Hello creative friends! Yes, I realize this is a blog about art journaling, but because (as you probably already know if you know me at all!) I’m a creative explorer! So today I want to share with you this fun and easy weekend craft idea…
The first thing you should know about this cute rainbow wall art is that I learned it from Faith Hale in this Creativebug class.
The second, and equally important thing you should know: I did a lot of the things “wrong” in the class, and I am sure my rainbow would be… 
well, less “perfectly imperfect” and more just “perfect” if I had actually followed the instructions! Ha! (I’ll explain more as we go.)
But just goes to show that you don’t have to have everything “just right” in order to make something with your own hands that you adore, and are proud of!
I first watched this class almost 2 years ago (when it first aired) and have wanted to try making my own wrapped rope rainbow (try saying that three times fast!) ever since. I finally put a couple of the “main ingredients” on my Christmas wishlist, only, they weren’t quite right.
As you can see from the class photo above, my rainbow turned out… well, not “wrong”, but definitely different!
There are a few reasons for that! One obvious thing to point out: I didn’t use traditional rainbow colors. But you certainly can if you want to!
But also, the rope Faith uses is 1/2 inch cotton rope. My (very soft!) cotton rope is around 5/16 inch: so much smaller. While I’m happy with how mine turned out, I think the smaller rope would be better for smaller projects, like a rainbow brooch or necklace. Or even just a smaller wall hanging!
Then there was the wire. Faith uses and suggests 20 gauge crafting wire. Though, based on what hers looks like, I’m guessing even a thicker wire like: possibly 12 gauge, or even 10 would work (if that’s what you have on hand)! But I had these (SUPER flimsy!) 26 gauge floral wires on hand, so I used them, taping 3 together for each rope, hoping to make them at least a bit more sturdy!
It worked… at least a little bit. Luckily, when I sewed them together it also helped shape and sturdy my rainbow.
But that’s another thing! Faith suggested using a curved needle. I didn’t have one on hand (and I didn’t even want to wait the 2 days for Amazon to ship me one!) so I used a straight needle.
Now, I’m not sure if it was just my lack of sewing skills (though, I’ve been sewing here and there since I was about 9, so I’m somewhere between amataur and maybe intermediate?), or my straight needle, but the back of my rainbow is pretty ugly! (Especially compared to Faith’s!) But it’s going to hang on a wall, so I tried not to get too upset about that.
In fact, I’ll even show you here, just in case yours turns out, well, less than perfect, too! 😉
Also, Faith uses and recommends yarn for the colorful wrapping. I used yard for the top/pink layer, but all of the other layers are covered with vintage embroidery thread. I bought a ton of it from an estate sale years ago, and I hardly ever embroider anything, so it seemed perfect for this project! (Can you tell I’m a “use what you have” kind of creative?!)
Anyway, the embroidery thread worked fine, though it took a lot longer than the yarn did and it was a little more difficult covering the taped ends of my wires. Again, it’s something I would use again, but probably only on a smaller project.
Finally, Faith teaches us to use a cat brush (and there are quite a few hilarious moments around that during the class!) to comb out the strands of rope at the end.
In that case, I’m still waiting for Amazon to deliver my cat brush 😸, so right now my rope strands look like when your mom braided your hair after the bath at night, and you took the braids out the next morning. 
But again, I’m not mad about it! In fact, I think it looks cute! Which is why I’m publishing this post before I get my cat brush. 😉 But I’ll probably post the “after” the cat brushing photo on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there.
This was a super fun and easy weekend project, for sure. It was originally a Creativebug live class (which they used to host weekly… now it’s more “occasionally”.) That means it’s shorter than a lot of their other classes. In this case, it’s about 30 minutes.
Creativebug has thousands of online classes – from paper crafts, sewing, knitting, art, food, home, kids and more! – some of which are occasionally free, but the monthly membership is very affordable for just about anyone. And yes, I am an affiliate for Creativebug, but I’m also a (fairly) long-time, very happy member — since 2018.
P.S. I apologize for my “overuse” of quotes in this post. 🤣 I’m not sure what got into me?!
