super holiday card hangy thingy

Posted on December 19, 2004 by mariko

Peter is actually a pretty crafty guy, but with all the 10th grade English papers he has to grade, he doesn’t have much time to channel his crafty side. Well, it’s winter break now, so let the crafting begin! He came up with a plan for displaying the holiday cards (apparently letting them sit in a pile didn’t work for him). He decided to use this as a model:
hanger model 1.JPG
He went out to the hardware store and came home with a bunch of supplies (the whole thing cost under $10 to make):
hanger supplies 2.JPG hanger wire 2b.JPG
Most of the supplies he found in the electrical section. He got alligator clips, two types of wire (some thin wire, I think he called it bell wire for telephones?, and some heavier stuff. He suggests 16 gauge solid coated wire), and some suction cups (he got some with hooks on them).
To make the line from which you will hang the cards, first remove the hooks from 2 suction cups then take the thin wire and wrap it around the centers (the part the hook was attached to). I guess you can leave the hook on and wrap the wire around that if you want. Peter used red, white, and green wire, and it was probably 4.5 to 5′ in length (you can always cut it if it’s too long. Peter left long tails so they would hang decoratively off the ends).
So next you need to make the individual hangers. We used many different lengths of wire to create a staggered effect. Take one end of the cut wire and place it between the little metal tabs on the alligator clip. Take some needlenose pliars (Peter pilfered my beading pliars) and crimp the tabs tightly around the wire to secure it:
hanger clip 3.JPG hanger clip done 4.JPG
So then you take the pliars and bend the wire on the other end to create a little hook:
hanger bending 5.JPG
Repeat with the other pieces of wire. You can get creative and make the wires loopy or squiggly or whatever. Hang the wires from the long piece and clip on your cards and voila!
hanger complete 6.JPG

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13 Responses to super holiday card hangy thingy

  1. jackie says:
    December 19, 2004 at 18:53

    Wow, VERY smart and really cool looking!

  2. monica says:
    December 19, 2004 at 19:26

    What a great way to display cards!

  3. amy says:
    December 19, 2004 at 19:34

    Cripes, you are BOTH crafty as heck! Time for a tv show perhaps?! 🙂

  4. kathi says:
    December 19, 2004 at 21:56

    wow…that is great…and i love those surprise blobs. you are inspiring!

  6. Pamelalala says:
    December 20, 2004 at 06:25

    Yeah for crafty husbands!!!

  7. Kay says:
    December 20, 2004 at 06:29

    Rilly, it’s time for a t.v. show, you two. Pimp My Christmas Cards? xox Kay

  8. Becky says:
    December 20, 2004 at 10:06

    That is SPIFFY!

  10. stef says:
    December 20, 2004 at 13:48

    that’s BRILLIANT!

  11. MJ says:
    December 20, 2004 at 15:02

    He’s crafty, he’s crafty, yeah! Pete’s project is great! Cheap, too! I showed BF and he approves. Now it’s just a matter of convincing him to do the same…

  12. gaile says:
    December 20, 2004 at 16:28

    Wow! that is so cute and bonus points to Peter for being crafty and creative! Lucky you!!

  13. rachel says:
    December 20, 2004 at 17:18

    I’ll have to show my engineer husband this craftiness. He’ll feel compelled to run right out to radioshack that very instant…just give him a reason!

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