Jason Kisner
Once you see how easy they are, you'll want to make them for any occasion. The best part is shopping/foraging in his garden, so it's a great budget project too..
Go through your public yard or park and look for sticks about 1/4 inch in diameter that are smooth. The more peg-like, the better. I really liked the knots, the moss and the lichen, but it's hard to work with all those lumps.
Mark 4.5-inch sections on the cutting sticks.
Cut sticks with pruning strawberries outdoors.
The dogwood was pretty tough. If you have trouble making a straight cut down, make two cuts on opposite sides and move the lever back and forth against the blade until it breaks in the middle.
Tape the areas you want to paint on the stick with painter's tape.
Paint a couple of thin coats of acrylic craft paint with a foam brush, allowing each coat to dry in between.
I was going to use metallic paint for the gold rings, but Hannah, one of the DIY Network graphic designers, found that it's much easier to use a gold Sharpie. Just make small strokes until you make a full circle around the stick.
Take your copper wire and cut 10-inch pieces for each card holder. Thanks to Hannah again for teaching me how to cut wire with needle nose pliers. So that's what it's in the middle for... 20 gauge should do the trick. We tried a smaller size and it wasn't strong enough.
Take two sticks and join them together with a piece of copper wire. To get a tight wrap on the sticks, take your piece of wire and place the stick in the center. Wrap the left end of the cable to the right and the right end of the cable to the left. You are crossing the ends to create a tight wrap. Continue wrapping the ends until they are finished. Use needle-nose pliers to press down on any protruding wires.
Place your colored paper cards in the middle and adjust the sticks so they stand up on their own. These look so cute on top of Kelly's patterned napkins!
