Milk Jug Skeletons

 It's October and that means it is totally acceptable to start decorating for Halloween! If you have little kids like me, you may want to keep in the "spirit" but you don't want your holiday decor to be too scary. We don't want anyone having nightmares. It's also a bonus to get the kids involved in any decorating projects so they feel like they are contributing too! Have fun with it.

When I saw this project, I knew we had to make it. Milk Jug Skeletons!!  Cute Casper looking skeleton, anatomy lesson on our bones and how they connect, and reuse and recycle something that would otherwise be thrown into the landfills. 

They are basically free to make using the left over containers you are already using. You can always ask your friends and neighbors to hang on to their milk jugs for you. We can literally go through 2 gallons a week, so it wasn't hard to gather 5 or 6 to make this cute Milk Jug Skeleton. 

Be sure to clean out the jugs with soap and warm water then let dry completely.  We don't need sour stinky vibes here. You will need the following supplies:

5 or 6 white Milk Jugs

Good scissors

White or clear Zip Ties

 Black felt tip marker

Hole Puncher

Ribbon or string

Paper

Pencil

You will be cutting the milk jugs into the following parts: 

The Skull - Use one whole jug. Flip the jug upside down and position the handle in the back. Position the corner of the jug down the middle of the face so it is balanced and angled like a face. Use the circle indentions as the eyes. Cut out 2 circles or what ever eye shape you like (Optional Ideas include Aliens, see options below).  Cut out a nose shape in the middle. I went with a triangle shape. Now cut out the mouth. You can go detailed with teeth or just make a happy smile. Keep in mind the bend of the jug and don't cut too low because you won't see it. 

The Rib Cage - Use another whole jug. With the jug upright, position the corner of the jug in the front. Draw lines with the marker down each side that look like ribs. It can be difficult to cut through the jug here without slipping and cutting the part you want to keep attached. So be aware and be careful here. I found piercing the scissors into the jug in the negative space that will be cut out and then following the lines worked best.   

Two Shoulders - You will use 2 handles from 2 more jugs. Cut around each end leaving enough jug plastic on each end so you will be able to punch holes to connect them. You will also want to angle the cut on the end that will rest against the Ribs jug.  

The Pelvis - Use one of the jugs you cut the handle off of. You need the bottom part of the jug. Cut a wavy line that gives rounded points on each corner and dips in the flat part of the jug. Punch a hole in one corner toward the left edge and one toward the right corner edge. 

The Spine - Use the pour opening or spout of the jugs you cut up. You need 2. Cut a circle about 2 inches down from the spout.  You will attach the 2 spouts together and use the circle base part to attach to the pelvis on the bottom and the ribs on the top. 

The Upper Arm or Humerus - You will need 2 from the corners of the jugs. You will want to cut out a long bone shape. Remember to leave room to punch a hole in each end.

The Lower Arm or Ulna and Radius - You will need 2 from the sides of the jug. Cut these in the shape of a bone with a cut out in the center. You will want it to look like 2 bones but its actually one piece. Punch a hole in each end. 

The Upper Leg or Femur - You will need 2 from the corner of the jugs. Cut this bone longer than the arm bone.  Punch a hole in each end. 

The Lower Leg or Tibia and Fibula - You will need 2. Use the sides of the jugs. Same as the lower arm piece. Make a bone shape with a hole down the center. Punch a hole in each end. 

Hands - This part is fun. Trace your child's hand on paper and cut it out. Use this as a template for the hands of your skeleton. Use the side of the jug where the circle indention is as the palm. You need 2. Punch a hole at the wrist near the edge. 

Feet - Trace your child's feet on paper and cut out the shape to use as a template. Cut from the circle indention of the jugs. It gives a nice curve to the foot. You can always use a flat side too. You need 2. Punch a hole in the heel near the edge. 

Time to connect your bones! This reminds me of that song... The foot bone connected to the leg bone...wait - Haha. String your Zip Ties into the punched holes and connect the pieces. Trim any extra tails. The Spine and Neck areas can be tricky to connect. Punch a hole on each side of the Spout area. You can configure the zip tie to hide inside these sections when connecting. You will want it secure. For the Skull and Ribs jugs, punch your holes in the spouts on each side. This will look like the neck or spine.  Thread the zip ties into the jugs and secure on the left and then the right. Move the bulk of the zip tie into the inside of the jug so you don't see it. 

