Pumpkin Bat

This is a Pumpkin Bat that I made as a prototype for my son's teacher.  They are having a pumpkin decorating contest in their school and each class must decorate a pumpkin.  My son's teacher asked for ideas and this is one I came up with.  I figured each child could cut out and decorate their bat and we will add it to the pumpkin.  Below are pictures of my son decorating the prototype (I had to see if it was easy enough to do for him - he's my guinea pig - shhhhh!)

This was an easy and cheap project.  I got the idea here but tweaked it a bit.

First we took a dollar store carvable pumpkin and painted it black with acrylic paint.

We let it dry and cut out wings, ears, and eyes.  We taped toothpick to the ears and skewers to the back of the wings to give it stability.

My lil' man then added the baby bats (which also had toothpick taped to the back - but we painted the toothpicks black since it can be seen).

And here it is!  Can you tell my lil' man is proud?

He enjoyed.  Hope you did too.

Peechee

3d Pumpkin in a Fall Leaf Frame

I just love this wall decor.  I made it as a present for my son's teacher but I'm loving it so much I might have to keep it for myself.  LOL!  Or I could always make her another one.

Anyway, this was a super easy and super cheap project. Everything came from the Dollar Store!  I purchased:

 * 1 carvable styrofoam pumpkin
 * 1 8x10 plastic frame
 * 2 bags of fall leaves (green/yellow and green/red variety)
 * 1 sheet of moss

1.  I discarded the glass on the frame and replaced it with the sheet moss.
2.  I cut the styrofoam pumpkin in half using regular large kitchen knife.
3.  I glued the leaves around the frame.
4.  I glued half of the pumpkin in the middle of the sheet moss.

That's it. Super easy, huh?  And definitely super cheap and super-duper cute!

Here's the back and side profile.

Hope you liked it!

Peechee

Beach Theme Cupcakes

It was my lil' mans birthday party and the theme of his birthday was a Hawaiian Luau.  So for his "cake", I made him a beach theme cupcake.  I didn't feel like doing the whole big cake thing so just made cupcakes and decorated them. He was very happy with that.

 

Yes!  Those are gummi foot sandals!  Aren't they cute?  I bought those from Oriental Trading.

I purchased the Umbrellas from the Dollar Store.

The "sand" is actually cinnamon graham crackers mashed up and sprinkled on like sand.

 

I made yellow cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes.  The yellow was ok but the chocolate was amazing and was gone quick.

 

 

~ Peechee

Super Mario Duct Tape Shoes - Recycle Project

So I had these shoes that are totally worn out and was about to throw out when I decided to give the duct tape covered shoes project a try. I figured that if it didn't turn out right, it's not really a big loss.  Well, they turned out pretty darn cute, if I don't say so myself.

 I used the Nintendo Super Mario duct tape that I had purchased for my little man's school folder cover.  Here's the shoes with one as an after and the other as the before.

 

I took the duct tape and pieced it around the shoes.

 

I trimmed it up with an exacto knife and here's the finished product.

 

Aren't they cute?

 

I think I'm going to make a matching duct tape hair bow and small purselet.  Maybe even a belt.  Possibilities are endless.

 

Peechee

Chocolate Candy Cake - Picture Tutorial

Just as I promised, here's how I made the chocolate candy cake...

 

 

Paper plates
Mini Hershey bars
Mini Kit Kat bars
Hershey Kisses
Mini Reese's White Chocolate
Ferrero Rocher
Glue Gun

First I lined up the Hershey Bars and taped them together on the back.  Then I took the paper support that's included in the Hershey bar packaging and rolled it to make a circle - it took 2 of the paper supports.

 

I then glued the circle onto a paper plate then took another paper plate and glued it on top sandwiching the circle in between the paper plates.

 

Here's the sandwich, now a fake cake.

 

I then wrapped the Mini Hershey Bars around the circle part of fake cake and glued them down.

 

I took another paper plate and cut off the scallop part.  Then I snipped around the plate up to the indentation.

 

Snip all the way around, like so.

 

Bend up all the snips - this will make a cover.

 

Put the cover aside and again get the paper supports from the candy packaging.  You will need 2.  As you can see in the picture below, there are sides to the paper support. You have to remove both sides.

 

Here it is removed. It just tears off because it is already perforated.

 

 

Attach the 2 paper supports together because you again will be making another circle form.

 

 

This time, however, you will form the circle to fit directly on the indentation part of the paper plate.  Once lined up, glue it on.  I used hot glue.

 

Because the circle form sits right on the indentation, and the cover you created earlier is cut to the indentation line, the cover should fit.  Just place it over the top, lining it up and bending the tabs over.

 

Now, remember the paper support edges that was torn off? Well, I used that to wrap around and hold down the tabs to make it look prettier.

 

Here it is with the tabs covered.

 

 

I added almost an entire box of Ferrero Rocher inside the fake cake container.

