Jenga Block Christmas Tree

Jenga!!! I used to love playing that game (although I never faired well playing it, as I was the girl who always knocked down the tower AND, as a result, had to be the one to set it back up)! On a recent trip to my local thrift store, I came across a bag of Jenga blocks for $.50 and had to have them. For what? I wasn't sure, but knew I would one day put them to good use! That day is now, my friends! After some time spent arranging and re-arranging, I transformed the blocks into a Christmas tree that I then painted and made into a wall hanging. Love it!!! Here's how you can make one of your own...

Materials:

-Jenga blocks (I used 53 of them!)

-glue gun/sticks

-sandpaper

-acrylic paint (I used a dark green, brown, light green, white, and burgundy, but the options are truly limitless!)

-sponge paintbrush

-circular, sponge brush

-sealant

-ribbon

Directions:

1. Using a glue gun, adhere Jenga blocks using the model below (each horizontal row gains two more blocks than the one above it).

2. Once the glue has dried, sand the surface of the tree to make the paint adhere more successfully

3. Paint the surface of the tree with two coats of dark green, acrylic paint and the "trunk" in brown

4. Once the paint has dried, use the circular, sponge brush to create dots all over the tree with white, acrylic paint.

5. Repeat the process of making dots using the light green, acrylic paint

6. And again with the burgundy paint

7. Finally, add dots of the original green color to the tree to cover up any spots that may have smudged.

8. Spray the tree with a sealant and let dry.

9. Fold a 5 inch piece of ribbon in half and adhere loose ends to the top of the tree, leaving a loop to hang up

Voila!!! Its yours to display proudly!

Children's Magnetic Bedroom Message Board

Magnetic sign for my niece, Adrienne

This is a really cute and SUPER easy project to make yourself for a child’s room, or have your child make it! I found really nice rectangular and oval metal serving trays at Dollar Tree that I decided to use as the base of the room sign. Using about nine inches of ribbon, I used a hot glue gun to glue the ends of the ribbon about four inches apart on the back of the serving tray. I then cut a piece of felt to fit the back of the serving tray and glued it (to avoid leaving marks on the wall). While you could easily purchase magnetic letters, I happened to have a ton of foam letters leftover from a project I had completed ages ago, so I put magnetic pieces on the backs of those letters to use on the room sign, instead. The magnetic letters can be moved around to say whatever message the child wants to state.



For my niece Alison's room. Yes, I am aware there is an apostrophe missing. It bothers me, too! I ran out!



Ditto on the apostrophe thing

A rectangular serving tray was used for my nephew Derek's room sign



He's a bit of a Yankees fan!