d.i.why not? fabulous starburst urchin sculptures

well, this week has been full of excitement... today is the 3rd day of my guest blogging week at curbly.  for those of you that read my blog regularly you know that i don't normally write a post a day... i am generally a twice a week kinda gal....  well, this is because of the simple fact that i try to write when i think i have something interesting to share... because i know you all are busy and i appreciate you taking the time to read what i'm writing and i try to make it worth your while...

so,  i'm not gonna lie, i was really nervous when chris at curbly approached me with the guest blogging idea and asked that i do it for a whole week. YIKES! was my first thought. "what the heck am i gonna write about EVERY DAY that will be interesting?" was my second thought... anyhow, i got a lot of great feedback on monday's clothespin starburst diy and yesterday i wrote about my love of white walls and what you can do with them.... and now, here we are at today... my very latest d.i.why not?  starburst urchin sculptures! i am obsessed! and they cost me less than 5 bucks to make the pair! perfect for my intern budget!  they look pretty awesome in front of my groovy hand painted david hicks inspired bedroom wall!

and just one alone looks great! or you can group them with monday's clothespin starburst for a great display!

i love the 99 cent only store and bought most of my supplies there for this project! I found the most amazingly shaped crystal picks (they have a very cool graduated triangular shape at the ends that adds so much more dimension than your usual bamboo skewer!). And you can't beat the fab price of ninety-nine cents for a pack of one hundred.

and i love that they can be used year round... and the holiday possibilities are endless.... christmas tree topper, ornaments, table centerpieces, fireplace mantle displays... love it!

Here's what you need to create the same look:

• play dough (or the generic "colored dough" from the 99 cent store like i used)
• acrylic crystal picks (the ones that I used were Diamond brand)
•  styrofoam ball (mine is 3" diameter)

 Directions for the shorter half starburst/ urchin (cost - $2):

1. Roll a can's worth of play dough into a ball and flatten the bottom
2. Push the crystal picks (I used 100) into it to create the urchin look (I actually think it looks pretty awesome with the clear acrylic picks as is... and I don't know about you but I LOVE things that look like lucite...)     
3. Spray paint it (I used the left over gold metallic Rust-O-Leum spray paint from Monday's project and this kept my cost super low!)

 

Directions for the full standing starburst / urchin (cost $2.50):

1. I pushed the crystal picks into the styrofoam ball, covering it (be sure to press them in as far as you can so that they are strong enough to hold the weight of the piece while standing (I used about 200 picks but you could use more if you wanted).
2. Spray paint it the color of your choice (again, I think this looks pretty cool in it's clear state but for this project I covered it using the same can of metallic gold paint)

 

before i sign off i want to send a big thank you to lindsey at better after for posting my ac cover diy on her site this week! she has been so kind these last several months to share my various projects with her readers and i appreciate all of the great comments they leave! oh, and i heard a lot of folks found my blog from a post linking to my clothespin starburst diy on a place called gardenweb. how cool is that? i don't have a garden, or even a small patch of land to garden on but i do dream of it someday... and i really love that gardening guys and gals like my stuff so much to mention it in their chats!

so, for those of you just tuning in and wanting to know more about me you can by going here... and if you didn't already know... i created a facebook page... check it out and "like" it! and follow me on twitter!

until next time...

the (formerly almost) 40 year old intern