Na na na na na na. Na na na na na na na. Home Dec!

We are always looking for cool art for our walls that accent our interests and that are interesting. I stared something in my family room that I call “The Nerd Wall”. On it, I plan to hang different pieces of pop culture that each member of the family loves. In some cases, maybe only one of us love the show or icon and in other cases, it could be a family obsession.

Like Batman.

We love Batman.

Out in the cyber world, I came across an image on Pinterest that layered comic book pages and classic Batman fight imagery like “BAM” and “POW”. I have also seen floating all over the internet the reemergence of String Art so I thought… why not marry the two? (after all, my Nerd Wall is only so large!)

The sisters and some of our friends like to get together from time to time for a Pinterest Party where we all do our own thing to put a different spin on a common project. This month, we chose to do string art and I was set with my plan!

The first step- head to Home Depot and gather supplies. Doing the projects as a group, we are able to buy the supplies together and save a few bucks. The awesome people at my local store are more than happy to cut down a large board for you into whatever sizes you like (as long as they aren’t too small and thus unsafe to cut on their large saw set up). In addition to the boards, we needed paint (if you wanted that), nails, and string. When choosing the nails, I would recommend thinking about if you want a large nailhead showing on your design or if you would like the nails to sort of disappear into the string and overall image.

You will want to prep your board with paint, stain, or in my case with comic pages prior to starting the actual string art process. I cut panels out from two comics that a friend gave me (damaged by his pets) and used spray adhesive to lay down the pages and a sealer to cover the pages when I was done. Comic pages are glossy so I didn’t have to worry about color bleeding.

Once you have your supplies you can use a template to trace your design or just freehand it like one member of our group did. I used a template and nailed along the edge of the Bat Symbol using the width of a pencil to keep the nails as evenly spaced as I could. After I had my nails set, I ripped off my paper template and set to wrapping my string. I like the look of multiple string layers but wrapped erratically in a random pattern. When you like the way the design looks, tie off your string on a nail in a knot and cut the excess off.

I added saw tooth hangers to the back and I was ready to mount it to the wall. I love how it turned out and it is my starting piece for my new art collection. I love adding homemade art to our home; it really personalizes the room and I am able to make exactly what I want!

Lego Week - Lego Wrap Up

I hope everyone enjoyed the past two weeks of Lego crafting inspiration! We certainly had fun putting it all together. Here are a few other ideas we came up with.

Lego Coasters:

I took one of the $5.00 building mats and cut it in quarters to make some fun Lego coasters. Since the top of the mat is slippery, I made a border of Legos along the edge so the cups don't slide off. I figured after using these at a party you could give the coasters to the kids to take home and play with. 

We also added Lego to hand soap and sanitizer in this fun project:

This project is super easy to make. Take an empty soap bottle that you removed the old labels from and pour a little clear soap or sanitizer inside. Add in some Lego pieces and more soap. Keep layering until there is an inch left from the top-- don't forget to leave space for the pump! With the soap, the Lego eventually floats back to the top. With the sanitizer, the pieces stay practically where you put them. 

The two bottles on the outside are hand sanitizer. I'll be using that at my desk at work (so many germs!) and at our diaper changing area in the house. The hand soap is being kept in the bathroom with the training potty. It is just another exciting reason to get potty trained soon soon soon!

Here are some treats I tried out, all inspired by Legos:

That's flat bread pizza my son helped me make and cut into pieces, some fruit snacks on top of fruit strips, peanut butter crackers on top of more peanut butter crackers,very big rice krispie treats, and sugar cookies with colored icing and M&M's on top. It was fun snacking on all of these goodies this week. 

Feel free to share any Lego Inspired crafts or recipes you've tried in the comments below!

I hope you all enjoyed our  Lego Week. To see all of our Lego Inspired posts,  click on this link. 

 We're off to the movies to see the new Lego Movie this weekend! 

