Minecraft Bow

If you have a child, then they are probably obsessed with Minecraft.
I mean, even I love it.

With Halloween right around the corner, it's time to get those costumes ready.
Okay, it doesn't have to be Halloween for this, kids will love this at any time.

You can buy the swords and the axe at the store, but you can't get the bow.
What's up with that??
No worries, I solved the problem, and it didn't cost much.

Seeing Halloween is my favorite holiday, I dress up with my kids.
Why shouldn't I? They are only small once, so I'm making the best of it while I can.

My costumes also just happens to need this bow.
Here's what I did.



Items needed::

• One- 20 x 30 x 3/16 Foam Board
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Markers
• Crayons
• Hot Glue
• Piece of Wire

Directions::

Take your blank foam board and make lines every 1 1/2 inches.

This is what it will look like after your first set of lines. Please note that one square at the end will be slightly bigger, but no worries, it won't affect it.

Next draw the same 1 1/2 inch line going the other direction.
Your foam board should now look like this:

My bow took up half the board.I started by going diagonally for the handle, and worked from there.
I colored my blocks first, to remember which squares I am cutting. Also, flip your bow upside down, and make a copy with the other half of your board. Color those blocks to match the other piece.  I forgot to get a picture before I cut it, sorry.

Now the handle isn't going to stay together simply because of the way the squares are. So, I did this:


Turn your bow over, so the squares aren't showing.
Take a piece of wire, or wire hanger, and tape it to the handle (only to one board, not both). Don't worry it won't be visible. 

Now take your hot glue gun, and carefully glue the two pieces together. (Make sure the colored parts are on the outside) Once it is dry and cooled, you may color the rim of the entire bow black. It makes it look better. Here is what mine looks like:

When coloring I used a black permanent marker, and a dark brown marker. Since I couldn't get the rest of the colors I wanted with the markers,  I just used crayons... brown, a light brown, silver, and light gray.

Here's a close up:

Best of luck!

Mini Volcanoes

Necessities:

• 1 - 8oz  Package of Crayola Model Magic Clay (in white)
• Acrylic Paint (in colors you want to paint your volcano)
• Small Paintbrush (like the ones that come with watercolors)
• Baking Soda
• Vinegar
• Cake Pan
• Cookie Sheet

Directions:





I have three boys, so I split the 8 oz package into 3 even pieces.
Roll them into balls, to get the sizes as even as possible.
No, it doesn't need to be pretty.








Mold the balls into mini volcanoes.
Shaping them into cylinders first and then use your thumb to press sides down at an angle to form them into slanted mounds.
Make sure to have a big crater on the inside.

Once they are molded you have 2 options:

1. Let them air dry, which can take a few hours to a whole day, depending on the thickness of your volcano. 
2. Set your oven to Convect and cook on a non stick foil lined cookie sheet at 200with door cracked open for 10 minutes, rotating top to bottom, until fully cooked. Ours took roughtly 30 minutes. 

Let them cook completely.

After they have completely cooled you may paint your volcanoes as you wish.
(When painted they seem more realistic)

Here is how my boys did them:

Wait for paint to dry.

I placed each of the volcanoes in their own cake pan, since it's going to get messy. Plus, it makes for an easy clean up!

Add 3-4 tsp. baking soda inside the bottom of your volcanoes.
Slowly pour desired amount of vinegar into the volcano. (We added 4 tsp at a time, to watch it happen over and over)

Not the best picture, I forgot to get it when it first started exploding.

Wooden Wall

Doesn't it seem like you always have time to fix up every room but the master? 
That's how it is in our house. 
Honestly, when we bought this house I absolutely hated the colors the prior owner 
had literally in EVERY room. 
Some peoples taste astonishes me, although some may think the same of me. 
Anywho. 
I came across a picture of a wooden wall made out of pallets and really liked it. 
After much debating with my husband, I finally convinced him to build a wall with me. 

However, we didn't use pallets. We used 2x6 pieces of lumber. 
I wouldn't have to sand them down nor worry about chemicals on them. 
First, we had to measure the wall and figure out how many 2x6s we were going to need. 
Once my husband bought all the wood, it was time to think of colors and the sizes we were going to cut the wood into. 
Off to Lowes I went. 


***********One side note:::: We decided to place large sheets of plywood on the wall first, it made it easier to nail the wood where we wanted when it came time to put them up. 

Plywood Sheets

I probably stood there for a good 15 minutes trying to think what would go good together. I already knew I needed 3 different colors... one light, one medium, and one dark. The one thing I did forget was to see what color my wooden floors were. I was so worried everything would clash. 
BTW... if I can make a suggestion to store, please make your sampled woods movable! Would have been nice to be able to place them next to each other. Just saying. 
Okay okay.. I finally got my colors. 

I went with Minwax's: 
                  Ipswich Pine (light)
                  Early American (medium)
                  Dark Walnut (dark)

Oh and don't forget your Polyurethane, you need a coat of this over your stain.

Now, it's time to figure out the cuts. I figured we were going to have three colors and I wanted it to look a certain way.... it only made sense to have 3 different sizes. We cut them into halves, thirds, and fourths.

Here is the math for ours. (Keeping them in groups for each color helps)
We had 54 - 2x6s.
Separate 9 piles, each pile should have 6 - 2x6s. 
This is the 9 piles broken down. 
You will have 3 piles for the large pieces, 3 piles for the medium pieces, and 3 piles for the smaller pieces. Each pile in those categories will be for one of the colors. 

I know my brain was hurting too. 

***Remember to keep them separate once they are cut, in the same piles you had before.

For the large pieces, cut the 2x6s in half.
For the medium pieces, cut the 2x6s every 2 feet.
For the smaller pieces, cut the 2x6s every 18 inches. 

