UpCycled CD Spinners

I’ve been a pretty dark place recently. Dealing with post-partum depression/anxiety and the end of my marriage has left me drained and with a creative block. I was cleaning out my over stuffed craft room when my three year old found a bag of beads I had stored away for ‘someday’. She loves making things and aside from painting & ‘key-dough’ we haven’t done much recently. I’ve called them CD spinners because they’re made of CDs and they spin but Mary likes to call them ‘tree jewelry’. Whatever you call them, it’s a quick from project to do with the kids. They won’t even notice they’re working on their fine motor skills!

Tree Spinner Supplies:

• 2 CDs – I felt bad about using brand new blank CDs but I don’t even own a computer with a disk drive anymore so they were just gathering dust
• Fishing Line – I used left overs from my Spooky Halloween Ghosts so it was pretty thick and sturdy
• Beads – I think these were a necklace or two at one point. I’ve had them for years, even before I bought the house
• Scissors
• Optional – Tape – If you’re doing this with kids do yourself a favor and find some tape!

Instructions:

1. Cut a long piece of fishing line
2. Hold two CDs together with the shiny side out
3. Stick the fishing line through the hole and bring the ends together, tape them if needed
4. String on beads until you run out, your helpers take off to pet a duck or you get within 5 inches of the end
5. Separate the two strings and run one through a final bead. Put the other string through the opposite way
6. Tie lots of knots
7. Hang them up where the wind can catch them

I used large S hooks that I bought to hang bird feeders (that were almost immediately destroyed by  the wind) to hang them in the tree outside the girls window. Mary likes to point out her tree jewelry when we’re reading in her bed. They spin in the breeze and I’m sure the neighbors are confused. I probably confuse them a lot but they’re very nice and don’t ask a lot of questions. I think I might take ours down and doodle some designs on the CDs to make them a little more interesting but that’s going to have to wait for the garden to give me a break. We’ve had so much rain and heat that the weeds are going crazy! I’m, as always, way behind but things are moving in the right direction.

If you make your own CD tree spinners I’d love to see pictures! I occasionally get messages from people (usually making my ladybug vs bumble bee tic-tac-toe game) and it always makes my week. You can find me on facebook or tag me on instagram with the hashtag #chickenscratchny

 

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