Pinterest Fail - Father's Day

I haven't had an epic fail of a project in a while so I was long overdue. And of course, being me, it had to be a gift. AND on a holiday. So I encourage you to sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch as I royally screwed up a sand footprint keepsake, original instructions from this post by PagingFunMums.

It sounded easy enough at first, you just need:

1. Some sand
2. A picture frame
3. Plaster of Paris (I read this article on how to make your own. Big mistake.)

So to start, you take the cardboard and glass out of the frame, put the cardboard on top, flip the frame over, and now you have a nice space to pour your sand into. Note that I tried using plastic bags to cover my workspace.. lets call this Mistake #1: You need to cover the entire surface you're working on. If you're doing it on the floor, cover every inch of the floor. If the table, cover the entire table.

Why cover the entire surface, you ask? Because you're going to get sand everywhere! Sure, you'll try really hard to keep it all in the frame, but the sand will laugh at you and go where it pleases. If you manage to keep it in the frame, try to level it out as best you can. A ruler would be great, however I just used a leftover piece of cardboard.

If you want to use a kid's handprint or footprint, be prepared to use that ruler often. You're going to be smoothing out that sand at least 5-10 times. I tried with both a 1-month old and a 3-year old and both weren't easy. The 1-month old was a two-person process: one person to hold the baby, the other to plant the foot. The 3-year old wanted to play with the sand. You know what? This would be a great project for... fish. Dead fish. Do this with a dead fish.

See that hole in the footprint's heel? The frame had a hole.
Don't buy a frame with a hole in it.

So here's where Mistakes #2.. #3... #953 occurred: trying to make DIY Plaster of Paris. Just skip the hassle and go buy some, people. Really. Because the first time, I did two parts water to one part glue, which is made it very runny. The second time I tried one part water to two parts glue but only had 1 bottle of glue, which wasn't nearly enough.

The third time I bought more glue but it still didn't reach the edges and the glue started to seep out, which is why you now see a garbage bag underneath. But really, I should have used a tarp. Because the glue and sand was now everywhere... sigh...

And then you're supposed to wait. And wait. And supposedly, after 24-28 hours, you wipe off the excess sand, spray it with sealer, and ta-da! It's supposed to look like this!

Instead... well... you're not supposed to be able to see the footprints, but you can clearly see the here... in the garbage bag...

But of course, it started to fall apart in my hands once I tried to remove the cardboard. See, this is why DIY Plaster of Paris is not a good idea.

And into the trash it went! Perhaps someday I'll try this again with store-bought plaster, though I think it won't be on a holiday and it won't be a gift. Happy Father's Day!

TOTAL COSTS: About $20 for this fail
$8.00 for frame from Michael's
$6.58 for sand from Michael's
$4.77 for 3 bottles of Elmer's glue from CVS

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 24 hours +30 minutes of prep
Or in other words, a big waste of time..

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 5 out of 5
If I hadn't of used DIY Plaster of Paris, this would have worked out much better. As it was, though, it was a big, grainy, slimy mess. You're better off just buying some sand and playing with that. The 3-year old was right all along!

April Fools' Day Portable Milk Spill

Happy April Fools' Day! I've never been one to do practical jokes but this one from Instructables seemed easy enough (and not life-threatening, like some "jokes" out there). It's easy enough for any kid or kid at heart to make, it's portable, and scary enough to look realistic but not so scary that you'll need a defibrillator on hand.


All you need are four things:

#1 - A piece of glass (which I took from a picture frame)
#2 - Elmer's glue
#3 - A bar of soap
#4 - A knife

First, coat one side of your glass with soap. The soap will act as a lubricant and will make it easier to remove the "spill" once it dries.

Next, draw out your "spill" with the glue. The thicker the spill, the easier it'll be to come off once it's dry. I tried not to make it too cartoony (which is hard because you don't want a blob but you want it to look realistic), however size and variance is completely up to you.

And then, the waiting game. I let mine dry overnight because after 7 hours, it was still sticky.

Once it's completely dry, use your knife to poke the sides and peel it off the glass.

If your spill is not completely dry, then it's going to stick to the glass and you'll end up having a big hole in the middle. Lesson learned: be patient!

However, if you did it correctly, you should be able to place it on top of anything valuable - keyboards, laptops, iPads, your kid's homework... whatever will look the most realistic! Have fun and be prepared to face the consequences... like payback!

