Cardboard Washer and Dryer

Last month I made a post about a cardboard washing machine. I went to check on Princess Little upstairs and discovered her using her training potty as a washing machine for her doll clothes. Gross! So I told her we could make her one from a cardboard box. I was feeling a little under the weather that day and I just used a sharpie to draw the buttons on the front. I wasn't sure I could paint it because of the tape holding the box closed and I was at a loss on what to do. Well, my friend, Queen Sallie (from a kingdom far, far away) suggested I cover it with contact paper. Her idea was nothing less than brilliant! Fast forward about two weeks...I should have seen it coming...Princess Big put water in the washing machine! Needless to say, it was ruined. Oh well, it gave me an excuse to make a matching washer and dryer.

I started by taping the box closed and then wrapped it in contact paper. I used a small mixing bowl to trace a circle on the front. Then I used an X-Acto knife to cut it out leaving about 1/3 of the circle so they would open like the doors of my machine. I have a front loading machine and Princess Little wanted it to look just like mine.

Next, I used a piece of cardstock and paint pens to make the different cycles and times. Using rubber cement I glued the labels onto the boxes. When the glue was dry I used my knife again to cut a small x in the center of each one.

At Hobby Lobby I found these wooden toy wheels that are about 2 inches in diameter. I used the paint pen to draw the black pointer on the smooth side. At the hardware store I got these #10 1inch nut and bolt. Then I stuck the bolt through the wheel and then through the small x in the box. After that I screwed the nut on with my hand. Not too tight so that the wheel would spin easily. For the door handle, I used another wheel but this time I flipped it over and attached it in the same way as the others. I did tighten the handle more so that it wouldn't spin.

Here you go! A matching washer/dryer. If only they could wash their own clothes...

Stained Glass Ornaments

Here is the end result of our recent crayon melt pictures, finally!

The first step was cutting out the frames and "glass". I used these stencils but you could cut them in any shape you want. I used the largest and smallest square/circle in the right column for the frame. For the "glass" I used the one in the middle. Make sure you cut out two frame pieces for each piece of "glass"

Next, the princesses put a trail of glue around the frame.

Then, they smeared the glue around to make sure the entire frame was covered.

After that, we laid the "glass"down. Just a note, if there is a lot of glue the velum will begin to curl up so you may need to go quickly or help you little one with the next step.

Next, just lay the other frame on top and press along all of the edges to make sure they stick together.

Here are our glued ornaments drying on a piece of wax paper.

Once they were dry (after the princesses went to bed) I used a hole punch to make a hole in each one.

Then, I used some curling ribbon that I had on hand to make a loop.

I added the date to the back and some ornament hangers so the princesses could hang them in the morning.

Here they are looking for just the right spot to hang. We were looking for spots right in front of lights so that they would "glow" when the tree lights are on.

I think it worked out pretty well!

This year the princesses are getting a "divorced parents" kind of Christmas. King Daddy's parents will be visiting the cousins this year so we did our present opening with them this past weekend. It turned out great because we also had our first "big" snow (about 4 inches). It was perfect for snowballs and snowmen. For those of you in the south that may not know, our snow us usually too dry to stick together for that kind of thing. While the others were down in the basement wrapping presents I took the princesses out to play. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of us making snow angels and throwing snowballs. I didn't think the camera could handle being out in the cold and snow and King Daddy was busy. I did however get a picture of the snowman we built. I grew up in the south and had no idea how hard it was to build a snowman! It really takes a lot out of you and this guy is only about 3 feet tall!

Presenting Mr. Snow! Can you believe this picture was taken at 4pm? It really didn't seem like it was that dark.

Candle Holders

Last night we made some candle holders for the dining room table. I got the idea for this from Pinkandgreenmama@blogspot.com.

Here are the materials:

Glass candle holders (I got ours at the Dollar Tree)

Mod Podge

Foam craft brush

Tissue paper

First, we painted a thick layer of mod podge over our entire candle holder. You can't see it in these picture but there is a piece of wax paper under the candle holder. The project will easily peel off the wax paper when dry.

