Snorkeling Egg

 I made this snorkeling egg guy. And I photographed it. 

But it's not my original idea. This is another of those projects we'd featured at Fun Family Crafts, then the creator deleted their website, leaving us with a link to nothing. It's so frustrating. This craft is all over Pinterest as Dye-ving Dudes, but the materials list and steps to make it are gone. 

That original photo provides some clues to the materials. It's obvious that the snorkel is a bendy straw. Everything else I'm not 100% sure. It looks like the mask is a clear lid, but the strap looks like a rubber band. If the lid is indeed clear, the rubber band would show through, which it doesn't. It looks like the flippers might be a thick, white-core paper. And did they draw the pupils on with a Sharpie? I'm not sure. 

My version may not be exactly the same as the original, but that's perfectly OK. At least now one version of the instructions exist. Affiliate links below. 

Snorkeling Egg

Materials:

• hard-boiled egg, dyed a little less than halfway
• clear plastic lid 
• googly eyes
• craft glue
• black craft foam
• bendy straw
• hot glue gun
• silicone craft mat

Steps:

Bend the straw 90°, then trim the excess off both ends to make a snorkel. Set it aside. Cut two black flippers from black craft foam, then cut a thin strip of craft foam for the mask strap. 

Use a dot of craft glue on the FRONT of the googly eyes, then place them in the clear lid. Set it aside to dry. Put away the craft glue; you'll use hot glue for the rest of the project. 

Glue the lid to the egg to make the mask. Wrap the strip of craft foam around the egg. Trim it so that it just touches the edges of the lid. Glue it in place. Because it's such a thin area, I put a glob of hot glue onto my craft mat and then used a toothpick to dab it onto the foam before pressing it in place. 

Glue the straw to the front of the mask. This is a change I made from the original, which has the snorkel down by the swim shorts. I prefer it higher. 

Glue the flippers to the bottom of the egg. 

I experimented with different ways to make the egg stand up without toppling. The easiest was to put a glob of hot glue onto the craft mat and balancing the egg onto it as shown here. 

Let it sit for about a minute, then peel it up. Use scissors to trim away any glue that extends beyond the flippers. 

The lid I used wasn't crystal clear, so the mask has a bit of a foggy appearance. If you can find a perfectly clear lid, great. Use that. I don't mind that my mask is foggy, but if you feel like the eyes aren't visible enough, use a Sharpie to color them onto the outside of the mask, as shown below.  

I had a few more egg project ideas I wanted to share with you before Easter, but I'm going to have to save them for 2023. Trevor's Eagle project has been consuming most of my daylight hours this week. While he still has three merit badges to complete, a pile of paperwork to do, and a Board of Review to pass before he reaches the rank of Eagle Scout, Trevor's project is officially done. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. 

Dragonfly and Damselfly Garden Stakes

As you know, I'm a Plaid Ambassador, which means that the folks at Plaid send me boxes of products to try. (I know. Coolest thing ever.) When I opened a box with two bottles of  Dragonfly Glaze (affiliate link here and throughout the post), naturally I used it to make dragonflies! (Actually, one dragonfly and one damselfly.) They look so cute bobbling around in my houseplant.

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Dragonfly and Damselfly Garden Stakes

Materials:

• jumbo craft sticks (1 per insect)
• mini craft sticks (4 per insect) OR standard craft sticks (2 per insect)
• Plaid paint and Dragonfly Glaze
• craft glue
• googly eyes
• Twisteezwire
• wire cutters
• clear straws

Steps:

Paint a jumbo craft stick the color you'd like your dragonfly or damselfly to be. (I made one green with mini craft sticks representing Washington's state insect, the green darner dragonfly, and one blue with standard craft sticks, representing Nevada's state insect, the vivid dancer damselfly.) Paint the mini or standard craft sticks white. When the paint is dry, give each a coat or two of Dragonfly Glaze.

When the glaze is completely dry and you're happy with the shimmer, glue the eyes and the wings to the body. Leave a small gap between the wings. When the glue is dry, place a white Twisteezwire between the wings.

Twist the two ends of the wire together close to the insect's body. Then continue to twist the two wires around each other. 

Thread the twisted wire into a clear drinking straw, then press the straw into the potted plant. Adjust the wire as desired. 

My dragonfly and damselfly will be staying indoors, but you could put these in the garden instead. A coat of sealant will help it stay intact and shimmery throughout the growing season.

My (Fabulous!) Christmas Card Display!

So how did I display my Christmas cards after converting my usual display area to our new art wall? Like this!

I am very happy with how my display turned out, but it wasn't easy getting there. I had a few failed attempts before ending up with what you see above. 

My first idea was to hang a piece of green cord with three Command hooks (affiliate link here and throughout the post) in the shape of a Christmas tree. I added little sprigs of holly to hide the two lower hooks and planned to add a yellow star to hide the top hook. I used mini clothespins to attach the cards to the cord. As Christmas cards started arriving, my display worked beautifully... for the first 8 cards or so. As the cords got wider apart, it was increasingly difficult to attach the cards to each other and have any level of stability. By the time we had received 13 cards, I abandoned the idea entirely. 

The size and location were good, but I needed a better design. 

