Cardboard Cave

For our Stake Teen Elect activity, I volunteered to come up with a cardboard decoration of some kind.   The theme was "Even A Caveman Can Do It."  As I have previously mentioned, I love to make stuff out of cardboard!  I found the perfect large flat pieces of cardboard at Costco, that were used to separate levels of items stacked on pallets.  I asked an employee if they were free for the taking.

Yep, free.  My favorite word.  I brought home two and cut a cave opening section out.  Then, I took the cut out cardboard pieces and placed them on the top for a rounded boulder effect, see the 4 cut-out sections below.  The puzzle pieces worked together almost perfectly, with just a little rounding on the edges. Next I taped the pieces together really well with packing tape.

The fourth piece at top left not yet in place

All the pieces together and ready to tape

Next, I wadded up newspapers and taped it on to make a jagged rock effect.  Not a pretty sight, but ultimately it is just to create volume and lumpy rock shapes.

Now it gets sloppy.  I made a big bowl of paper mache goop.  I don't have a recipe for this, I just add the ingredients until it is the right consistency.  I bet you could find oodles of recipes through google.  I used water, Elmer's glue, and flour to make a liquidy paste.  Next, I ripped strips of newspapers and dipped them one at a time into the goop.  I needed it to dry fast, so I squeezed off most of the liquid before placing the strips as flat as possible over the wadded newspaper...

fancy stuff, right?  I let it dry for about 3 hours, then enlisted Berkley's help.  Armed with 4 almost-empty cans of spray paint, and one brand new can of textured stone spray paint... we attacked the cardboard and completed the transformation.

Berkley doing a final inspection before we painted

The painting is finished... next I taped some boards up the back on each side for some extra support, and we duct taped it to two stacks of chairs  to hold it up.  A couple strands of vines were stapled on, and the ring of rocks in front of it finished off the look.

The only item I purchased was the textured stone spray paint from Walmart for $7.97... someone else bought the vines so I don't know the price on those.

We still have two more evenings of Teen Elect, I will post more about the activity when it is finished.

Earring Display Made From a "Stucco Corner"

This project began a few months ago, and I ended up going in a different direction than when I started.  You see, I headed to the Home Depot to find some cool chicken wire... I had seen oodles of fun earring holders made from a photo frame and chicken wire, and planned on making one for myself.  I had already picked up a couple frames from the Goodwill and wanted to have some chicken wire on hand so I could throw the project together one day when I had some spare time.

Sadly, up until this point, my earring storage looked like this... a tangled pile to dig through.

At the Home Depot, I asked a sales person direct me to the chicken wire.  He laughed and said I was the second lady that morning to ask where the chicken wire was located... and he wanted to know what on earth I wanted it for.  The answer of "a craft project" just made him shake his head a little and probably roll his eyes as he turned his head and continued in the direction he was leading me.

To my dissapointment, not only was the chicken wire expensive (they sold it in big bulk rolls, imagine that!)... but even more unfortunate, the selection was UGLY.  I had a certain image in my mind of what I wanted, and it was most definitley not available there.  I scanned the entire ailse looking for an alternative screen or mesh or anything I could trim with wire cutters to give me the look I wanted.  Nope.  But then something caught my eye.  A long bent wire structure.  Hmmm.  The shelf label called it a Stucco Corner, and it was only $2.97.  The woven appearance of wire seemed perfect for dangling earings off of, so I tried to envision how I would hang it, and in which direction.  It seemed like it could work in an empty corner hung vertically... or horizantally cut to any length.  I decided a couple bucks was a price I could afford to experiment with.

This is where it sat for a few months just waiting for me to find spare time :)

Here is a close-up, and the red sharpie dots I used to cut the correct length to fit above my bathroom mirror.

When I got home and held it against the wall, I really liked the way it looked.  Simple and functional.  Next I had to figure out a way to attach it to the wall.  I had a piece of hardware in my mind, but had not been able to find what I wanted at the Home Depot.  I turned to my favorite online store, Amazon.com and searched and searched.  I figured there had to be some kind of hardware to attach wires or cables to a wall... but could only find stick-on ones.  Not really what I had in mind.  I continued my web search on a few more occasions, hoping to avoid the need for driving a million places.  Finally one day in Target, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the perfect solution... for $1.99 each I picked up two broom/tool holders pictured below.

I didn't have any use for the red hook part, but my search was over!  With the busy holidays and my son's birthday thrown in the mix... I finally found time yesterday to install my new earring display.

First I held the wire structure to the wall and made the sharpie marks pictured earlier, then cut it with tin snips at the desired length.

Then I held the structure up again with the bracket in place and made marks with a pen where the screws would go.

Next, I screwed in the bottom screws with an electric drill into the drywall.  I didn't use anchors and hopefully I wont regret that decision later, but I figure it won't be holding much weight at all.

With the bottom screws in place, I slipped the wire into the hardware and then securely fastened it by inserting the top screws.

Ta Dah!

Supplies You'll Need:

Stucco Corner $2.97
2 Broom/Tool holders hardware $1.99 each

Total cost $6.95.

I love that it is up high, which makes it difficult for my daughters to reach... but if you are short this might not be a good placement for you.  I am 5'7" and it is the perfect height for my reach.

Have a Happy New Year! 

SavvyNess