TOTAL COSTS: $5
$2.99 for Elmer's glue from Michael's
$2 for IKEA picture frame glass
X-acto knife and hotel bar soap already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 5 minutes + overnight (and then some if need be!)

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
I've never been one to be a.) patient or b.) good at practical jokes so I'm not surprised with this outcome. However, if you're patient, you should be able to pull this off with flying colors!

Hanukkah Candles Picture Frame

So I found this post by Felt So Cute and thought it was very cute and easy... but I'm not a teacher and I don't have kids so a crayon picture frame seemed wrong. So then I thought, "What if I exchanged crayons for Hanukkah candles?" Good Hanukkah decorations are hard to come by so here's something I thought would make a great gift!

I'll let you be the judge.

First, gather your supplies. Hanukkah candles, scissors, a hot glue gun, a picture frame, and a marker (though I used my finger nail). Note: kittens probably won't help in this project.

Then decide how you want to lay out the candles. Do you want to keep the wicks on or off? Measure the candles with either a marker or your finger nail and shorten the candles with a knife or saw but I found scissors to work just fine, as long as you cut fast. If you don't, the wax will chip and break off very easily and it's not pretty...

About halfway through I realized this project might not look as good as I thought it might. But I'm not one to stop halfway through anything so I kept cutting and gluing, cutting and gluing. Note that the candles won't be perfectly aligned so you might see some of the back of the frame.

When it was all done, I showed it to my husband and we both agreed - it looked... ok. Ahh well... I'd say this would be a fun project for kids but considering it involves sharp objects and hot glue, you may be better off just... not... doing it... at all...

Moral of the story: not every Pinterest project is worth doing.

TOTAL COSTS: About $17
$1.99 for 3x5 wooden picture frame from Michael's
$14.99 for 135 hanukkah candles from Bed, Bath & Beyond
Hot glue already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 50 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
It's not a difficult project, you're just shortening the candles to fit on the frame and hot gluing them on. The hard part... is making it look good!

2 Fast and Fun Projects with Chalkboard Liner!

Different chalkboard projects float around Pinterest but I couldn't find many involving chalkboard liner so here are two fast and fun projects you can do!

Here are the instructions from the inside of the liner (take note of what you can't use it on):

Project #1 - The New Year's Eve Jars

It's quite simple: find a jar and starting on January 1st, start putting little things in it. Movie tickets, matchbooks, seashells, wine corks, jewelry, notes, whatever you want. Do this throughout the year and come December 31st, open the jar and see everything that happened that year. Best part? You can keep the jars and open them anytime you want! Maybe if you have a kid, they'll be able to open the jar from the year they were born!

I found a Smuckers jam jar was way too small so I upgraded to a 32oz mason jar. Where does the chalkboard liner come in? You can label the top! Just take off the lid, put it on the back of the chalkboard liner, and trace around the edges. Cut out the circle you just drew, take off the backing, and stick it to the top of the lid!

Note that you may get bubbles on the top. Don't try to rub them out, it doesn't work. Trust me. Simply lift up the liner and place it back down on the lid to get the bubbles out. Once the lid is back on the jar, you're done! Just grab your chalk to label the top and start filling it with memories!

Another option is to label jars and fill them with school supplies - a great option for the teachers out there who try to keep their classrooms organized!



Project #2 - Picture Frame Turned Message Board

I had a great frame that I wanted to use for something but I broke the glass into a million pieces. Instead of going out and buying a new piece of glass, I decided to cover the back panel of the frame with chalkboard liner and turn it into a message board! It's as simple as it sounds - lay out the back panel on the liner paper, cut out however much you need to cover the back panel AND 1 cm around the edges, remove adhesive backing and cover the panel. Put it back in the frame and voila! You now have a message board you can cover with whatever you like! Grocery lists, calendars, schedules, notes to your loved ones - whatever you want to put, all you need is some chalk and you're good to go! Instructions for how to make a chalkboard coffee mug like the one in the photo can be found here.

TOTAL COSTS: $6
$6 for 6' on Amazon but it looks like it has gone up to $7
Mason jars and picture frame already had

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Less than 5 minutes
Really, you're just cutting out the liner and sticking it on whatever you like!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
It's something you could do in your classroom and even get the kids involved for DIY projects at home!