Creating Your Own Great Barrier Reef

For those that have followed my blog in the past, y'all know how much I love using Great Stuff Expanding Foam. It is inexpensive, lightweight, and durable. I've used it in the past to make stalactites and termite mounds. This year I am using it to make coral for the craft room. When you use Great Stuff, be careful to keep it off your skin and other surfaces - it is very sticky.

How To

• First, cover your working area with wax paper. This will keep it off your furniture and make the foam easy to peel off once it dries. I usually take cardboard and line it with wax paper.
• Then spray the foam in the coral patterns you want. Follow the directions on the can for drying information. 
• Once it is dry, you can spray paint the foam to make it colorful and bright. I like mixing different colors to create different looks.

• After your coral has dried, carefully peel it off the wax paper. 

Now you have colorful coral to decorate your craft room!

"You, Mini-Man, takin' on the jellies. You've got serious thrill issues, dude. Awesome!"

Hemma Cord Set

The Jellyfish Lamp is probably the most intricate thing we are going to make this year (besides the airplane). I'm decorating the craft room with blue gossamer and fabric to create an underwater feel, so I wanted to make a unique light source that fits with the flow of the room. I decided upon a jellyfish because I thought it would look cool hanging from the ceiling. I used the Hemma Cord Set from Ikea as the light base. For the bulb, I chose a low temp energy saving light bulb to reduce the heat. The jellyfish shade is made out of Dura-lar. Dura-lar is a thick plastic overlay that has a pretty high heat tolerance. I chose a roll that was .007" thick. Alright, so onto the how to...

Jellyfish Lamp How To

• First, I traced a bowl to create a large circle on the Dura-lar and cut it out. I split it and rolled it into a funnel shape to make a lampshade. Then I cut the top inch off, so I could slip the lamp cord through it.

• Then I cut out petal shapes out of the Dura-lar. I made sure the petals were long enough to hang about a 1/2 inch off the clear lampshade. I used spray paint to paint the petals pink.

• Next, I superglued the petals around the lampshade. I chose superglue because it has a high heat tolerance. Every glue is different though, so check out the label on the back before you buy it. I chose Loctite Super Glue for plastics - dish washer safe. 

• After that, I cut out various shapes out of Dura-lar for its tentacles. I made some spirals, swirls, and fringes. Then I spray painted them pink as well. After they dried, I superglued them onto the clear lampshade, so they would not weigh the outer shell down. 

• After you attached all of its tentacles, you're finished! Your jellyfish is ready to swim in your Great Barrier Reef!