This Christmas I feel like rainbows. To celebrate with some color joy, I decided to make a bright, cheery garland to deck our halls. These little dip-dyed bulbs are guaranteed to make you smile, and are a great activity for kids, too!
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Once you have your materials, this is a quick and easy project. I used wooden lightbulbs (I ordered mine HERE), screw eyes
, and liquid watercolors
.
First, I drilled a tiny pilot hole in the end of each bulb and then twisted in the hooks. Next I dipped each bulb into a small cup of undiluted liquid watercolors for just a few seconds, making sure not to submerge the whole bulb. I wanted some of the wood to show. The twins (almost 3 years) helped me dip a few before tiring of the process and running off to play, but slightly older kids would love this.
After dipping, I stuck the hook ends down into a block of floral foam that I had leftover from a baby shower decoration- you never know when these things will come in handy!
After the bulbs were dry, I tied them onto some hemp twine and had a fun, funky garland to hang wherever my heart desired.
It looks darling on our tree in garland form.
Or you could make individual ornaments out of them. They would be super cute tied onto presents like we did with our rainbow marbled salt dough hearts.
If you know any little girls (or little boys) who might like to wear a little Christmas cheer this year, make a pendant necklace!
I adore the idea of dying wood just as much as I adore rainbows…well, almost 😉 Here are a few more dip dye ideas for your viewing pleasure:
DIY Dyed Rainbow Blocks from Fun at Home with Kids
Dip Dyed Craft Stick Wreath from Babble Dabble Do
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Love this! Watercolors + wood= beauty!
Thanks, Ana! I thought you would approve 😉
Love this! Where do you get undiluted liquid watercolors?
Hi Anne! I order mine online- there are lots of different brands out there. If you click on the text in the article it goes to an example link on Amazon and you can check out all the different brands. A little goes a long way- we have been using the same set since this summer and have plenty left. And in addition to painting you can use them to color/dye just about anything- it’s a great substitute for food coloring in any non-edible craft or art project.
Beautiful!!! Love the simplicity of the wood combined with the cheerfulness of the colours!
That is such a cute idea. The garland and necklace are both beautiful. I pinned it to my Tis the Season board.
I love the wood in this piece, what a great idea. And so cute for a kids’ necklace. I am so inspired!
oh, so pretty! I’ve always been a ‘rainbows’ kind of girl. No colour theme to Christmas here!
Whoa I love these! I ESPECIALLY love the necklace! I bet my girl scouts would LOVE to make their own! Great job!!!
I’d love it if you linked up with our party this week! http://www.sowderingabout.com/2013/12/awesome-things-tuesday.html
Hi Stephanie,
What a cute project! I love it so much that I decided to feature it in our roundup of DIY Christmas ornaments! Check it out here: http://www.favecraftsblog.com/easy-christmas-ornament-crafts/
Have a great day!
Hi, Stephanie! I’m working on a freelance holiday project for Better Homes and Gardens and we would love to include your project, but I keep getting an error when emailing you. If you are interested, can you please shoot me an email? Thanks!