DIY Paint Stick Bee Craft Tutorial

Today I’m sharing a fun and easy project that turns a simple paint stick into an adorable little bee—perfect for spring and summer decorating! You only need one paint stick for this craft, and you can usually find bundles of them at Lowe’s or even Walmart. They’re inexpensive and so fun to craft with!

Supplies You’ll Need:

• 1 Paint stick
• Acrylic or Chalk paint: Black and Yellow
• Paint Brush
• Sanding block
• Raffia
• Twine
• Brown craft paper (for tag)
• Stamp with black ink or black felt pen (optional, for tag)
• Antique wax
• Black wax (optional, for added depth)
• Greenery sprigs
• Ribbon (for bow)
• Button
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Brown floral wire (for antennae)
• Scissors and pencil or paintbrush (for curling wire)

Step 1: Paint Your Paint Stick Black & Sand

The first step is to paint the entire paint stick with black chalk paint. If you don’t have chalk paint, acrylic paint will work just fine too. To help the paint dry quickly so I can move on to the next steps, I like to use my hair dryer. I also like to give my wood projects that rustic look by lightly sanding it with a sanding block—just enough to let a little of the natural wood peek through.

Step 2: Paint Your Paint Stick with Yellow Stripes  & Sand

Next, we will use some yellow paint and add a few simple stripes to the paint stick to give it that classic bee look. I did two coats of yellow and made sure to let it dry in between coats. Once the stripes were dry, I sanded over them again for a slightly distressed finish.

Step 3: Make the Bee Wings

Now let’s make the wings! I used raffia to create two little bundles and tied each one into a bow using twine to keep them together. After trimming the ends of the raffia, I stacked and glued them together in an X shape to resemble wings. They give the bee a really cute, rustic touch.

Step 4: Make a Cute Paper Tag

For a sweet little tag, I used brown craft paper. I started by cutting a small rectangle and stamping the word “bee” on it. After drying the ink quickly with my hair dryer, I trimmed the paper into a tag shape by cutting rectangle a little smaller and snipping small triangles out of the left edge corners. Then I crumpled the tag up a few times to add texture, and went over it with antique wax for a rustic look. To give it even more depth, I lightly brushed on some black Dixie Belle wax. This creates a beautifully aged, layered finish that looks great against the other rustic elements.

Step 5: Add Greenery & Other Embellishments

Time to embellish! I hot glued a little greenery to the top of the bee for some color and texture. Next I used some ribbon I had that wasn’t quite as petite as I would have liked, but it worked! I tied a simple bow and glued it near the top middle area. Then I hot glued the raffia wings to the back and glued the tag with a button in the center of the bow on the front.

Step 6: Make Wire Antennae for your Bee

For the finishing touch, I used brown floral wire to make the antennae. I twisted it in the back to secure it and then wrapped the ends around a paintbrush to curl them. You could use a pencil or anything round for this part. Once they were curled, I adjusted them until they looked just right.

And that’s it—your cute little paint stick bee is ready to buzz into your decor! Let me know what you think and if you plan to give this one a try. I had so much fun making it and hope you will too!

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