Next, we stuck pieces of tissue paper on the candle holder.

Before letting them dry, Queen Mommy put a thin coat of mod podge over the whole thing, just to make sure the tissue is sealed in.

Once dry put a votive or tea light in. I used flameless tea lights that I got at the Dollar Tree. 

Cardboard Puppet Theater

This past summer I made a puppet theater for the princesses out of a cardboard box. I didn't have this blog up and going so I didn't take step by step pictures, sorry. The only pictures I have are of the finished product but hopefully you'll get the idea as I explain what I did.

I started with a Grand Wardrobe Box from U-Haul. The dimensions are 24" x 21" x 48".

The first thing I did was to cut off all of the top flaps (I did not cut off the bottom flaps). If you look at the picture of the box on the U-Haul website you'll see that one of the flaps on one of the narrow sides is longer than the rest. After that I cut a straight line all the way down the box and through the bottom flap.

Next I laid the box out flat and cut a hole 30" x 14" about 81/2" from the top. After that I got down to painting.The first two coats were just white acrylic craft paint so that the printing on the box wouldn't show through. Next I painted the sides in a metallic blue tempera paint with 2 or 3 coats. The center panel I painted with chalkboard paint so the princesses could write the name of their show on it. So that the boarders of the chalkboard wouldn't show I hot glued a strip of sequenced trim I got from the fabric store. I had hopes that the light shinning off the sequence would look like light bulbs around a marquis.

Next I made some curtains out of scrap fabric I had on hand. Instead of a hem around the sides and bottom I used double folded bias tape and just sewed it around. Once that was on I turned the top down and made a seam big enough to insert the dowel rod I purchased, which I believe was a 3/8", from Home Depot. I got the smallest size that didn't bend easily.

When the curtains were ready I put them on the dowel rod and used a knife to get a hole started so that I could push the dowel through. Then to secure it on the outside of each end I screwed on a nut, purchased at the same time as the dowel rod. I just took the dowel to the hardware section and tried different sized until I found the one that would screw on. As I twisted them on they made the grooves necessary. Note: I used a soft wood dowel, I think it is poplar. I'm not sure how easy this would have been with the oak dowel.

 Once it was all finished I used binding clips I had on hand to secure the cut back flaps down to the side flaps. As you can see the inside of the box serves as a board for play notes :) They can be erased with a chalkboard eraser but they don't come off quite as neatly as they do on the chalkboard paint. That might be an upgrade for me, to paint the inside with the chalkboard paint also. 

We had a few puppets already but I have also made more out of felt. Felt is great because you don't have to finish the edges and once you sew the sides together you can just use fabric glue to attach the details. As soon as I can figure out how to put a template up I'll do it for the basic shape of the puppet and then you can let your creativity take off!

Crayon Melts

One of the art projects my mom did with us when we were kids that I enjoyed most was making crayon melt pictures. I was at a loss with how to duplicate it with my children because I didn't want to purchase an expensive hot plate just for this. Imagine my surprise when while at a thrift store shopping for something entirely different I looked down and saw the very same hot plate my mother had! Now for the whopping price of $1.71 plus tax I can pass this project on to my girls.

The supplies you need are:

Hot plate with a smooth surface

Aluminum foil

Old crayons

Paper (any kind)

Hot pad

Paper towel

Place a piece of aluminum foil over the hot plate and tuck the edges so it won't slide around. Plug in the hot plate and let it warm up.

Once the hot plate is warm enough to melt the crayons let your little one draw on it.

When their picture is done lay a piece of paper over the top and smooth it down using the hot pad. We used velum sheets here because we're going to make ornaments for our tree out of these. The velum doesn't soak up the wax like regular paper does so it works better for abstract drawings. When you use plain paper the picture will transfer to it the way it was drawn. After you transfer the picture use some paper towel to wipe the foil clean and you're ready to create a new picture!

Here are our finished pictures drying. Stay tuned, later in the week we will be showing how we turned these into "stained glass" ornaments!