Punch a hole in the shoulder part of the Ribs Jug. Thread the zip tie into the hole and through one of the shoulder bones. Secure and repeat on the other side. Attach the upper arm and lower arm and hand with the zip ties. Repeat on the other side. 

To connect the legs to the pelvis just make sure they are on opposite sides and facing forward. Go ahead and secure the upper leg and lower leg and feet with the zip ties. Repeat on the other leg. 

Hang a loop of string or wire to the handle on the back of the skull and hang outside in a tree or on a shepherd's hook in your yard or garden (great scare crow) or from the top of your porch.   Your Milk Jug Skeleton is complete! 

Options are to decorate the skeleton with ribbons or glitter or glow in the dark paint. We gave ours a festive bow tie. You can add glow sticks inside the jug parts to really make it glow! A fun idea is to make one into an alien and spray paint it grey or glowing green! Have fun with it. We loved making these and I hope you do too. Happy Halloween!  

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
This was my month to host Bunco and what better theme than Cinco de Mayo?

I have been seeing an ad for a cute shirt that says "Margaritas made me do it" on my social media feed. This of course made me want a refreshing margarita and motivated me to make the shirt since I have the supplies. I haven't made anything with my Silhouette for over a year. This got me excited. Here is the pic of my shirt.

So what does everyone do when planning an event? Check Pinterest for great ideas! I love to get creative and make things. This goes way back to when I was a kid. My mother and grandparents were super creative and always had us painting or doing ceramics or gardening or learning embroider stitches. I really miss all the fun times I had with my sister making crafts with our Grammy and Papa. We joke that our artistic abilities are inherited directly from that side of the family.

I found so many great ideas for a Cinco de Mayo theme online, it was hard to choose just a few for our Bunco needs. We usually have a lot of people so quick finger foods and appetizers work well. Then we need a fun cocktail to compliment everything. I went with Margaritas of course!! I also had some Coronas on the table. We don't get too crazy because it's a Thursday night and most of us have kids so we keep it pretty tame. But we need a night out at least once a month even at our age!

Let me back up a bit. I wanted to decorate the room in the theme but really didn't want to spend a lot. I wanted to use what I have and spend some time with my daughter. She and our son have had a little of the creative education like what my sister and I got but not nearly as much. So, I asked my 4 year old to help me make some of the decorations for the party. We chose to make mini pinatas. They are made with toilet paper rolls or you can cut up a wrapping paper tube. Anything that shape will work. She is all about using scissors and cutting up paper so I showed her how to make the right cuts for the fringy parts of the pinata.  She did a great job and told me more than once how much fun she was having. We filled the tubes with some of the left over Easter candy and hung them on our kitchen table chandelier. The curling ribbons coming down looked great and gave the table more vertical dimension.

Then the food! Pshew! I went a little nuts here. Not really having too much but just having fun with the things we found on Pinterest. We made guacamole, black bean salsa, Mexican street corn dip, taquitos, churros and fruit cups. I was going to do a 7 layer taco dip but it wasn't needed with the amount of people who RSVP'd. We almost played Mexican Train Dominoes. (It fit the theme well).
The fruit cups choice had me chopping up watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, mangoes and limes for a good part of the day. It was fun and it makes me think I could have a second life as a sous chef.
One of the things we saw online that I wanted to try was carving the watermelon like a cactus and making a bowl with it for presentation. I learned that you can use dry erase marker to draw out the shape and then wipe it off when you are done. We added the rest of the fruit in the bowl like a fruit salad. We never got around to putting the toothpicks in the watermelon cactus though. Prob for the best since I would prob prick my finger while grabbing for the food!

Then we had a good idea for the end of the pineapple. We carved it into a bird and placed it on the edge of the watermelon bowl. It all looked so cute! Someone even mentioned I could get a job with Carnival with these food skills I was doing. (Contact me for a resume!!)

We decided to play outside by the pool to enjoy the beautiful weather. I didn't get any Buncos tonight but I got 2 mini's and had a great time with my ladies. Here is one of our Bunco winners. She got the crown till the next person wins.

Until next time, keep-rohlin!