Make sure to blow away/clean up any saw dust, you don't want it getting stuck to your wood while you are staining it. 

It's time to stain! It can be very time consuming. I would recruit a helper! While my husband stained one color, I stained another. 

*********If you are going to be repainting the room, the time to do it is while your stain is drying. 




 Yes, I only stained one side of the wood..... no one will ever see the other sides, that would've been pointless. 

Once your stain has dried, you need to paint on your layer of polyurethane. 

This is what one of our piles looked like after staining and coating..... ----------->

When that dries, it's time to carry it all in and plan your design.




Starting at the bottom, make one row at a time. Do NOT nail them in until you are sure that is how you want to lay them. When you are sure, proceed to the next, mixing them around as you go, to get that unique style. 
Here is how ours turned out after it was done. 

 

Side angle

 Now it's time to add the new trimming, the furniture, and new decorations!!!


Being a military family, I went with red, white, and blue... but kept it simple. 
The walls I painted a gray-blue, changed the outlets and used wooden framed ones, added red curtains, a blue and white bed set, and a puzzle that my husband and I put together.

 

Milk Jug Easter Baskets

It's April and yes it really does bring showers, which can mean being stuck in doors.
Everyone is different but I don't allow my children to play on their tablets for more than an hour and try to keep t.v to a minimum as well.
So, what do you do on rainy days and Easter is around the corner??
Make Easter baskets out of milk jugs.
It keeps the kids entertained and also teaches them about reusing recyclable items which helps with the reduction of waste. Something my 4th grader is learning a lot about right now.

Items you need:

• Milk Jugs
• Soap
• Bleach
• Cotton Balls
• Glue
• Googlie Eyes
• Button
• Pipe Cleaners
• Pink Paper
• Easter grass

I washed my jugs out with soap and hot water but then came back with bleach to make sure the milk smell absolutely wouldn't come back. You won't need be a dash of bleach. Make sure you shake it all around then rinse and let air dry.

Next draw your sketch onto the jug, so you know where to cut.

 (The one on the right is the rabbit and the other two were drawn to be regular baskets with handles)

 Take your pink paper and cut out ear centers and glue. Next, clue the cotton balls all over your rabbit and around the ears. Glue on googlie eyes on where you would like. Trim your pipe cleaners (I used two) to make 6 or more whiskers, using one short one to wrap them through the button and intertwine them all together. I didn't glue the button on, I poked the pipe cleaner that hold it together through the jug, since its heavy, and knot it.

When you are ready to use, place Easter grass inside and let them go find them eggs, or whatever you want to place in it.

Easter Centerpiece

April is here!!! Exciting on many MANY levels! 
Time to get out in the flower garden, enjoy the warm weather (before it gets too hot), Earth Day, and Easter!
I don't have many Easter decorations and thought I needed to make something! So, off I was to.... you guesses it, Hobby Lobby!
I bought a new vase the month before and knew exactly what I wanted to do. HL had other plans. All their Easter supplies where on sale! WE ALL LOVE SALES! 

Then I came across this --------->








Doing a vase centerpiece instantly went out the window. I would do something different and unique. Then began a new mission, something that would look good in my mini picketed fence yard.
                
                   I found:
                                      

                         Flowers                       Yarn Eggs                        A Cute Bunny                       

I placed the bunny in a corner, surrounded by flowers, because bunnies love flowers! Then I had my son randomly place the eggs in the grass. (Kids always want to help and it gives it more meaning when you do it with them) Then placed some more flowers throughout the grass and around the eggs. 

                                                              This is the ending project. 

Bricking the Underside of Our Bar

When we moved into this house it was sad! It needed a LOT of love! The color in the living room was an adobe color, very depressing and made it seem small. 

I painted it a grey, which brightened it up, but then underneath the bar that connects the kitchen to the living room just felt bland and like something was missing. 

Browsing through Pinterest one day I saw how someone took these bricks and plastered them to the side of the tub. I searched these bricks online and found AirStone, which I believe is only available at Lowe's. They run about 50 bucks a box (we used 4 boxes to cover both sides of the under wall) and only one bucket of plaster (which is sold right next to the box of stones and is already ready to use).

After doing the first wall, I learned a few things... 

• Don't be scared to put a lot of plaster, the more the better.
• Make sure to have a small bucket full of warm water and a roll of paper towels.
• For easier clean up, wipe away any white plaster on the outside of the bricks while it's wet. (It's 10 times harder to clean after it dries)

This is the under bar afterwards (we did go back and cut bricks to make it reach all the way up).

I am currently working on putting the bricks around our fireplace to make them match. Unfortunately, we are waiting for Lowe's to get a new order to finish.

100th Day of School Shirt

If you're like me and have boys, then you know just how difficult finding things that revolve around boys is. Everything is hearts and flowers, or pink and sparkly. 
After tons of thinking I came up with Lego (Fun Fact: Lego is spelled this way for both singular and plural), what kid doesn't love Lego? Anyways. My sons birthday just happened to fall on the 100th day, so I was going to be clever... I made a huge Lego Man in the center of the shirt that read Birthday Boy and then I started drawing 100 loose Lego pieces all over... then came the news... due to "Bad Weather" and missing a few days of school they had to push back the day they were celebrating. Which guess what that meant? The shirt I made was no longer wearable and I had to start ALL OVER again and with only 2 days to come up with something new! *sigh*

 

As I was pushing my youngest on the swing that day, spacing into lala land, I notice his shirt is covered in pirates. LIGHTBULB! 

That night I drew a Pirate Ship onto his shirt and then 

100 fish underneath this ship. 

This is my outcome ---------->

My son was thrilled, all that hard work was worth seeing that big smile come across his face and his eyes light up!