 

 

Then I took mini KitKats, lined them up, taped them, and wrapped them around the second layer of the fake cake.

 

 

Here it is with the lid closed.

 

I then just decorated away by adding other chocolate candies and some curling ribbon.  And tah-dah ... Chocolate Candy Cake!!

 

 

Chocolate Cake - from candy

It was my best friend's son's birthday and when I asked him what he wanted, he said "Chocolate Cake".  So chocolate cake is what I gave him.  But it's not an ordinary cake because this cake is made completely from chocolate candies.  I used mini Hershey bars, mini KitKat bars, white chocolate Reese's cups, Hershey Kisses,and Ferrero Rocher.  What you don't see is that there is a hidden compartment inside that holds a lot of Ferrero Rocher. I will post those pictures with how I made this yummy cake in my next posting.

Hope you n-joy'd!

Peechee

True Recycling fashioned from need

Back in the begining of July, the normal temperature in our area was over 100 degrees.  It was H-O-T! Well, my eldest (along with my other son from another mother) was temporarily working a firework stand and due to the heat, was drinking a lot of water.  Well, one of those days hit about 112 degrees. Sitting in a tent that's in the middle of a parking lot didn't help.  So my super creative sons, who were hot as f*#k, turned their empty water bottles into fans by squashing the bottles, placing them on top of each other, and taping them together.  From there all they had to do was fan themselves ... and it worked!! It helped a little to fan themselves but it was still super hot.

The boys at their stand.

Photo Word Art with Jeremy Renner

Yeah, yeah ... so I've been Rennerized!

I found this awesome online program where you can upload a picture and then using your words/descriptions (or even words from your blog or site), it will automatically transform it into a word art.  What better way for me to experiment with it by using a picture of Jeremy.  Here's how it turned out ...

Jeremy Renner Word Art Collage

I think it's pretty cute.  I tried a couple of other things using one of  the shapes they have as a choice.  I just changed up the color theme and the orientation, as well as the words inside.

Aren't they just adorable.  I have a couple of crafty things in mind to do with these.  I'm thinking printing them out and making a charm or enlarging it an putting onto a canvas or print it on an iron-on and make a t-shirt.  Possibilities are endless.

Here's the site for you to give it a try ... www.tagxedo.com

Have fun and please share what you create.  I'd love to see it. Just add your link in the comments so we can all go visit.

Peechee

In Memory of Franklin Candle - for Jeremy Renner

In Memory of Franklin Candle - for Jeremy Renner

A few things you didn't know about me ... I'm a dog lover, I've lost a dog to a car accident, and I'm a big fan of Jeremy Renner.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, at the beginning of this year (2012), Jeremy Renner (Avenger's Hawkeye, Bourne Legacy, The Town, The Hurt Locker, Neo Ned) lost his cute, adorable dog, Franklin, to a heart attack.  I understand how he must have felt because I have also lost a dog.  And let me tell you, my dog's death really screwed me up.  I ended up quiting my job and dropping out of my classes right before finals because I just couldn't focus.  It was a hard time and it took me a while to recover.

Well, being an admirer of Jeremy Renner and hearing of his loss, I wanted to express my sympathy to him by honoring his dog, Franklin, by making an eternal candle that he could light up for Franklin.  I didn't dare share this after the loss because that would have hurt more.  But now that time has passed and he has moved on and got himself 2 more dogs, I think it's now appropriate to share my creation.

Franklin's Candle when lit up.

The candle is one of those battery operated candles which I purchased from a local store in my area.  I created the cover on the candle on my computer using a picture of Franklin I found on the net and rewriting a sympathy poem.  The background is a photo I took of the sky when it was bright blue.  I printed it on velum type paper and glued it to the candle. So now, at night, a candle can be lit for Franklin without worries of any fires.  Jeremy will probably never receive the candle, so I will just have to light it up for him for Franklin.

Here's the poem I re-wrote ...

You saved me from my loneliness,

and made my days shine bright.

A gift for such a short time,

your loss was just not right.

Gone yet not forgotten,

although we are apart,

your spirit lives within me,

forever in my heart.

Rest in peace Franklin.

Peechee

PS.  Forgot to mention, I'm also an actress and I worked on the set of Neo Ned with Jeremy Renner.  Although I didn't get to act with him or even see him, since I was just background, it's pretty cool that I can say I was on his set.

Here's Mr. Renner.  Isn't he just adorable?  And his acting is astonishing!

Crayon Monogram for Teachers

So as a thank you gift for the wonderful job my lil' man's teachers did this year, I created a crayon monogram that I framed.

It turned out really well, I think.  I had another one for the assistant teacher but forgot to take that picture.  It was just such a busy time.  Better busy than lazy though.

Here's the link to the instruction on how to make these:

http://rainytuesdaymornings.blogspot.com/2010/05/crayon-monograms.html

Peechee