Gumball Machine

Now, this is what we have been searching for forever!  We found it awhile ago but I am just getting caught up on all of my blog posts.  Anyway, the thing that we have been looking for, and the one thing I have really wanted is a gumball machine.  You see a gumball machine is the perfect thing to add character to a room.  So we found one at a yardsale for a steal, it only cost $1.00, we were very excited.  After we get it home and cleaned up we brak out the spray paint cans and started spraying.  This is a fairly simple project to do, you just spray paint the parts that you need to (the stand, machine, and top) and then fill it with candy.  I am very pleased with the final result, it is so cute!  I have not had a chance to buy candy to fill it up with yet, but here it is.

Now if you want to see some more gumball machines follow these links.  Twice Remembered and Gumball Machines

Spring Break Fun

So over spring break me and my family didn't really go anywhere this year, but I did get invited to go down to Willard Bay with my friends on Saturday, and let's just say we had a blast, here are some pictures that we took when we were there.

Framed Chalkboards

Okay, so you know when you are working on a project and it just seems to drag on and on and on? I do, we have been working on these chalkboards for what seems like forever, but we finally got them done! I am so excited.  Let me tell you how we made them first.  You will need the following things.

• Picture Frame (it can be any size you want depending on how big you want the chalkboard to be.)
• Glass or Plywood (we used glass but you might want to use plywood so you don't have to worry about breaking it.)
• Spray Paint (any color)
• White Primer Spray Paint
• Chalkboard Spray Paint (you can find this at your home depot)
• Scrapbook Paper *optional

First you find a picture frame that you really like, we went to the D.I. and found some decorative frames that we really liked.  They don't have to be very decorative, ours was a very simple kind of frame.  Once youfind your frame keep in mind that however big it is, that is how big your chalkboard will be.  Then you can go and get the color of spray paint that you want, we did ours in Spring pastels.  Then you prime it, and then you apply it with your color spray paint.  This is what it might look like.

After you have it all spray painted you can start on the next step which is making the chalkboard.  Now when you buy your picture frame it might come with glass that already fits in it.  You can use this as the chalkboard or you can cut some plywood the the size that you need.  I would recommend that you use the plywood so that the chalkboard won't break when you press down on it too hard.  So you go and get your chalkboard spray paint from Home Depot and you just follow the directions on the back and spray it onto the glass or plywood.  Spray a couple coats onto it and let it dry.  After that you prime the chalkboard by getting a white piece of chalk and turning it so it is on its side and gently rubbing the chalkboard, do this until the whole chalkboard is covered.  Then you simply wipe it off and you are ready to go.  Here are our chalkboard that we made out of glass.

Now after you are done with the chalkboard part you can just slip them into your frame.  Here is the part where it is optional.  We put scrapbook paper on the back of our chalkboards by modge podging them onto a thin slice of cardboard.  Your frame might come with it or you can cut some out of a cereal box.  You modge podge it on and slip it in after the chalkboard.  Now you have a beautiful chalkboard that can be used for anything and can be hung everywhere.  Here are ours.

Paper Chandelier

Now, I cannot take all of the credit for this project.  I saw this with my mom on Studio 5.  You can also find it on their website, just follow this link, How To Make Paper Chandeliers and it will take you right to the video where you can watch how to make them.  Let's start out with the things that we will need to make this project.

• Tissue Paper (can be any color you want)
• Scissors
• Ribbon (also can be any kind you want) 

Now that you have all of your supplies, let me tell you what you should do.  First, you should make sure that you have a space that is big enough to spread out all of your tissue paper flat.  Now, follow the instructions below:

1. First, you get your tissue paper and spread it out.  Make sure you have at least 8-10 pieces of paper.  You can do less, I did one with just five and it worked out fine but it is harder to fluff out.
2. Start to fold your paper the way you would with a paper fan.  You know, you fold it one way, then flip it over and fold it the other way.
3. Once you have done that with all of your tissue paper you tie a ribbon around the halfway mark of your paper.  Make sure that it is long enough so when you are done you can use it to hang the chandeliers with.
4. After you have the ribbon tied on, you can do something to the ends of the tissue paper.  To make it have a prettier or more decorative look you can cut a curved or pointed edge onto it.  I will show you what I did in a minute if you are confused, or you could go up to the link and watch the video first.
5. Then you grab one of the sheets of tissue paper and you carefully pull it up, you repeat this until you have done it to the whole thing on both sides.
6. Ta dah!  You have your chandelier, the perfect thing to hang in or spice up any room.  Definitely a conversation starter, everyone will love it!

Now all that I have to do with mine is because we could not find any ribbon that was think, white and gauzy we used just regular ribbon, so it is not coming up all the way.  I fyou have this problem you can just use fishing wire or any kind of wire to hang it anywhere and there you have it, your home made chandelier.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I hope everybody had a great Easter weekend.  I had a fun time.  First, let me talk about something new that we did this year.  This year, instead of your typical baskets that can be so messy and things are falling out of them and they are hard to store because they refuse to stack, my mom and I were just making a run to town for some things and we decided to stop at Alco.  It's just one of those small stores that have a little bit of everything.  Well, on the way to the checkout, we saw some party buckets.  We have all seen them at the store, you use them for drinks or chips at a party.  Well, we were thinking how cute they would be if we used them as easter baskets.  They were absolutely perfect and came in four colors, pink, green, blue and orange.  It was just the right amount of colors because there are four kids in our family, three boys and one girl.  So we color coordinated them using pink grass for the pink basket and green for green, and blue for blue, we could not find any orange grass so we used yellow and it still looks great!  Here are some photos of the finished products.

 

Are they not super cute?  I could not show you the green or the blue bucket because my brothers had already hauled them off to their rooms, but you get what I am trying  to show you.  I really like them and the are really easy to do.  Do you see that green purse, well parents you do not always have to put just candy or movies or toys in your kids baskets you can put things like this.  I absolutely love this purse, I have been needing one desperately.  And, to top it all off, it only cost $6 at family dollar, what a deal!  The next thing I shall show you is a new thing that we have discovered just this year.  On Good Things Utah we saw a person talking about one of their Easter traditions.  It was to have an Easter egg hunt outside, and to have each person only pick up one color egg and the golden eggs.  Well,  they also threw something else into the mix.  They had these eggs that were filled with confetti and if you found one you could crack it on another person and steal one of their eggs.  Here is a picture of the eggs with confetti, you can get them at Wal-mart for $2.

Speaking of Easter eggs, my family and I colored some eggs on Easter.  We usually do that the night before, but we totally forgot because we got home late on Saturday.  Here are just some pictures of the easter eggs that we colored.  I know they are not the cutest things, but I like them.  We just used a Paas kit with the wax crayons and some rubber bands.