DIY Puppet Theater

PBJ: Post By Julie

Last summer I found this little cabinet at a yard sale for 3 dollars!

I decided to make a finger puppet theater that can stay at grandma’s house so all the grandkids can enjoy it. I removed the glass panes from the doors, cut out a panel (it was just heavy chipboard paneling) from the back and

painted the cabinet brown. For the flag poles I used pieces of bamboo skewers with a piece of a plastic tube/straw over it, then glued a carved wood ball on top and painted them all gold.

I drilled holes to put them in and secured with glue. The flags are just painted chip board with gold trim glued on. (yeah E6000 ) I glued several kinds of trim on the cabinet, sewed curtains out of red velveteen which is gathered on a piece of wire coat hanger. The wire is pushed into screw holes where the glass had been secured in the front.

I gathered and put trim and tassels on the drapes and made a “curtain” to hang on the back of the theater.

I used Velcro to hold the curtain on at the top, and made little wood braces on the sides to hold the fabric out/away so little hands can reach up to work the puppets. I might make several more of these with actual scenes on them, barnyard, mountains, castle, etc. to go along with different stories. ( but I think that’s just making work for myself! Haha) For now, we will encourage the kids to imagine anything they want!

The finger puppets are crocheted in the Philippines. My sister-in-law lives there and sent them to me. I did make the little girl one from a pattern, but I might try crafting my own (not crochet). For the bottom half of the theater I think I will make some little storage trunks for the puppets to live in. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s been fun to do!

Linked up to Poppies At Play - Creative Cats!!

Foodie Friday: Sour Cream

I just have to give a shout out to the best sour cream out there! Daisy sour cream is not only super delicious, but its ingredient list is the most convincing thing of all. I ONLY buy Daisy, even if it's a few more cents than the competitors. I've looked at other sour cream's labels and find dozens of ingredients that I can't even pronounce. .. When you look at the ingredient list on the back label of Daisy, it only has one thing listed: Grade A Cultured Cream.






Talk about pure and natural! It's such a delight to know that the Daisy brand isn't putting in all kinds of junk into something that doesn't need it. If you're not convinced to try Daisy because of it's pure ingredients, give it a taste, it's superb! (And no they're not paying me to say any of this!) =) I wish!

Wow, I'm a bum - oh and a gorgeous candy dish!

I knew it'd been a while since I've posted, but I didn't realize it's been THIS long, holy cow! Oh well, starting fresh!

This is another one of those candy dishes that I tried before, and this one turned out great, I love it! I found a green glass candlestick holder, and just had to have it! It went perfectly with the black dishes I also found at the thrift store. Another $1.50 gift, we put together with treats and a card for my MIL for Christmas. Maybe it's just me, but even though it didn't cost a lot, I think it's a pretty nice gift! I'd be thrilled to receive one, so I hope I don't seem too cheap. Anyways, just glued them with E6000. I just wanted to post this, so you could see a different color candlestick option with the green, and also to see it with the bowl on top instead of the two plates. Yay! I love it!

Voila!

Linked up to Poppies At Play - Creative Cats!!

New Blog Title

I decided to change the name of my blog. It was originally called, "My creative attempts" but I have since found another blog with the same title. We even started posting some of our projects at the same linky parties! Small world. I decided to change my title so there's no confusion, and so she won't think I stole her blog name! Ha! My address is still http://www.mycreativeattempts.blogspot.com/ so you don't need to change your link at all if you have it saved somewhere, I'm just changing the title. Thanks so much for all of you who follow my blog, and for all of your sweet comments! I love ya! Happy Holidays!

I hope with all the parties and presents we can remember the real reason for the season!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Inexpensive gift idea - super cute treat dish!

(These plates are the same size even thought the pic makes the top one look bigger)

Most simple and affordable - but still cute - gift idea!

