Years ago I fell in love with colorful baker’s twine. It started with a single spool of red striped cotton twine. That is the traditional twine a lot of Italian bakeries use on their take-out boxes. I used that twine on everything last Christmas, from hanging ornaments to wrapping presents. Knowing that, you can imagine my excitement when I walked into a paper store and saw the same twine in every color imaginable. The only thing that stopped me was the sticker price. At $10 a pop, I wasn’t gonna pay $100 for twine. I can be impulsive but that would be plain stupid. So the only thing I bought was a giant spool of plain white cotton twine for $6.95 and figured out a way to turn it into what I want. Here is how to do it:
Side note: yes, the photos are a bit dark. That’s what happens when I try to figure out how to do something and only come up with a solution in bed at 11pm. =)
First, cut a 8″x2″ piece of cardboard:
Cut small slits at 2 corners. This will help hold our twine in place:
Stick the end of the twine into one of the slits:
Wrap the twine around the piece of cardboard. Try to keep it as tight as possible:
Cut the twine and secure it into the other slit:
Using a Sharpie, draw wide stripes along the rolled up twine. Remember to do both sides:
Let it dry completely and you’re done! Easy, right? There are so many possibilities, I’ll be sure to be using this trick a lot this holiday season =)









Love it. Do you think this could be done by dipping both long ends into a food coloring solution, leaving the middle clear to obtain a similar effect without using something toxic?
Hi Amy,
That’s a great idea. I think it would create a cool effect. The color lines would be wider than the tiny lines you get with a sharpie, almost line color-blocking. You could also dip each side half way down to color the whole twine. Could be cute in red and pink for Valentine’s Day or in 2 pastel colors for Easter. =)
WOW!! Can’t wait to do this!!
This is genius!!!