Magic Wand

First, cut one piece of your drinking straw to about one inch long.

Next, cut a piece of pipe cleaner to about two inches long.

Gather up your mylar strands (or ribbon or string). These will hang from the tip of your wand for a sparkly, swishy effect! Here I am using about 10 pieces of mylar curtain strands, cut to about one foot in length.

Take your two-inch pipe cleaner and hold it across your strands or ribbons.

Bend the pipe cleaner around the strands. Twist the pipe cleaner a few times to lock them in place.

Take a dot of hot glue and add it to the sharp end of the skewer. Let it cool about 10 seconds, then push the one-inch straw onto the end of the skewer.

Take the pipe cleaner (the twisted end, not the end with the loop of ribbons) and insert that into the open end of the straw.

Your wand should now look something like this, with pretty strands hanging fron the tip of your wand!

Now you can start to bead the skewer. Pony beads work best because they have a large center hole. (Nothing is more frustrating then beads that do not fit!) Leave about an inch at the end unbeaded.

Take a sticker and place it at the bottom of the wand.

Place another sticker of the same size on top of the first sticker, sticky to sticky. This forms a cap at the end of your wand so the beads stay on.

Now you have a beautiful wand to start making wishes! If you want you can add a thematic element to the top of the wand. If you are creating these for a fairy party, perhaps you add a star to the top with a dot of hot glue. If it is a mermaid theme, add a sea shell. Let the magic of the moment guide you!