$5 DIY Sunburst Mirror

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Oh heeeyyyyyy!  :)

Wanna see what I made the other night?  Cause I REALLY wanna show you!  This might be my proudest DIY moment....I mean, let's not get crazy here, surely I'll do cooler things at some point, for now this baby takes the cake!

I've had an appreciation for sunburst mirrors for quite some time now--I have a thing for mirrors in general--but I never found anything that I was all like, oh hell yeah, that's totally worth my $200!  BRING IT.  Not. So. Much.  For reals though, why are these suckers soooo pricey?  Cause they're hand-made?  So's mine.  It's B.Chenified.  And was about $5.  Let's talk about it....what I'm trying to say is, whatever they can do, I can do cheaper ;-)  Notice I didn't say better.....cheaper.  :)  Ok, and AWESOME.

Ingredient list
*PS, this is a HUGE mirror.  over 3.5 feet in diameter.  you can make it in any size you want, you'll just need to wing it a little.  Yo, that's how I 
go through life....it's not so bad.  ;-)

• skinny bamboo sticks--Mine were from The Dollar Tree and I used 1.5 "packs"
• (1) 10" mirror--mine was from the hobbit lobbit in the candle area.  It was 50% off at $3
• (2) Round cardboard cake base, 5".  I bought these awhile back for a different project.  you can find them in the baking aisle at Michael's in sets of 5s.
• A LOT OF GLUE STICKS.  Seriously.  I use both a low heat gun (for setting the sticks) and a high heat gun (for attaching the mirror and securing it all)
• Something to hang it with....I used a string of hemp, staples and a fabric scrap.
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• A wall that needs so sprucing.  :)

LET'S DO THIS!

*One last disclaimer!  This is a BIGASS mirror and that's the way I'm teaching it.  K?  Perfect.

Step one:  Ok, for your sticks...Mine were about 42" inches high.  I cut one (1) stick down to (2) 13" sticks, and whatever was left at the end, about 15"-16" inches.  So 3 little sticks per 1 big stick.  Now do that to all of them.  I'll wait.  :)  PS, I used scissors on this.  No fancy saw or anything. 

Step two--Follow the images below!  
(images 1 and 2):
Take one of your cake rounds and start glueing down your sticks, thinking of a clock.  Start placing your 13" sticks at 12, 3, 6, 9, then go back around and place in the middle of those sections and so on, filling up the sides.  I used the low-heat gun for this.
(image 3):

sweet baby bacon helping his mama!

Now you want to place your longer sticks every 3 13" sticks or so.  For me, well, I don't really do directions well, so some of mine longer sticks are every 3 or 4 or 2 13" stick.  Wing it, remember?  :)
(image 4--the purse looking thing):
Ok, it's almost time to attached the second cake round, but first you need to attach your hanging mechanism if you will (and I think you will).  I took my string of hemp and stapled it on the cake round, then glue it down, then glued down the fabric strip.  I switched to the high heat gun for this.
(image 5):
Now you can glue your second round with the hangy thing down, covering the top of your sticks.  Next, glue into the rounds, really securing the sticks to the rounds.  High heat gun for sure--watch your fingies!

Step three (ok, step 8 or 9):  Guess what time it is?  Time to high heat glue the mirror on to the top cake round!  Yeah Yeah!!!!!  Really burn through glue stick here--seriously, go crazy.  You don't want this beauty falling off the wall!  that would be 0% cool.

secure those suckers!

Step four:  ROCK IT GURL!!!!!  Oh yeah, find that perfect place for this sexy b, and start bragging to your friends.  Hey gurl hey, lookie what I MADE.  For $5!!!!  Now go buy some hot heels--you deserve it!

what's rockin at the Chen House!

one last look, for good measure.  :)

Big thanks to my J Chen for hanging it for me on Friday afternoon and then face-timing (what up iPhone?!?!) me while I'm at the office to show me!  I heart technology!  Oh, and Leah, no worries, the clock will be reappearing down in the living room.  :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for stopping by!  

Big (BURSTING) Smile,
B.Chen