Sunshine and Candy Canes

I love me some candy canes at Christmas, but I also like them in the summer.....I can explain. Summertime is the perfect time to make my sell-out favorite candy canes.  You start with these ugly plastic candy canes.

 I was going to edit out my shoe, but I thought you could better gauge the size of the cane (approx 32 inches)  You can find these in the Dollar Store and in Walmart.  However, the catch is that they are only available in the fall.  You can also buy them on line through Amazon, (see sidebar for link)

To cover these canes, I cut bias strips of white flannel, approximately 1" wide and as long as your fabric permits.  Starting at the crook end, wrap the cane, covering completely.  I secure the start with hot glue to hold in place and sporadically glue all the way to the bottom.  If your strip runs out, just add another and secure it with glue, slightly overlapping.  Secure at the end.

Cut one inch wide strips of the red fabric.  I used red fleece.  I like the fleece because it is stretchy and gives it dimension.  Wrap in the opposite direction that you wrapped the flannel, leaving a space between the "stripes".  Secure at both ends.

Now here is where the sunshine comes in.  I like to add glitter to my canes.  You can omit this step if you aren't a fan, but then I would ask.....What is wrong with you????  Just kidding. But glitter is a bit like Christmas icicles and Easter grass, once its in your house, it is everywhere!  Thus, outdoors in the sunshine....

I take the canes outside and using a sponge, coat each with ModPodge.  Do these one at a time. This can get messy!  Once the cane is painted with ModPodge, shake some sparkly white glue on it!  This is kinda fun.  I have a great tool I use for this:

 This is actually a parts sorter that I bought at Harbor Freight.  I sprinkle the glitter on the canes over this tray and then dump the glitter back into a large ice cream bucket so I never have to waste any glitter.  You have to work fast so that the glue will adhere to the modpodge  Let dry.  I hang them up on a makeshift clothesline so that they can dry evenly.

Once they are dry, they will have a hard, kind of sugary coating.  Take them in and embellish.  You can do it however you want.  I use jute to tie on some greenery and either a pine cone, rusty bell or pip berries.  Leave a loop in the back for hanging.  Then tie on a bow.  I always spot glue just to keep in place.  You can also add a tag.  Get creative!  If you want a more prim look, omit the glitter and tea stain.  Or wrap in homespun.  The sky is the limit!