P.L.A.Y.

Sometimes you just need to add a little fun to your life and when I saw these precious monograms at Dollar Crafts, I knew they were just what I needed for my playroom.

Granted, I had no need for my initials up all over the walls of my playroom, but I could switch it up and use the word "PLAY."  I started by printing out a favorite font in an outline version as large as I could go on one regular sheet of paper.

Once I had those printed, I scrounged around at work and gathered as many shades of blue and green crayons I could find, not caring about the brands, just the colors of the paper wrappers and crayons.

Then, I roughly measured the crayon on the outlined letter.  Using a sharp knife, roll the crayon back and forth using light pressure until the crayon snaps. (I just noticed that I did a section with no paper.  Oops.  I used the wrapper sections because I knew the glue would adhere better to the paper than the wax.)

Line up all of the pieces of the crayon on the outlined letter, making sure to dry fit everything. 

Sorry for the pic quality here, it was slightly late when took these.  Once the entire letter was filled, I transferred it piece by piece to a blank sheet using my very technical TV remote to position my letter.

I made sure to get glue behind the crayon and also on the sides where it touches another crayon.  Because I framed these without glass, I wanted them to be secure on the wall and not fall on anyone's head.  (It's raining crayons, halleluiah, It's raining crayons!?!)

Once that was done and the crayons were completely dry, I trimmed the paper to fit in a standard 8x10 frame that I scored at Micheal's for 60% off plus an additional 25% coupon!  Thankfully they were already white so I could skip the spray paint step. 

I did put a couple of glue dots in the top corners to hold the paper up in the frame in case it wanted to slide down and/or out. 

I think it looks pretty cute and could easily be altered to other crayon colors, dowel rod pieces or anything else long and narrow.  Oh, there is the matter of that small mess behind the PLAY, but that's another blog for another day.

Electrical Shock

I would just like to take this time to make a little musing about electricity.  When someone mentions electrical shock, everyone almost always thinks of the spasm of muscles when your body completes an electrical current.  Me?  I think of the sticker shock of having to replace this mess:

After several deep breathing exercises, lots of prayer, tears and a slight miracle, I have a new box!  The first electrician recommended by my local fabulous GC never called me back after looking at the box.  In fact, he avoided my calls.  Come on, seriously?  Man up and just tell me that I need to find someone else!  Anyway, thanks to my other fabulous GC, my BIL Fermin, I located another electrician.  Within 4 days, George had my entire house re-wired with a brand new up to code box.  Now, I know my new box doesn't rank high on your list of priorities, but since it's my blog, I'm going to force you to look at a couple pics.  (See, there are benefits to writing a blog!)

The previous box was located inside the hot water heater closet.  Now, instead of being inside, it's outside on the side wall of the house.  (Yes, I'm getting a padlock for the bottom.)  Thanks to new much safer building codes, the box only place inside the house where the box could be located was on the wall in my guestroom/playroom.  Hmm, access to massive electrical power in a room where small children frequent?  No thanks!  Now you know why I opted for the outside version.  Here is the former local of the box.

This hole is going to take some massive patching, but as long as I can close the closet door, and (man, can I!) it's waaaay down on the list!  The junction box is my hot water heater power and the blue line is the Ethernet cable for my all too important internet access!

Now, before we leave each other, just one more look!

Still Alive

Life is still rolling along here at Giddings Lane.  I know, big surprise there, right??  It's be a nutty month since we last spoke.  I had a neighbor be evicted for pot, no big loss there, jumped on several blog bandwagons, survived a HORRIBLE drought and several severe wildfire in neighboring counties, cut up a couple or ten paper towel tubes, patched a hole or two and made a couple messes all in the name of crafting and remodeling!  Enjoy the next few posts about life around here!

Please notice that so far I've been able to keep up my plantings in the back yard.  This is only because of faithful watering on almost a daily basis.  I know it should be daily, but life happens sometimes.