Lego Week: DIY Lego Key Holder

I love the idea of adding fun into your home decor. I have seen a few different key holders around the internet including one that is sold by Lego and thought... I can do that!

For this Lego project, I started tinkering with a few of the Lego pieces we picked up at the store last week. My partner came upon me and demanded he participate. Ian has been an avid Lego fan since he was a small child.

To make the plate, we used a Lego Blue Building Plate as the base. Next, Ian designed the door. He used pieces we had purchased at the Lego store from the brick wall to make a flat door, trim, and doorknob brick.  The key, he used several bricks without the bumps on the top to give the feeling of a sleek piece of metal.

You can approach this at several levels of DIY. In our case, we made key chains with the Technic Lego block that are designed with holes in the sides of the bricks. I bought a package of key rings at Micheal's-- done! You could use a drill and put a hole in your own standard Lego brick too! Here, you would choose a good place for your ring, drill, and add in the key ring. On an even simpler level, you could buy a ready-made Lego man key chain available in the stores and online.

Using a drill, make a whole in the Lego plate close to each corner and screw into the wall by your front door. Alternatively, you could use mirror hooks to hang the plate if you are shy about putting holes into your precious Lego pieces.

Ian was so excited about the project, he pulled out a notebook and started sketching an "even better" key holder for our home. I see a special online order in my future-- and I promise to post the results of that adventure as well.

Lego Themed Birthday Party Ideas

Caitlin here. I am the sister who is obsessed with a good themed party. I always try to gear the theme to something that is relevant to the star of the party! Since it is Lego Week, I wanted to compile some fabulous ideas for a Lego Themed Birthday Party!

First, you are going to need invitations. Mo made some really cute handmade Lego Cards here. Making your own invitations is very easy to do. You can focus on the age the child is turning here as well.

Decorations:

Primary Colored balloons would work great here. Cheap and easy! 

You can make your own Lego Pinata and fill it with Lego bricks, Lego brick shaped candy, Lego "guys", M&Ms (which I have seen them referenced as Lego Man Poop).

Plates can be Yellow with faces drawn on them to look like a Lego Man head. (square plates would work best here).

For a utensil holder, you can build that out of bricks yourself!

We just visited our local Lego store and received a free Lego Movie poster! Lucky us! I would use that in my decor. You can also make signs using a Lego font which you can get free at www.typenow.net.

Food:

Main dish can be a classic party food...PIZZA! Make it square shaped pizza with pepperoni so they look like the Lego bricks! My little brother actually had a little girl attend his Ninja Turtle party where we served pizza. She did not like pizza. My mother ended up making her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In case that happens to you, you can simply cut the sandwich into rectangles and add circle shapes made out of the bread on top. Problem solved :)

The cake can be made in so many creative and different ways. One I would personally try because of my skill level would be making cupcakes and placing a chocolate molded yellow Lego guy on top. Another route I would go is making rectangle cake (like a pound cake shape) and either placing the upside down cupcakes or large marshmallows on top. Then, cover with icing!

Lastly, we made yummy Lego brick gummies the other day. I would totally have them out for kids to snack on or place in their goodie bags! Lego cookies are also fun and easy to make!

Check out more Lego Food ideas later this week on our blog.

Games:

You can have several stations set up for the kiddies to play throughout the day. Depending on age or skill level, there are so many different games you can try!

Lego Scavenger hunt:
You can describe the different Lego pieces (or provide a picture) for them to find. These Legos can be hidden or in plain site. First one with all the Lego pieces listed wins!

Lego Bingo:
You can make a printable with different Lego pieces on a Bingo board with cards to draw. First one to complete a row wins!

I did a review on Creationary, the Lego game, last week. You can of course play this game at your next Lego party! It is fun for all ages (7 and up is recommended)

You can make Lego Man crayons like we did here and provide a printable coloring page for the kids to color and take home.

Set up a station with assorted Lego bricks to build your own picture frame (take the child's photo if you have a photo printer) and send them home with a cute party favor!

