Street Signs

I figured what is a New York City street without some street signs, so I decided to paint and build some out of pvc pipe and cardboard. 

How To

• First, I spray painted the pvc pipe silver. I used a hammered silver spray paint. The pipe can be however long you need it to be. I didn't feel like buying new pvc pipe, so I just connected some smaller pieces together to get the height I wanted.

• I also spray painted the pvc pipe caps silver to match the poles. Then I attached them to the top of the poles. 

• I cut street signs out of a cardboard box. Then I painted them to look like street signs. I chose to paint Broadway, 42nd Street, and 7th avenue.
• After the signs had dried, I hot-glued the cardboard signs onto the pvc pipe poles.

Now you have a street sign!

Time to Paint Your Wagon!

I am glad to say I have officially finished the covered wagon! I had my fair share of problems with getting it built. I learned quickly that I do not work well with chicken wire. All complications aside, the final product turned out well and is pretty sturdy. Now, onto my final how-to:

How-To

• First, take a large wardrobe box and cut it to the shape of a wagon. Then, hot-glue it together.

• Next, dry-brush the box to create a wood finish.

• After that dries, the fun begins. I had a lot of trial and error with attaching the chicken wire to create the arc of the wagon cover. What worked the best, was to cut off the amount of chicken wire you need to create the shape of the wagon cover. Then using metal wire (I used the wire that was used to bundle the chicken wire I bought), loop the wire through the box and twist it around the chicken wire to anchor it to the box.

• Once your frame is built, take the fabric you want as your cover and attach it to the chicken wire. I sewed the fabric on the front and back of the chicken wire, then I hot glued the fabric along the side of the box.

• To create the wheels, take strong, stiff cardboard and draw and cut out the size wheels you want. We are going attach a 12" wooded cross stitching hoop to the inside of the wheel, so make sure it fits your cardboard. Once they are cut out, paint and decorate them.

• Once they are dry, hot glue the cross stitching hoop to the back your wheel. You'll need to have a total of two cross stitching hoops, because you can use both the inner and outer hoops, so you'll have one hoop for each wheel.

• After the hoops are attached to the wheels, take two square wooden dowels and cut them to match the width of your box plus the width of two of your cross stitching hoops. Then hot glue the dowels to the base of your cross stitching hoops to create an axis type base for your wagon.

• Once these are good and dry, slide them under the front and back of your wagon.

Now you have a covered wagon!

A lot of people have told me they are making covered wagons. Email me your finished product; I would love to share some other wagons and how they were made.

So, as I said before, this is my final how-to for this year's theme. Thank you to everyone who has followed this blog. I have enjoyed sharing decorating ideas and tips, and I plan on doing so again next year, so bookmark me and start checking in around December (I hear next year's theme is New York). I'll post some pictures of the rooms decorated sometime next week. I hope everyone has a wonderful and successful Bible school!

A Hat Rack for the Cowpokes!

I am proud to say that the covered wagon is almost done! I am actually writing this how-to while the wheels dry. Hopefully it will be finished tonight. In the meantime, here is a quick and easy way to make a hat rack for the Bible Study Bunkhouse. All you need is some cardboard, paint, and 3m Adhesive Hooks.

How-To

1. First, draw and cut out the shape you want for the backboard of your hat rack.
2. Next, paint the card board the color you want. I wanted mine to look wooden, so I dry brushed the cardboard to look like a wood grain.
3. Then spray paint the hooks the color you want (make sure your spray paint adheres to plastic). 3m also makes a metallic looking hook if want a metallic finish without having to paint.
4. Once everything is dry, follow the directions on the package to adhere the hooks on the cardboard backing.

Now you have a place to hang your cowboy hat and lasso!

Quick & Easy Faux Fireplace

I finally finished the faux fireplace for the Bible Study Bunkhouse! It seemed whenever I was about to finish it up, I would run out of hot gluesticks or I would burn myself. Hot glue and I have never really gotten along well. Hot glue problems aside, this is a quick and easy fireplace to make.

How-To

• First, I took a large cardboard moving box, and cut it down to the size I wanted (I split my box in half). If your box is already the size you want, then just tape it together. After that was completed, I cut the smaller square opening for the front of my fireplace.

• Next, I cut out a piece of the leftover cardboard to cover the back of my fireplace. I held off on attaching it because I wanted to paint it first. If you left your box intact and did not cut it to make it smaller, this step isn't necessary.

• I wanted a stone fireplace, so I painted my box various shades of grey. Once that was dry, I painted lines to look like grout between the stones and added some darker shading to the stones. After finishing the front of the fireplace, I painted the piece of cardboard I cut out for the back of the fireplace.

• After everything was dry, I hot glued the cardboard piece on the back of my fireplace.

• I cut out another piece of cardboard, so I could make a mantle for the fireplace. I cut it wide enough to cover the top and long enough to have about two and half inches leftover on each side.

• Then I dry-brushed the cardboard to give it a woodgrain appearance. Once it was dry. I hot glued it onto the top of the fireplace.

• To make a fire for the fireplace. I took a round piece of cardboard and glued it in the center of a sheet of tissue paper. Then, I just continued to glue layers of red, orange, and yellow sheets of tissue paper on top of each other. Once it was dry, I flipped it over (cardboard side facing up) and scrunched the tissue paper up around the cardboard until I got it the way I wanted it. When it is set up in the classroom, I am going to place several electric tea lights inside, on top of cardboard, to make the fire light up and flicker.

• I then took some brown paper bags and twisted them into a log shape and took a brown paint pen (or marker) to draw lines to make them appear like logs. I placed these around the fire.

• Once everything was placed inside, I added the fireplace gate.

• When I set it up in the classroom, I will take grey paper and tape it to the wall behind the fireplace to make a chimney.

• If you want to make the appearance of having soot inside your fireplace, you can take black spray paint a lightly spray it inside your fireplace.

Enjoy your new fireplace for your Bunkhouse!

Cardboard: Your Friend and Mine

For college students all across America, finals are coming to an end, signaling the start of the moving season. With the moving season comes tons of cardboard boxes. On my last day of classes, I took advantage of this time, and scavenged some boxes to use for decorations. I love using cardboard because it is strong, easy to paint, and cheap (or free!). It is great to use to create space-fillers and decorative elements. Throughout the next couple of weeks I will continue to add cardboard creations to this section.

Space-Fillers

• I browsed through the clip-art and chose some things to sketch out on the cardboard to use to fill up space in various rooms. The cardboard will keep its shape and remain firm, so it is easy to prop up against walls and in corners. If drawing isn't your thing, you can use a projector or an overhead to trace your image onto the cardboard.

Decorative Elements

• Fireplace Gate: I used a piece of cardboard and folded some strong creases to divide it into three sections. I cut out a pattern and spray painted it black and silver. Then I lined it witch a gold paint pen. I think I am going to use it on a faux fireplace in the Bible Study Bunkhouse.