Shabby Chic Chandelier

This sad looking light fixture has seen better days - like in the 80's. It's mismatched bulbs and tacky brass finish just isn't doing it any good. These old fixtures are pretty common in my neighborhood. I think all the builders placed them in the homes when they were built 35 years ago. Sadly most people just throw them away and hang something more modern or updated to their decor. Happily, for me, I grabbed one at the last big yard sale. You see, I had plans for the poor thing. 

A few years ago I had one of these ugly fixtures. It sat for a while and was taking up lots of real estate in our garage. We had a garage sale and I decided to get rid of it because you see, I was pregnant and knew I wouldn't have time to paint it and put the work into it to make it beautiful. It sold and I have regretted letting it go for some time. Fast forward to today. I had our beautiful baby girl and things were settling down. Imaging my delight when I came across this one at a local garage sale. I had to have it. The lady selling it was moving from her big home to a boat with her fisherman husband. She had purchased the old light with the same intentions as I had- to make it into something beautiful. She was asking way too much for it so I walked away. You ever get that feeling about something that you should have bought? I do it all the time (husband thinks I am a pack rat). I couldn't stop thinking about the light fixture and fun project I would have if I wanted to save it. I love the idea of repurposing things and turning them into something useful or decorative again.  I went back the next day and she was still there and get this- I got it for a fraction of the original price the seller wanted! Sometimes it pays to wait. 

I took my ugly duckling light home and ad my family looked at me like I was crazy, hauled it into my patio. I snapped this picture of it before it got too dark.  

She was happy to be in her new home and awaiting her transformation. Soon I began researching about what paint to use and how to clean her up. She already had a plug converter wired up and it even had a dimmer switch. Score! My original thought was to make my treasure turn into an outdoor chandelier for the big oak tree in our back yard. But with the delicate electrical, I think she needs to be covered and protected from the elements. 

I used 

Rust-oleum paint and primer in Matte Robin's egg color. I taped off the electrical parts with painters tape. You don't what to clog anything. I left the white tubes alone because I thought they should stay white. Then I roughed up the old brass so the paint would stick to it better. Then outside to spray. It took about 2 coats and I used about 1 and a half cans of paint. That left me enough to paint a frame I had that needed some color. I think this is my favorite color at the moment. Note my nails (they are So Gloss vinyl nail sleeves). After letting my light dry a few days, it was time to add some bling. I found some glitzy dangles at my local craft store and found the rest of the baubles online. With some careful wiring work, I got everything the way I wanted. I'm so pleased with the final result!

Look at that gleam! Sparkles perfect for a princess! Let me know what you think and remember, you can take something old and gross and turn it into something gorgeous too! 

Rocking Chair Rescue

So, I am learning something about myself. I guess I always knew I was like this. It is just becoming more and more apparent as I get older. I am a scavenger. I want to save or rescue things. I don't like to throw things away that could be fixed or repurposed in some way. Yes, this has gotten me in trouble before. For example I had to have the sweetest little shelter dog I saw on petfinders. She looked just like my beloved pet who had passed a few years ago. On impulse, I had to have her. She has turned into a wonderful addition to our family but I don't think my husband wanted to get another dog at that point. 

Sometimes I am obsessed with finding a good deal.  My thriftiness comes out when I shop at garage sales and thrift stores. A lot of the things we have in our home are treasures I have found at a garage sale or local Goodwill or ICM. For example, I once bought an oil painting of a ship at our local thrift store. Because of my hubby's career, anything nautical appeals to me.  The painting was signed by the artist. I found out it was painted by a man who was featured on the cover of Liberty magazine back in the 50's. No clue what the painting is worth but for me that was enough. Then I found a wooden desk from someone on a swap site on Facebook. The desk had a logo on the inside of one of the drawers. So I Googled it and found out those desks were from a bank and many of the bank executives and secretaries used them. I looked on eBay and saw one for sale for $1500.  I got mine for $40. 

And more recently, I decide to stop at ICM on the way home yesterday. I didn't want to go because I am trying to save money and get us on a budget. But it called to me. Thank goodness! I found some beautiful clothes including a black cami sweater, a beige leather blazer l, and a gorgeous red evening gown that I will use for a party in March. There were a few other shirts in the find as well and it all came to a grand total of $18.  You can't beat that! 