You can also have them make a Lego magnet. Just glue a magnet to the back of their creations!

Since I am into making jewelry ...I would set up a station with easy to use materials for kids to create their own bracelets or necklaces!

You can have the kids sit in a circle. First child rolls a dice. Whatever number they roll, they add bricks to a creation. Than the next person rolls and places those bricks on the other person's bricks and so on. You will end up with some silly creations.

Since my 4 year old nephew is really into building things out of cardboard boxes right now (there is seriously the biggest spaceship in the living room right now as I speak), you can get different sized boxes and cover with primary paper. Make them look like Lego bricks. They can build a fort with the bricks or just simple towers! Kids love knocking those towers down!

Party Favors:

For the party bags, you can get cheap primary colored paper bags and cut out little circles to paste on them. They look like Lego bricks! Fill them with Lego Mini-builds, Lego cookies, gummies, Lego Men, Lego Crayons, Soap, Chocolates...whatever your budget allows! Just like Lego, the possibilities are endless!

DON'T FORGET the Thank You notes!! Teaching my kids manners and gratitude will always matter most. You can make your Thank yous to match your invitations easily!

My son and niece are turning two this March. I am seriously considering a Duplo themed party for them (since they are still too little for Lego). Hope this inspired you as well!

Lego Week: Fun Lego Photos

I am having fun documenting Lego Week and making sure I get a lot of photos so I can scrapbook them. 

I wanted to make some props for fun and made this Lego head using simple rounded rectangles:

I printed a few and let my son color faces. He came up with some pretty cool monsters! Then we attached them to colored Popsicle sticks with some glue dots.

Here are some links of amazing Lego Photos I've seen around the internet:

Warm Hot Chocolate has some printable Lego eyes so you can still see who's under that face. Adorable!

No Bad Days talks about making this adorable cardboard cutout for pictures.

Free Stylin' talks about these super cool Lego bricks on the wall, bet you could make an entire back drop out of those!

Stop by your local movie theater and see if they have one of these cutouts. We took quite a few pictures here.

Do you have any cool Lego photography ideas? Please share in the comments below. 

Lego Week: Fun with Lego Molds

We had a lot of fun making things with molds. The possibilities are endless.

We have a ton of these molds and found quite a few Lego varieties, too!

First, we made some yummy white chocolate.

We then used some of the brick molds to make gummy candy. The kids loved these!

A very popular use for these molds is to make crayons. We gathered all of our broken crayons and used them to make some lovely shapes.

 Lastly, we made some fantastic scented soap. I think these came out the best.

Lucky for you, we want to share! Order any physical item (excludes crochet patterns) from our Etsy Shop by February 13, 2014 and we will ship you some Lego Man soap along with your order! Thanks for stopping by! 

Lego Jewelry!!!

I was inspired to make Lego Jewelry since it is Lego Week!! We are celebrating the upcoming Lego movie this week and it has so far been loads of fun.

I was more of a Barbie girl than one who played with Lego growing up. I am totally not the best builder. In fact, I would have to say my son is much better at it than I. Making jewelry is my passion and it was super easy for me to come up with Lego jewelry designs! I hope you like them!

We sell some items on Etsy ourselves. Currently, we do not sell Lego Jewelry, but there are many people who do. For our local fans, we will be selling Lego Jewelry at craft fairs!

Our first craft fair will be at Holy Cross in Springfield, PA March 1st! If you live in the area, be sure to come and check us out!

Here is a little of what I have been working on. Hopefully, it gets you inspired!!

Lego Week: Lego Man Crochet Patterns

One of the first things I started looking for when I found out I was pregnant was a treasure chest to hold dress-up clothes. At the time, it didn’t really occur to me that dress up would not be happening for another two or three years but... we all focus on strange things when our hormones rule.

For me, it was playing dress up. 

I love making dress-up clothes and accessories for my daughter and her cousins. As you can see from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Thor hats, I also like to design my own items. My theory is: if you can’t find what you are looking for—make it! 

Who wants to be a Lego Minfigure? Any takers? I know our kids would!

We have been pretty busy this week at the MMM mines coming up with some new and fun ideas for you to celebrate the universal love of Lego.

Today, I am premiering my new Lego Man crochet patterns on sale now in our Etsy Store!
 I set out to make the essentials—a hat and hands. These are the first pair of gloves I have ever created. I am thinking about making some of the Lego man accessories now too! A cowboy hat? Perhaps a WyldStyle wig? The possibilities are as limitless as legos themselves!

I included a number of pictures for the construction so the pattern is very user-friendly. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions! I am happy to help in any way!!

Now, go! Make some too so your child can pretend to be a Lego Man hero too!

Lego Week: Creationary Review!!

The geniuses at Lego created a game titled, "Creationary."  It is just like "Pictionary" but you build objects with Lego blocks instead of drawing pictures.  This game is for ages 7 and up and is definitely fun for the whole family!

Inside the box, you will find several shapes and sizes of Lego pieces!  There is a variety of colors as well.  There are also three difficulty levels you can play.  For the easiest creations, choose the single question mark cards to play with. 

Some of these cards and categories are quite challenging.  The categories seem to be transportation, buildings, nature, and tools.  Depending on your skill level with the use of Lego blocks, your results will vary greatly!

 My seven year old made this creation:

He drew a "?" card (which is the easy cards) and rolled the dice that chooses your category.  The dice gave him the "building" category in red.  He thought the greenhouse SOLD plants.  The "man" is working at the register.  Those little buttons are plants :)

Just for fun....I looked on Instagram under #creationary.  You should check that out!  There are so many creative builders out there that really know how to use Lego bricks and build masterpieces.  Way to be crafty!

Personally, I am a fan of the game.  You can only improve on your building skills and people of all ages will have fun playing together.  You can't take yourself too seriously with this game.  I am not as skilled as many "Creationary" players, but it was nice to be creative while spending quality time with my son laughing at how silly I made a row boat look with Lego pieces. Good times and family fun!  Enjoy!

(Preparing for) Lego Week: Lego Store Outting!

Living near a major city graces us with the chance to shop at all kinds of neat stores. A few of us took the 20 minute drive to head to our local Lego Store in preparation of the coming Lego Movie and all the fun crafts we are bringing you this week. Well, we needed supplies and the kids wanted to have some fun.

Our local store has a lot of cool features that the kids (and adults) enjoyed.

 

There are several build-stations all over the store. You can build a Lego Man just like you at the Build-A-Mini Tower or you can use the tables and create a home-- there are such a variety of bricks to choose from and work with!

 While the kids got busy making mini creations, the mamas went brick hunting at the Pick-A-Brick Wall. This wall is covered with little bins. You can buy a small or large size cup and fill it up with anything your hearts desire. We made sure to pick up all of the elements you need to make cars. I took a handful of pink bricks (since we only own bricks from the 80's in my house) and flowers -- you can never have too many lego flowers.


While we were in the store, the staff gave us the latest copy of Lego magazine and a WyldStyle poster for the upcoming movie! We will be making it a point to go back the week they are giving out Lego Batman posters-- we are BIG Batman fans in our household.

As Caitlin has already pointed out in our Kid's Crafting post-- there is a free Lego build on the first Tuesday of every month. Search for your local store to see what events are coming up!

Lego Week is Here!

In case you haven't heard yet, The Lego Movie is coming out on February 7, 2014.

We are very excited about this movie - so excited that we have planned an exciting week for you! Each day this week, you will see some Lego inspired crafting. I hope you will join us as we get ready to celebrate this new movie!

Check back later today for our review of the Lego Store and the game Creationary - both a great time for the whole family. Then be sure to visit our blog each day for some goodies and tutorials.