I first saw the idea on Poppies at Play a long time ago, and have been meaning to make one, but didn't have the time or reason to, until now, my sister-in-law's birthday was coming up, so I decided this would be a good idea for her. I found the two plates and the glass candlestick holder at the thrift store (the pink plates really look awesome in person, super cute and funky; in all the pictures, the orangey splotches look gross, but in person, they're really cute) Anyways, after washing the plates, all I had to do was put the top plate upside-down, I traced the top of the candlestick holder with washable marker, just so I knew where to put the glue, and following the instructions on the E6000 (strongest glue known to man!), I glued the candlestick holder upsidedown onto the bottom of the top plate.

After about an hour, I put glue on the bottom of the candlestick holder and the center of the bottom plate, and flipped it right side up, gluing them together.

(the bottom of the candlestick holder just happened to fit perfectly in that little circle on the middle of the plate!)

Now that it was all together, I used a heavy can of wheat to weigh it down while it dried. It takes between 24 and 72 hours for the glue to fully cure, so I let it dry fully before giving it away.

I think it turned out so cute, I am going to make one for myself! This was probably the most inexpensive, simple, quick... yet... cute, useful, fun gift idea ever! And there's so many possibilities because you can do so many different colors and sizes too, depending on what dishes you find. And because you can make it yourself, it's more thoughtful that way. Great Christmas gift if you're running out of time before the big day next week!

I really shouldn't say how inexpensive it was to make because then my sis-in-law will think I'm a cheapo.. ha ha It's really not about how much I spent, (I would've spent more.. but when you can make something this cute without spending more, why would you?) So for the good of everyone who needs an inexpensive gift idea, I'll share. Not including the glue, I spent a total of $1.50 on this gift! NO KIDDING! Each plate and the candlestick holder were .50 ea at the thrift store. Yeah, a treat dish like this would've been at least $20 at the stores. Can't beat that! I LOVE IT!

Today, I am linked up with none other than Poppies at Play Creative Cats Friday! Go check out the other awesome ideas today!

I'm also linked with Met Monday at BNOTP!

Black Bean Brownies ... Yeah you heard me!

whatscookingamerica.net

I didn't take a picture of mine, but they looked just like the normal brownies above.

One of my sister-in-laws told me about a brownie recipe using nothing but a brownie mix and a can of black beans, and eliminating the oil and eggs, etc. and I thought I would try to make it! I called 2 out of my 3 sis-in-laws to see if they knew how to do it, but they had no idea what I was talking about, so it must have been the 3rd sis, but by that time, we had looked it up online. It really is just taking a can of black beans, draining them, rinsing them, putting them back into the can and filling it with clean water. Then you dump the beans and water into the blender and blend until pureed. Once its all smooth, mix in with the brownie mix until smooth. Bake as directed on the box. They surprisingly turned out really good! Kind of dense, but also fudgey. The next day, they kind of had a moist fudgey layer on top, (as most breads or baked goods do) but they were really good. Sounds weird, but if you don't have eggs or oil, or want to boost your protein, give it a try!

Burp Cloths and Bibs

I made a couple of these for my girlfriend who was expecting her first girl, I got the idea from "DIY Showoff" to put a hand towel (just bought at the $1 store) on the back of the bib, which I thought was an excellent idea to absorb more drool!! For the shape of the bib, I just traced one of my sons bibs that I liked the size of, (adding an extra 1/2" for seam allowance) and that's what I used as my pattern for the front fabric and the towel, I put right sides together, sewed them together, and left just a couple inches to turn it right side out. I top stitched all around the whole thing to seal it up, sewed on two small squares of velcro, and it was done! Very simple. It didn't take long at all. I was trying to do the burp cloths (cloth diapers) with the cute fabric on the middle panel like she did, but I ended up not having enough fabric, that's why I just did the band of fabric on each side. They turned out pretty cute, I think, and it was fairly inexpensive. It's a fun idea because they are unique and no other baby around town will have the same ones!