used 12 pegs, for the medium, 8, and for the small, 6.

Now you can embellish anything, using yarn, ribbon, or even twine.

In an effort to spruce up my kitchen some, I decided to make some wall hangings. I didn’t want them to be basic and painted flat colors and look one-dimensional. So I headed to Lowe’s to check out the painting finishes they have. I found one that was just what I was looking for: crackling.

I picked up these unfinished plaques at Wal-mart for a dollar each, and used some paint that I already had. I wanted the finish product to be light, with some dark underneath, so I painted the base a coffee bean brown.

Once that dried, I applied the crackling glaze with a sponge brush, letting that dry completely before I added the top coat of off white.

As you can see, when it dries, the glaze doesn’t let the paint adhere to the entire surface, creating cracks in the paint and giving it that great antique-y finish.

Next I decided on my shape (which would happen to be a bird, go figure - hey, atleast it’s not felt!), drew it, cut it out and then traced it on the wood with a pencil.

I then painted my bird and the branches, let dry and there you go - easy and inexpensive wall hangings with that old-world feeling to it.

The supplies cost about $10 (the crackling glaze ate up $8, but it spreads thin so a little goes a long way and you’ll be using this stuff for awhile) and all together took about 30 minutes, not including drying time.