DIY: Dollar Store Pin Boards

It was Christmas Eve, and I had one evening to come up with an inexpensive gift idea for six of my husband's co-workers. So I flew down to my local Dollar Tree, and this is what I came up with:  Framed Pin Boards.

The cast of characters to make as shown are:

• 4x6 Frame
• 4x6 Foam Craft Sheets
• Stretchable Fabric Book Cover
• Glass Beads
• Thumb Tacks
• Wrapping Paper
• Cardboard Box (on hand)
• Scissors (on hand)
• Glue Gun (on hand)
• Mod Podge (on hand)

The first thing I started was the push pins. I had found wrapping paper with just a simple star pattern, so I cut out each individual star in the round, then Mod Podged it to the back of the glass beads. The Mod Podge dries clear, so the stars show up magnified beautifully. Once dry, I used my glue gun to stick on the thumb tacks to the back. For the item pictured, I made three push pins for each frame.

Now I worked on the frames. First, remove the glass. Next, cut out a 4x6 piece of a cardboard box for the board to have support. Then glue three pieces of the 4x6 foam sheets around the edges to the cardboard. Use a thin ribbon of glue around the edges so the main portion of the board is free to be push-pinned easily.

I was able to get two pieces of 4x6 fabric out of the book cover. I hot glued it to the foam/cardboard on the back and stretched it taut. Basically, wrap it like a gift. Be sure the good side of the fabric is on the foam sheet side. Only glue the fabric to the cardboard backing.

Slide your push pin board into your frame, and secure the frame's backing back into place.

And there you have it: a very simple, yet elegant batch of gifts. I threw in some homemade cookies and starlight mints with a reindeer-decorated bottle of water for a fun mid-afternoon snack.

Well, until the next!

Cheers!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG

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

Toddler Quidditch

This past Spring, I witnessed my first quidditch match at my local university. I am now hooked! My two-year-old son "scored" a goal in-between matches, and I immediately told my friend, "I have to create a toddler quidditch team."

Where can you go wrong with Quidditch and Toddlers? You can't. It's hilarious, and most importantly, fun!

First things first:  my wizards needed brooms. Since I usually deal with 18-month to 3-year-olds in my mom's group, I needed to find props that wouldn't cause injuries (when they eventually would get used to bat friends over the heads). What better than pool noodles!  I cut about 8 inches off the pool noodles to get them the height that worked well for 2-3 footers. I then cut the noodles into bristles on one end in ten slices. 

In my broom prototype, I used thick twine at the top of the bristles, but opted for simple duct tape to emulate the bristle ties; less rope burns.

The second thing we needed was a pitch. Again, I opted for the pool noodle approach, and luckily, my local dollar store not only had the noodles I needed, but sold these fabulous three-way connectors so I could make the perfectly shaped hoops. I then cut metal garden stakes to size to hold the hoops vertically on the ground. We used a soft, blue ball as the quaffle, and two smaller soft/squishy balls (the basketballs shown in the cover photo) as the bludgers. 

[You can find the official rules of quidditch at the International Quidditch Association's website.]

Thirdly:  A Snitch.  Since I am dealing with younger tots, the only "rules" of quidditch I used was to catch the snitch and score goals with the hoops.  Since I'm the only idiot person willing to act like a total fool, I dressed myself up as a snitch; wings and all.  I cut out cardboard wings and painted them yellow. I added glitter to give them that extra sumthin' sumthin'.

I punched holes and tied them together with t-shirt material.

I used the same t-shirt material and made arm holes as a harness.

The yellow t-shirt I picked up at my local thrift store got cut up into strips. These strips were used as flags to "catch" the snitch.

Here I am sporting my cool getup. I made a ton of flags so that all my little wizards had a chance to catch the snitch. (And yes, I did put the scar on my hat, but the moms didn't catch it. Only the truest of geeks would have caught that, I guess.)

All in all, it was a fabulous afternoon. I will definitely be having more of these Toddler Quidditch Playgroups. It's a fantastic way to get the kids to move and run, work on playing together, listening to a coach (or just an adult other than mom and dad), gross motor, you name it!

Until the next!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
–TYG

Microwave + Bar of Ivory Soap = Awesomeness

Ok, so another Pinterest idea has been tested and reviewed, and I like it!  Based off of Our Best Bites post from last April, we microwaved a bar of soap.

Not just any soap, but Ivory soap. I'm a minimalist, and frankly, I just love the smell of Ivory soap. It's cheap, it comes in giant packs for just $4, it floats, it cleans you. I love it! Now, I can add microwavable awesomeness to the list.

 I placed our bar on a microwave safe plate.

One minute and thirty seconds later (1:30) on high, it turned into this. MonkeyBoy thought it was the most amazing thing as it exploded onto itself.

It feels really neat; very soft, but flaky and starts to shred apart. I was thinking of pureeing it in the food processor, add a little bit of water and food coloring so we could mold it, but it's a gorgeous day in New England, today. We wanted to go back outside.

I added a lot more water, and I'm now in the process of melting it down to a liquid hand soap.

Waste not, want not!

I highly suggest you do this for a rainy day science project with the kids. I may just have to set up a playdate for this project.






Until the next....

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
–TYG

DIY: Toy Storage Bench

This $5, yard sale bookcase was the perfect find to create a toy storage bench for my son's room, now that his crib has vacated the premises.

I based my idea off of the Pinterest pin that has been circulating for over a year.

1. Find a narrow bookcase that can lay on its side.

2. Sand and clean the bookcase to prep for paint.

 3. Because the shelf was black, I had to use three coats of primer.

4. I then spray painted the unit white with a professional enamel for durability.

5. The last touch was to get baskets to fit the shelf openings and start storing all the clutter, ah, I mean toys.

I think this bench turned out fabulous, and I couldn't have bestowed it on a more deserving recipient.

"Oooo, thank yooouuu! I love my table!"

It's great to have some space to actually play in his own room, now.

Until the next...

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

– TYG