DIY: Magnetic Play Board!

Does anyone one remember these bad boys from the 80's?  I remember getting these as a gift from my aunt's wedding shower back in 1981. Rad. Anyway, the legacy lives on at Savers!

Well, today's craft is to make a metal and magnetic play-board for my son's new Peep and the Big Wide World magnets I had a friend make me from her new company, Creative Crafts RI. Step one was to cover the farm animals. Looks like MonkeyBoy's old receiving blankets are good for something after all! With spray mount, I just carefully glued the blanket to the tray, and trimmed around the back once all glued on.

Step two was to drill holes so I could tie some twine in order to hang it on the wall. The magnets are still strong enough to go through the blanket.

The third step was to create some felt play pieces to role play. I used ideas from the show, like Peep's can, Newton's apple tree, Quack's pond, Chirp's bush, Beaver Boy's dam, and Nelly's doghouse. Friction keeps the felt adhered to the receiving blanket, and the magnets are still strong enough to hold the pieces up.

Image Couresty of Dollar Tree

Fourthly, I wanted to store all these things in a tin lunchbox so we'd have a great road-trip toy and game. I couldn't find a solid color lunch box in such a short period of time, so I opted for a Santa tin from the Dollar Tree that had hinges. I forgot to take my 'before' shot, but the image above from the Dollar Tree is what was on the box originally.

 

I then whipped out my trusty felt and glue gun and went to town to cover Santa. 

Now he has a great little box to store his treasures!

This will be a Peep Birthday to remember!!!

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG

DIY: Personalized Peep and the Big Wide World Canvas Art

courtesy Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Peep-Big-Wide-World-Canvas/dp/B008FX7LWY/?keywords=peep+and+the+big+wide+world&qid=1379252821&ref=sr_1_25&ie=UTF8&sr=8-25

I saw this on Amazon.com, and fell in love. Again, my son's a huge fan, but cash is low this year, so most of his gifts are going to be handmade. 

Now, I'm an artist. I have canvas. I have paints. I have brushes. I don't have the time, but we buck up and bear it. Here was my solution to make a Peep personalized canvas art for Monkeyboy.

The first step was to find the image I wanted to paint and sketch it on a 16" x 20" canvas.

The colors came out very vibrant. I left plenty of room on the left hand side to paint his name. I had completed a preview in Photoshop to be sure I had the placement just right.

Now, to make the letters look like vinyl or cut out fonts, I printed them off on a printer via MS Word.











After cutting the letter out, I scribbled graphite/pencil all over the back of the print outs.

I taped the letters where I wanted them placed on the canvas, then I used a pencil to trace the letters onto the board.

The graphite left a light outline of the letters in the font I wanted.

A very steady hand, and the result was absolutely fabulous. Made even more so because this didn't cost me a dime since I had all the supplies in stock. 

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

– TYG

DIY: Peep Tic-Tac-Toe

 

My son is IN LOVE with Peep and the Big Wide World. However, finding anything remotely related to this show in terms of affordable paraphernalia is impossible. Then to add insult to injury, the show is no longer being shown on PBS this season. (Thank goodness for YouTube and Netflix!).

Since the items I did find on the official PBS site were a bit too out of my price range for his big 3rd birthday, I decided to make things. Last year he received the three main characters (Peep, Quack, and Chirp) as crocheted dolls. They were fairly easy to make and a huge hit with my son.  This year, I had to be more creative.

The first item of a series of things I'll be making is the Peep Tic-Tac-Toe Sack.

The first thing I did was find some scrap plywood out in the garage and cut it down to about 8" x 8". I then painted it the with the classic green grass color and blue sky color of the show and made the tic-tac-toe grid. I had some space so I painted the names of the main characters, too. I then saturated it with a clear gloss glaze.

I hot glued a piece of black felt to the bottom so as not to ruin any furniture.

The next step was to create the X's and O's. Fortunately, we go to the beach A LOT, and we love to find stones. Especially round ones. I collected as many round/oval, smooth stones as I could find then went through the arduous task of painting them into Peep, Chirp, and Quack. I got this fabulous idea from Chicken Scratch.

PEEP

CHIRP 

QUACK, my son's favorite.

I made five stones of each character. All were painted with acrylic paints, then smothered with clear gloss glaze.

To store the game, I crocheted a drawstring pouch in green and blue. I won't get into the specifics of the pattern, but any type of bag/box will do.

For the finishing touch, I cut out felt characters and hot glued them onto the pouch. Just too tired to sew them. Don't judge.

I absolutely LOVE how the game turned out. I think MonkeyBoy will be pleased with it too. Lots of bright colors, and he gets to learn the love of a new game!

I'm finding that the things I'm making for his party my be a bit advanced for the novice crafter. The second item I'll blog about is an actual canvas portrait I'll be painting personalized with his name for his room. If I have time, I'm also going to paint Quack on a t-shirt. Lots to do in just a few more days to do it!

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG