Fun! Bubblegum and Bentos!

This is made from a flower pot, two different sized flower pot saucers (is that what they're called? That sounds really awkward, but I'm not a gardener - I don't know) a glass flower bowl and a small wooden finial. I painted all the pieces with red acrylic paint (two coats) and then assembled and painted with glossy mod podge to make it shiny - and stick together :). As I said in an earlier post, I've been kind of nostalgic for the times when I would spend a Saturday afternoon at the Hallmark store taking in all the Hello Kitty stuff - I remember stationary sets and pen sets...so cute. So, I thought it would be perfect for my gumball machine candy dish. The image is from Hello Kitty Font, which I got for Christmas this year - thanks, Mom and Dad! BTW - I filled it with pretzel M&M's rather than gumballs. And, yes, those are Christmas M&M's with the green ones removed.

Kai was given an assignment to do a recycling project again this year. Last year, they made pillows made from jeans or t-shirts stuffed with scrap materials. His teacher said that if their pillows were still in good shape that they could make something else. She suggested a bird feeder made from a gallon milk jug. I do not like birds (bad experience as a child) so I chose the third option - find something on your own. I had planned to make a tie blanket quilt using Gage, my teenage son's t-shirts that he's outgrown, but still wants to keep. Unfortunately, Gage didn't want to give me his shirt. So, I looked around on the net and found some ideas. Then the other day, I found this little box in my bathroom. My daughter had gotten a make up set that came in a "bento box". So, I repurposed it as a gift for my son's teacher. We had some extra school supplies and I added them to the box. We bought the reward stickers, but everything else, we already had.

I suggested the paper and Kai helped pick the different colors of cardstock. He would have rather used a dragon (and we did put two dragons facing one antoher on the side of the box to cover the label), but I thought his teacher would like these dolls better. This is the top of the box. We used basic grey paper and my Pagoda cricut cartridge. All the paper was from my scraps box. The inside of the box was also lined with chocolate brown paper and has the chinese symbols for Teach, Wisdom, Learn in light pink mounted on red. Kai had a blast using my gypsy (his first time) and gluing all the pieces together. To finish it off, I tied some chocolate brown tulle ribbon I had saved from a candle I got a long time ago.

Hope you enjoyed! I had so much fun making both of these projects! And, Kai thinks my cricut is awesome - he can't wait to start working on his Spongebob birthday party - more crafts to come.