Advent Calendar

We didn't do much in the way of arts and crafts between Halloween and Thanksgiving! I know we were just too busy but for the life of me I can't remember what we were doing. I think I'm a little young for a "senior moment" but that's the best way I can describe it! Now, however, we are getting into Christmas time and I am sooooo excited! My princesses are finally old enough to start doing the crafts my mother did with me, as well as, some new traditions I want to start. We spent the Thanksgiving weekend getting our tree up. I had to get a new one that was bigger (our old one was only 4ft) to fit all of the keepsake ornaments that we have collected since Princess Big was born. I also wanted to have plenty of room to add the ones we will be making this year and in the years to come.

Here is our finished, for now, tree.

One of the new traditions that I have decided on is an Advent Calendar. When I was a kid I think my brother, sister, and I got one of those calendars that is filled with little chocolates once. I suspect that my mother told my grandparents not to send another one. I imagine we didn't share very well but how could you, those chocolates are so small! It was either that or the fact that my parents didn't want us eating too much candy. Now that I'm a mother I find myself thinking the same thing. I don't want my girls eating too much candy at Christmas either and it is very difficult. When I saw this idea I knew it was perfect. I can fill the little boxes with treats other than candy!

Here is the entire calendar.

Here is a close up of the boxes.

If you want to make one of your own you can see how I use the ideas from Mod Podge Rocks here.

Erupting Volcano

Finally an update on our volcano project. We had to wait a few weeks until King Daddy had some free time to do the experiment. I thought everyone did this project for the first grade science fair but apparently I was wrong. King Daddy had never done it so, I wanted to let him do it with the princesses. It also gave me a chance to snap pictures of their faces when the "lava" came flowing out. I'm glad I did because they looked so surprised!

Here is Princess Little helping King Daddy pour in the vinegar which has red food coloring added to it. 

 Here comes the lava.

Look at those faces!

Cheers all around!

Quilted Sunnies Caddie

My children have a million sunnies (our word for sunglasses). At least that's how it seems because they are strewn about the house, car and several of my bags. In an effort to organize them I made a sunnies caddie to hang by the door.

I started by cutting out my fabric. I cut two pieces of white flannel 13"x21" and three pieces of blue striped flannel 4.5"x13".

Next, I pressed the long edges of the blue stripped flannel down .25".

Then, using a zig zag stitch I sewed one of the edges.

Next, I cut a piece of quilt batting slightly larger than the white back ground.

Then, I pinned everything together. On the bottom is one piece of the white, then the batting, then the second piece of white, and last the blue stripped pockets. I sewed, using a zig zag stitch, the bottom of the pockets in place. Then, I sewed the vertical zig zag stitches that separate pockets. I did three pockets approximately 3.5" (I just eyeballed it).

 To make the binding I cut enough strips of fabric 2" wide to go around the entire perimeter.

I turned them into one long strip by sewing them together like this. Pressing the seams open.

  

Then, I folded the strip in half and pressed it like this.

Next, starting in the center of one side I pinned the binding to the caddie with the raw edges lining up.

To do the corners, I stopped sewing about .25" from the end.

Then, I folded the strip up like this...

And then straight back down like this and pinned it. Then I sewed down this edge and repeated the corner process until I got back to where I started. Before I sewed over the end where I started, I folded the beginning edge over about .5". Then, I sewed the ending edge on top of the folded beginning edge. Once the binding was completely sewn on I trimmed the batting and fabric .25" from the stitching.

I made the hanging tabs by sewing a strip of fabric right sides together and then turning it right side out. Then, I cut it into three pieces. I folded the pieces in half to have ready for the next step.

Next, I folded the binding over the edge to the back and pinned it in place. Placing the tabs along the top edge. I matched the raw edges and then folded the binding over the tabs. This means that the top of the tab was pointing down.

Then, I sewed all the way around the binding in the seam. This is called stitch in the ditch. 

 Once it was all sewn I turned the tabs up to the top and stitched in the ditch over them. Now they are pointed the correct way.

Then, I cut a dowel rod the correct length and slid it through the tabs. I tied some white ribbon to the ends and knotted a loop in the center. The last thing to do was hang it by the door with a picture nail!