Latest news, food, business, travel, sport, Tips and Tricks...

Crafts: Dangly Doorway Decor

Crafts: Dangly Doorway Decor

Total Time Needed: 2-3 Hours

For a kid, there's something inherently fun about adorning the entrance to her room with a dangly curtain she can part and step through. But before you head out to purchase the classic beaded version, consider the creative possibilities. With a little help, your child can string a variety of interesting items -- such as medallions cut from colorfully printed scrapbook paper, craft foam flowers, and pom-poms -- into decorative doorway strands of her own. Here are five fashionable designs for inspiration.

Materials

  • Tension rod

DANGLING DISKS:

  • String or yarn
  • Craft punch
  • Scrapbooking card stock
  • Embroidery needle
  • Small metal washer

NIFTY POOL NOODLES

  • Foam noodles
  • Serrated bread knife
  • Embroidery needle
  • String

PRETTY PETALS

  • Craft foam flower shapes
  • Embroidery needle
  • Colored straws
  • String or thin ribbon

Instructions

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 1

Design 1: Dangling Disks For this decorative curtain, you'll need about 20 strands of string or yarn to fill a standard 30-inch-wide door opening. The length of the strands should measure 1 1/2 times the height of the opening. For example, an 80-inch-high opening calls for strands 120 inches long.

Use a craft punch to cut your disks from scrapbooking card stock (our design uses sheets with a circular pattern and has 14 disks per strand). Use an embroidery needle to thread on the disks, spacing them about 7 inches apart and tying a knot below each one to hold it in place. Leave some extra space at the top for tying the string around the tension rod. Attach a small metal washer to the bottom of the strand -- the weight will help keep it taut and make it less likely to tangle.

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 2

Design 2: Nifty Pool Noodles Simply cut 3 or 4 foam noodles into 5/8-inch-thick slices with a serrated bread knife (adults only). Then thread them together with an embroidery needle and string (about 30 or so slices per 80-inch strand).

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 3

Design 3: Pretty Petals With an embroidery needle, alternately thread craft foam flower shapes (sold at craft stores) and 2 1/2-inch lengths of colored straws onto string or thin ribbon.

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 4

Design 4: Plush Pom-poms Use craft or fabric glue to adorn a ribbon strand with colorful pom-poms.

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 5

Design 5: Medallion Medley Glue a row of 2-inch-wide scrapbooking card stock circles to one side of a ribbon strand so that they are spaced 2 inches apart. Then fill in the spaces with a second row of circles glued to the opposite side of the ribbon.

Dangly Doorway Decor - Step 6

Tips: Attaching the strings to a tension rod ensures that the curtain will safely pull down if anything becomes tangled in it.

A craft punch, sold in craft stores, makes it a cinch to cut circles up to 2 inches wide from paper or card stock.

//