Doh Vinci Review

BzzAgent sent me a free Doh Vinci  kit to try out.  It's made by Hasbro, the same people who make Play Doh.  You know how you make something with Play Doh and accidentally leave it out over night?  Normally, it hardens but then crumbles because it's not really supposed to be left out.  Well this stuff is designed to be left out over night so you can apply it to things for decoration.

I received the "Memory Maker Kit" and an extra "Deluxe Styler" with four design tips and three extra colors. According to the Hasbro website, there are a lot of other ones.

The Memory Maker Kit included a styler (which my kids kept calling the "gun"), one design tip (kind of a straight line tip), four tubes of "deco pop" (the play doh type stuff), and a frame.  The frame actually had lots of pieces to pop out, which helped while we were getting the hang of how to use the styler.

The Deluxe Styler had a "fancy" styler (again, kid named because it had extra decorations on the outside), four different design tips (butterfly, star, flower, heart) and three tubes of deco pop.

Disclaimer: The kit says ages 6 and up.  My five year old was not going to sit idly by while we played with anything remotely close to Play Doh.  So she joined in the fun.

I actually let all four kids try to see how they liked it.  The teenager is really into crafting and "making things pretty" so she enjoyed it.  Her only complaint seemed to be the amount of deco pop in the tubes.  She said there wasn't enough.

The boy is a tween so I wasn't sure if he would participate but he seemed to enjoy it too.  He was less interested in the design tips than the girls though.

The seven and five year old had a little trouble squeezing things out in the way they wanted.  The "gun" wasn't hard to squeeze, but they had to use quite a bit of the deco pop to "practice" how to make it go in the direction they wanted it to.  One thing we discovered was that because it's not super sticky, we were able to move it around a little after it was on the cardboard.

Pros: Easy to use even with young (5/6 years old) kids; clean up seems to be really easy, not sticky or gooey; (I got some on my hand and expected it to be hard to get off, but rubbing my fingers together as I walked to the sink got most of it off.

Cons: There's not a lot in the tubes so if you are sharing with multiple kids, that can be an issue

I'll have to update later on how well it actually hardened and stuck to the cardboard. Because I thought it would be sticky I was pleasantly surprised but then wondered how it would stick.

Update:  It all seemed to stick the way it was supposed to stick. The kids called it "squishy" but it didn't change shape so mission accomplished!

Scrapbook Herringbone on Canvas

I got this idea from this site for "Herringbone Wall Art".  I was actually looking for ideas to use all the extra scrapbook paper I had around the house.  I have tons of it because I had visions of making pretty things and decorating scrapbooks, etc.  But then I realized quickly that having the paper doesn't mean you have the ability to put things together.  I also refused to buy various paper cutters, stamps, and embellishments that seem to actually be needed.  So I hit up Pinterest and found all kinds of stuff to do with scrapbook paper.  Otherwise it was going to be used by the seven and five year old or donated to Goodwill.  I am tired of toting this stuff all over the country.  

Here is my result:

My daughter is into Anime and Asian themed items so I found a stash of scrapbook paper with that theme.  I have absolutely NO clue why I have this paper.  I have never been to Asia and yet I have an entire pack of Asian themed scrapbook paper.  You may not be able to see it well, but it has Asian characters/letters, fans, dragons, etc.  It's actually really pretty.  She loved it so I guess it's a win.  My son asked for something for his room, but I think I am going to try silhouettes of shapes with him.  Maybe sports or animals.  Not sure yet. 

I won't steal the thunder of the Burlap and Blue page by giving play by play directions with pictures.  But for a quick start guide: 

I cut the 1.5 x 4 strips and laid them on the canvas to see where I wanted them.  I didn't do too much for a pattern, just making sure that two alike pieces weren't next to one another.  

Then I picked them up one by one and painted Mod Podge on the canvas and stuck the paper to it.  Then I did a layer across the top of the entire canvas.  That's it.  

What I wish I had done differently:  

1. I didn't cut the edge pieces as neatly as I should have so I had to try to cut them AFTER it was glued down.  Don't do that.  Mod Podge makes the paper even harder and it was a mess.  

2. I switched from an X-Acto knife to scissors halfway through and I think some of my pieces ended up being slightly different sizes.  That left me switching out pieces as I did the layout because some of them were huge and didn't fit. 

3. I think Mod Podge is better applied with something OTHER than the paintbrush that I used.  That or I am really bad at Mod Podge...not sure which but painting has always been difficult for me.  I have learned through trial and error that some things need sponge type brushes, etc.  

Scout patches

I thought this was something common, but I have had numerous people say they wish they had thought of it. So here's my random pit stop for today:

Scouting for military families can be tricky.  On one hand, it can be a great way for a kid to get involved quickly.  For example, my son has all sisters so that boy interaction is important for him.  On the other hand, it can be tiresome trying to figure out where one troop/pack/den left off and another picks up.  I won't even touch on the getting used to new adults part.  Seriously don't get me started.  I have some stories for the books on that one.

So one thing I have discovered that makes my life easier...VELCRO.

The idea was given to me one day talking to another mom and looking at soldier's uniforms.  Just like my husband's unit patches change when we move, so do scout patches. So this mom would just use velcro, especially since her boys would hand down their shirts.   To explain:  The ones they have earned stay the same, so those go from place to place.  But in Arizona, we were in Sahuaro or Southern Arizona so the council patches (Girl Scout and Boy Scout) reflected that.  Now in Kansas, we are Coronado and NE Kansas/NW Missouri.  The pack/troop numbers were different also.

If you sew, then you understand why constantly sewing on and taking off patches can be tedious and not good for the material.  So since the council patches tend to be the same size I measured one and cut a big piece of velcro to attach to the shirt/sash/vest.  Then I do the same thing with the patch and attach / re-attach as needed.

Yes I have a little collections of numbers now (this is not all of them).  I am not quite to the point I don't need to buy any but I do just go through the stash and see what's there.

Simmering Pot Recipe

I did this a few days ago and pulled it out of the fridge today to see how it turned out...

It smelled GREAT!  So this was definitely a PASS!!  Here is the link to the original recipe.  But here are my tweaks:

Somewhere on the page, she was asked what size jar and she guessed pint size.  Um, no.  There was NO way that stuff would fit in a pint jar at those measurements.  So I did 1/4 of each one to fit into a pint size jar (I had a lot of those laying around so I used that size first).  But I think I may make more in larger jars.  

I also only let my stay in the refrigerator for maybe two days before trying it.  In the pint size jar, there wasn't a lot of water and I was afraid the oranges and apples would start to burn.  Not the smell we are looking for here.  So I added one more pint of water.  

Halloween Jars

These are only halfway done.  Yesterday was a crazy cake that had more crazy as the icing.  So long story short, I ended up finishing these with half of what they were supposed to have on them.

The picture is not the best because it was late and as I said earlier...CRAZY day.  But I made these for my husband's office:

  

They are really, really simple.  (More simple than I intended them to be).  BUT...they are soldiers and it's candy so I don't think they were really into the "frilly" visual appeal.  So mission basically accomplished!