Since COVID-19 has stormed all across the globe, people started to spend more time at their houses. Especially for most people, the time spent indoors is spared for free time activities, which has encouraged a boost in "do-it-yourself" (DIY) projects.

DIY projects have started to appear everywhere, particularly on social media. Everyday, tens of thousands people share their handicraft products with the #DIY hastag. In addition, as more conscious consumers are appearing lately and ecological print is trending against the effects of climate change and the consumption frenzy, handmade projects are much more popular as they appear easy options that fulfill the need for creativity and at the same time, protect nature.

Our world is in a grave situation due to over-consuption. We tend to throw everything away very quickly and replace them with new items. But why not try to reuse things or create something new from existing things instead? Options that can be both better quality and cheaper are always there for the taking.

Furthermore, most scientists argue that psychological problems such as anxiety and stress are reduced while focusing on the making of a product since the brain detaches from everyday problems when dealing with handicrafts and concentrates on the product. At the end of the day, you will be using a product which you made – which also boosts self-confidence and creates the feeling of contentedness.

So what is all the fuss about the DIY frenzy? It can be basically summarized as instead of hiring someone to do a job, or buying a product from the store, you come up with the product with your own resources, interpretation and creativity. In this process, you can also benefit from any Youtube page or internet.

However, every #DIY hashtaged post that we swipe through on social media doesn't always fall into this category. The fact that the do-it-yourself concept is already quite broad, doesn't mean that everything you do is a DIY project. We can call the act of creating and working on a product with a pragmatic ontology as DIY projects. Otherwise, we even have to categorize the food we cook at home into the DIY category. In this context, it may be more accurate to draw the boundaries and associate the concept with the term of crafting.

It is time to discover your hidden talents. Here we are with one of the most clicked DIY projects on the social media: Decorative popsicle stick display shelves. Thanks to popsicle sticks, you may become artisanal and decorative shelves could adorn your home or office walls. As a bonus, it is very easy to do and its cost is quite low.

Materials

Pack of wooden ice cream sticks (can be easily found in variety stores)

Strong glue or silicon gun

Multisurface acrilic paint (optional)

How to do it

The first step is to lay out the sticks in a hexagon shape. It can be a single or double hexagon per your choice. Then each stick should be glued at the edges, placing the sticks on top of each other. Keep repeating the process until you get the desired depth. Once the glue dries, you can paint the sticks. Be sure that the paint evenly covers it all, leaving no blank spaces.

After the paint dries, voila! Your shelf is ready to be hanged. You can place small decorative plants inside.