I started brainstorming ways to add crossbars to the cord so that I could hang the cards from those instead of from the sides and each other. And then I had a (brilliant, if I do say so myself) idea: why not use picture rail?! We had a random 8 foot long piece in the garage. I'd cut it into five pieces, each longer than the next. I did some quick calculations. Yes! My design would be just about right to hold the number of cards we normally receive. 

Of course, I didn't want to permanently attach a picture rail in the shape of a Christmas tree in my dining room, nor did I want to have to deal with putting up 10 Command hooks in the exact right place to have level shelves every year. There's no way I'd get them straight without a bunch of attempts. I needed something that would be easy to hang with a single hook or two, would keep the shelves level, and would fold up easily for storage. A tall order, but I had a plan. 

I took the picture rail across the street and asked my neighbor to cut it for me. (Thanks, Curt!) I returned with five pieces: 0.5', 1.0', 1.5', 2.0', and 2.5', with half a foot left over. My parents were in town visiting, so I asked my dad, Woodworking Extraordinaire, to help. After doing some tests with the spare piece, he made a jig and used the drill press to drill holes exactly a quarter inch from each end of each piece using the skinniest drill bit we had.

I used multiple coats of spray paint to make the picture rails green. When they were completely dry, I brought them inside. I threaded a single piece of silver 18 gauge jewelry wire up through the left end of each piece, then down through the right ends. Then I experimented with different ways to lock each piece on the wire in the correct location so that they would be evenly spaced and hang straight. I tried crimp beads, clips, washi tape, and a bunch of other things that didn't work. Aargh. 

Dad came up with the idea of using clear drinking straws. We took apart the tree, added a straw between each picture rail, and restrung it, looping the wire through twice on the bottom shelf to secure it. A brilliant man, my dad! It worked like a charm. The straws kept each shelf level and prevented movement without any measuring necessary. Here's a closer look:

I used a single Command hook to hang the tree, then we used the level to adjust one shelf. Total cost: $0! Every single item we used was something I had on hand. (Good thing I'm a craft hoarder! LOL!)

The display isn't flawless; for whatever reason, the lower picture rails want to fold up toward the wall. It's not a big deal; it still holds the cards. Next year, I'm going to get a bit of that blue poster stuff and put a dab behind the rails to hold them flat. I didn't have any on hand for this year.

Another change I'm going to make next year - longer straws. Standard straws, the ones I had on hand, are 7.75". Many of the cards we received are 7" tall or higher, which made for a tight squeeze. I'm going to buy some 10" straws and restring it so the cards have a little more breathing room.

I did come up with a clever solution for the short, wide cards that hog too much space on the shelves. I used wood grain washi tape and attached them to the wall to form a tree trunk!

My tree came down so quickly and easy. Just as I hoped, it folded up nicely for storage (2.5 feet long, 7.75" wide (the length of the straws), and about 2" tall). It fit easily in the tub that holds our shrinking stuffed snowman.

What do you think? Fabulous, right?!

Edible Art: Ice Cream Flowerpots

Recently, Trevor has been spending a lot of time going through our cookbooks. One day, he announced that he wanted to mark the pages of some recipes he wants he try. I gave him a set of post-it flags and left the room to put away laundry. When I returned, I found this:

(Affiliate link here and below)

He used an entire brand-new set of blue post-it flags, plus part of a pack of yellows. Here's another view:

Trying all those recipes should keep us busy for the next few years!  We decided to start with these Ice Cream Flowerpots from Disney's Family Cookbook.

Ice Cream Flowerpots

Materials:

• clear plastic cups
• green straws 
• chocolate ice cream 
• Oreos
• green Fruit Slices
• Sunkist Fruit Gems
• gumdrops
• toothpicks

Let the ice cream soften slightly, then fill each cup about 2/3 full of ice cream. Insert the straw into the ice cream to form the stem of the flower. (I cut our straw in half, so we only needed one straw for the two of us.)

Twist 4 Oreos to separate their halves. Place the non-frosting sides into a ziplock bag and crush to make crumbs. Pour the crumbs on top of the ice cream to create the look of soil. Place the cups in the freezer.

Make your flower. The cookbook shows a beautiful Oreo center with gumdrops around it. This did not work for us and was incredibly frustrating. No matter how careful we were, the Oreos cracked.

After breaking a dozen Oreos, I finally got fed up and used two yellow Fruit Slices to make a center. It looks somewhat lame, but at least there was no frustrating cracking.

Attach a toothpick to your flower. Slide the toothpick into the straw. Add a green Fruit Slice to mimic a leaf. Eat and enjoy!

(Trevor's on the left and mine on the right.)

  

We had a lot of fun making our flowerpots, but it was annoying that we weren't able to make an attractive flower that wouldn't crack. We brainstormed what would make a better center and came up with Sunkist Fruit Gems. So the next day, we bought a pack.

This time, Trevor decided he wanted graham cracker dirt instead of Oreo dirt.

Success! The Sunkist Fruit Gems worked a million times better than the Oreos.

 

(Trevor's on the left, mine on the right)

(Steve's.  He was bummed to have missed our first attempts.)

I love the way the flowers look with the Sunkist Fruit Gem centers! Despite the frustrations along the way, this was a really fun project and definitely one we'll do again.