Back to the rescue part.  I have been known to find things on the side of the road too. I may or may not have looked for treasures in neighborhoods after they have community garage sales. Is that tacky? My mother always said, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Last October, I found a really cute wicker rocking chair in the pile to be thrown away. I shoved it in my trunk (in the rain by the way-yes, I may have a problem) and brought it home. It rested in my garage till this Feb. I want to bring it back to life. The thing must be at least 50 years old. It still has the springs. Here is a picture.

It had a cushion at some point but it was totally weather beaten and any stuffing was long gone. The structure was good though and the only bad part I could see was the legs were a little nicked or chewed. Here is a pic of the seat part under the material. 

What a mess! This prompted me to do a Google and YouTube search for how to repair the spring part or just gut it and add a plywood base. The gutting did appeal to me but I was worried about cutting a piece of wood to fit it. Repairing the spring part shouldn't be too hard right? 

After looking up what to do, I learned there is an 8 point tying system that reupholstery people use. It was important to remove what was there in order to repeat the process. There are a bunch of little tacks that held the material onto the frame. Pull those out. Then, there were a bunch of nails holding the twine in position. Those were tougher to get out with the tools I have. But I got it all off in about 2 hours. Here is a pic of what I'm talking about. 

There is a lot of dirt around te base of this chair so I am going to clean it before I start working with the twine tying process. 

After going to Hobby Lobby for supplies, I am still laking the proper twine for this project. I did find the tacks and some beautiful chevron material that is somewhat weather resistant. For the twine issue, I enlisted the advice of my friend Chris.  She use to work for GM as a car seat upholsterer. She would know! 

She offered some twine she has that I could use. So now I just need to clean and prep the chair. I will continue this post when I get the twine and let you all know (and see) how it turns out!  Still excite to complete this so that is a good thing! 

You're so Dauntless!

Do you ever have those odd moments of foreshadowing? I am talking about something that happens in your life that seems insignificant at the time but then as things play out, it seems to stick in your mind like the universe was giving you a clue of what was coming your way. This happens to me a lot. It could be because I have always been the type to notice things that most people miss. Little things. Things that don't mean anything at the time. I am also very sentimental. Part of being a pack rat I guess.
I remember talking to a coworker back when I was working at a Newspaper when I had a career in Advertising. He was part of the maintenance crew. He was telling me he was about to go out on a ship and would be gone for months. He was telling me how it was hard on his girlfriend and him. I remember discussing how I wouldn't want that. How I didn't think I would be able to live without my loved one for an extended time. Huh. Funny.
Another time was when I was a teenager and all my friends were talking about how many kids they wanted. I was bravely announcing how I only wanted one child. One that I would spoil and love and one was all I needed. Hmm. Weird.
Recently, my book club picked me to choose the book we were to read. I had a few ideas based on Amazon and Kindle recommendations and some ideas of what I had seen on social media sites. We chose the book Divergent by Veronica Roth. It is about a girl living in a dystopian version of Chicago. It was Young Adult and had similar ties to the popular Hunger Games novels. This was a book was the first of a trilogy so I thought if we liked it we could continue to read the future books to keep the story going. Little did I know.
I am a party planner so I got a bunch of ideas from the internet.  I had a virtual choosing ceremony table set up with the foods and substances that represented each faction.

 

I had the bowls representing each faction. There were gray stones for Abnegation, glass beads for Candor, coals and a lit candle for Dauntless, water for Erudite, and earth or dirt from my back yard for Amity.  I downloaded the symbols from the web and made cards for each. I also decorated with some black birds around the table.

I wanted the refreshments for my club to be tasty but also correctly represent what the different factions would eat. So for Abnegation and their selfless and plain bland diet I used crackers and cheese. For Erudite, the intelligent, I had ***(I really can't remember lol)***. Dauntless had to have chocolate cake as mentioned in the book. For Candor, the truth seekers, Jello fit the bill. It was clear and I used orange because it reminded me of the truth serum they injected into those going into their fear-scape. For Amity, the peaceful farmers, I served apple pie.  

 I kept things simple and used black and white. I also asked my club members to come dressed up as their favorite faction. My friend and I chose to be Dauntless and I even made some bird tattoos like what I imagined Tris would have. I cut some extras in case anyone wanted to fake being awesome like me.

I think I look pretty righteous like I could jump a train or something. Bad ass. If I only knew....

