The Barbarian King

A few years back my brother was visiting and he commented on my horrid cutting boards. I didn't think much of it. The next time he came, he brought me a present - a cutting board - with the condition I throw away one of my old ones. The next time he came he brought me another one. Now that my cutting boards are replaced I really should invite him over and point out my chipped cereal bowls! ;)

Recently my brother bought his first house and I thought it would be nice to give him a bit of a housewarming present. As a joke I bought him a cutting board with the idea of wood burning something manly onto it. You would not believe how hard it is to find a simple wooden cutting board in this town. After about my 4th store I lucked out and found a set of bamboo cutting boards.

My family has been playing Clash of Clans and the idea of a giant Barbarian King on a cutting board amused me to no end, and really, what is more manly than that?

If you do this I recommend doing it outside - maybe it is just the bamboo but the fumes were a bit much. Of course I only think of doing these type of things in the winter so not only did I get a headache but the house smelt like burnt bamboo for a few days.

I transferred the picture to the board by placing a newspaper underneath my printout - ads with lots of dark ink work the best, and tracing over the lines. It was enough for me to easily see the lines.

It actually turned out pretty good for my first time using a wood burner. I did make a mistake in one spot, but now I can't even pick it out...never mind, I see it!

Pretty manly and terrifying, right? My brother thought it was pretty funny, says it its the best thing in his kitchen. I'm not too sure about that but it was fun to make!

Minnie Mouse Cake

Our daughter loves everything that is pink and girly, so it is no surprise that she loves Minnie Mouse! This is probably the last year I get to pick out her birthday cake so I decided I would take advantage of it and make her a Minnie Mouse cake.

I took a couple different ideas and put them together. Making Minnie out of a cookie was the easiest way I could think of making her, so that is what I did. After I finished Minnie's face, I couldn't figure out why she didn't look as cute as the picture I was copying. I stood there looking at it for a few minutes until it finally clicked...

I made her cross-eyed! Luckily it was a easy fix!

Once her bow was on she looked even better!

Minnie's Bowtiques is one of her favourite shows (or was until Paw Patrol recently took over!) so I made a big bow to wrap all the way around it. Some pink icing and sparkles and I called it done!

It turned out pretty cute and Victoria was delighted! Of course she wore her Minnie Mouse Halloween costume, complete with her Minnie Mouse ears, so she matched the cake!

Nativity Scene

I'm in between loads of laundry, so I thought I'd have time to post something! This is something I found on Pintrest - Nativity Stocking Holders - and it was one of those project that I just had to make right away, with a special person in mind to gift it to.

I decided not to make them into stocking holders, but instead as a Christmas nativity scene. The gal also used vinyl nativity pieces and stuck them on the blocks of wood, which makes for a quick and simple project. I don't have access to what ever cuts out vinyl pieces (a Cricut maybe?) and so I did consider ordering the pieces from her - she sells them every fall. But then I thought - why do that when I can paint. I googled silhouette nativity scenes and it didn't take long to find pretty much all the same images she had used. A little re-sizing and I was good to go.

I got my husband to cut some blocks for me and I sanded them, painted them an off white, sanded them again to give them the distressed look, traced the nativity scene on and painted again. It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.

My painting is far from perfect and however in the end they look pretty good.

The faces were a little difficult since my tracing turned out to be a basic outline - the 2 x 4 I used was kind of rough which made it hard to tace a pattern without falling into the grain of the wood. I did sand them down before I painted but it didn't help.

Nativity scenes are my favourite Christmas decorations and is a project I hope to make again! It cost me nothing since I used scrap lumber and already had the paint, just took a little time!