jewelry twig

   This is such a fun idea that is in almost every store right now!  At bed bath & beyond you can get a really nice "jewelry tree" for around $35 but this project cost me $6!  I took my dog, Henry on a walk the other day and literally picked up a twig on my way home :)  It was a little wild but after I trimmed it up, here is what it looked like.  This is the best part, because it's free!  Now, I will say that the tree I picked my twig from had unusual bark (and I'm not tree expert so hang in there with me).  The bark was very smooth and was easily bent, not crispy and hard like you would expect.  I would recommend getting a harder twig because my twig may not last very long :(

   After you find the perfect branch, you have to let it dry for a few days. And feel free to trim your twig down to be as big or as little as you would like.  When my twig was as dry as it was going to get, I coated the entire thing in 'Kilz' which is a sealant (found at walmart) that you can use on wood!  'Kilz original' shows up white on wood so it was perfect for my project.  The Kilz dries pretty quickly, so just make sure that your entire branch is covered.

  

   The last step is to find a base and drill a hole to hold the twig upright.  I got lucky in the fact that my mom has a random wood stash in her garage so I found the perfect base for my project.  If you don't have a mom who stores wood in her garage you can go to home depot and get the perfect piece of wood.  I used Krazee glue to secure the twig to the base and then coated the base in the same Kilz that I sprayed the twig with.

   Once everything is dry, you have a new jewelry twig that is completely original!

All in an afternoon's work :)

E