Paint Stick Placemats: 3 Cheap Materials, 3 Easy Steps

• Janelle
• - Apr 17, 2017
• 2247 Views
• 6

Welcome Inventors! The weather is warming up and we’re ready for fun times outside. After playing with paint sticks in my last post, I had an idea to make art out of them. But as I made the art, I thought: these could be cool placemats. And now they are both.

This is not inherently a kid’s project, but kids could easily help make the placemats. If your kids are too young to use a hot glue gun, they could decorate/paint/handprint them after they’re done. Or you can invent something new to share! ????

All you need for this project are 15 paint sticks, hot glue, and wood stain. It’s literally a 3-material project for pennies if you have leftover stain and hot (or regular) glue. I used a lot of hot glue.

Step 1: Line up 13 paint sticks. Alternate the indented sides to create a kind of rustic pattern. If your paint sticks are printed on one side, make sure that side is facing the back.

Step 2: Hot glue the 2 remaining sticks cross-wise to the back of the lined sticks. I put a strip of glue down across the lined sticks first, placed one cross-stick down, did the same to the other side with the second cross-stick, and then reinforced them with more hot glue along the top and sides.

Step 3: Stain or paint the top of your placemat. Boom! You’re done!

I hope you like this project and it spruces up your spring table. Just in case you are wondering, I did stage our deck table with two desserts (above) and then ate them both for breakfast. See, this blog helps everyone!

Also, if you’re curious about the art I was going to make before I got sidetracked with the placemats, check out my last picture. I’ll write more about that next time. Until then, enjoy your day and go invent your story!