We discussed the book and some of our favorite parts. We also went over some questions I had prepared.

The night was a huge success and my girls loved the effort I put into it. I was a true fan and I am really anticipating the movie coming out. Now, back to the foreshadowing...

Little did I know that I would literally become a member of the Dauntless. You see, my husband is a Coast Guardsman. His job has us moving around quite a bit. We wanted to stay in this area of Texas so when a position came open here, he applied for it. We got to stay in our house. He became a shipmate on the US Coast Guard Cutter "Dauntless" and I became a real Dauntless wife.

Bom Bom Bommmmmmm 

Love is in the air

The month of February is all about love. We give gifts to those we care about to remind them that even if we don't show it every day, we love them every minute. So, every year I face the dilemma of what to get my husband. I mean you can't really give your man a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses. (Well, I guess you could?) Most guys would be happy with some beer and a nice evening (if you know what I mean). 

So, I think I have found a solution that isn't too froufrou. It's sentimental and classy too...an Anniversary plaque.  I made one for my friend a while ago and she said her husband really likes it. It sits on their bedroom dresser.

 

I made it with my Silhouette Cameo using vinyl and glass. I used a decorative font for the first letter of their last name. Then I split the letter and personalized it more with their name. Then at the bottom, I used their first names in another font and the date they were married at the bottom. You can get more detailed by adding the actual wedding date if you have space. That way your man will never forget to send you flowers and a card on the right day!

I hope you have someone special to hold onto this Valentine's and I hope you enjoyed this Anniversary Plaque.

 

Minecraft Birthday Party

When you ask your child what theme they want for their birthday you secretly hope that they choose something popular and a theme that you can actually find decorations for. When this doesn't happen, you turn to Pinterest.com for some help with creating the best party you can. In my son's case, this dream party to beat all others was Minecraft.

Now, let me say I have some experience with the actual game. I believe this is unlike most parents. I actually enjoy playing Mojang's video game. It is addicting and offers my son a virtual Lego world. He can be as creative as he wants. As we researched the net to figure out how to play this game, I became addicted as well. I have since slowed down and am trying to focus on blogging and crafting. (LOL yeah right!) Anyway, here are some of the pictures of the party and some of the ideas I got online and some I came up with. 

The food consisted of the kind of things you would find in the game. We had Pretzels for Sticks, Goldfish for Fish. Cheese balls for Snow, Chips for Potatoes, Red Vines for TNT, Hot dogs and Buns for Pork and Bread, Celery for Sugar Cane, Carrot for Carrot, Green Gumballs for Slime, You name it, we probably had it featured. We even had Zombie Flesh Meat (beef jerky). I use the Wiki to get the images of each item that Steve might have in his inventory and printed labels for each one.

The table was covered in a grass tablecloth (thank you Superbowl party décor). We had apples and grass to decorate the center. We even had a Nether Portal that they had to go through to get into the Kitchen. I used black and purple crepe paper.

The Creeper wall hanging was made with colored paper plates. The squares were perfect. It was a bit difficult to tape together but it turned out great. Thanks hubby for helping.

I decided to go with the traditional cake like the one in the game. It was white and chocolate cake covered in buttercream with a fondant outer layer. Some of the kids really dug in and some were nervous with their first fondant experience. Note the awesome torches and paper crafts I found online to print.

 

One of our games was to "Mine in the sandbox (heh, fitting) for diamonds and other minerals. We used cut up Mardi Gras necklaces to make it seem like there were chunks of gold and iron, rocks for coal that were spray painted black and some left over diamond bling that I had in my craft room. The kids loved it and we had one older girl that would not stop trying for that diamond. It was really cold that day too so she was a real trooper.  We also did a Creeper Toss bean bag game (excellent for the boys) and the girls enjoyed making Melty Bead necklaces or ornaments for their Christmas Tree.

 

We had to do a piñata and my son wanted to do a Ghast instead of another Creeper. So I came up with this idea. It was made from a square shaped one from the store and sprayed white with a printed Ghast face and crepe paper legs.  He loved it.  Afterward, everyone ran around and had a Silly String war and exploded poppers. How fun!

The Candle Shot:)

Here is the whole crew. They had a great time. My son was so happy and loved every minute of it even if some of the parents had no clue what the theme was all about.  I enjoyed it too.