Kristen Anne Glover

Five in Tow

Save the Broken Books!

If you are a parent, you have undoubtedly come upon a crime scene like this:

Oh, the carnage!

The victim: A perfectly good book

The perpetrator: Chubby Hands

The crime: Shredding pages when Mom thinks Chubby Hands is sleeping

It’s hard to know what to do with books once they’ve been victimized.  Tape?  Staples?  Sometimes that’s the best way to go.  But we have some books in our library that have been taped so many times, they resemble a collection of Egyptian mummies.  Any reasonable person would throw those books away.

But I’m a bibliophile, and I can’t stand throwing away books, especially since the most abused books in our library are my favorites.

So instead of throwing out those beloved books, I turned them into magnets!  Every day, I get to enjoy these little reminders of the many sweet times I’ve spent reading to my children.  That’s much better than tossing them in the trash!

Guess How Much I Love You?  I love you so much I can’t throw you away.

Here’s what you need:

1 ruined book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar makes darling magnets!)

1 (or more) packages of bubble magnets (see below)

Modge Podge (you can buy it at the craft store or make your own using equal parts Elmer’s and water)

Scissors or a 1″ paper punch

Craft glue or a hot glue gun

Here’s what you do:

The process is very simple.  I picked up a couple packages of bubble magnets at Staples for about $1.99 each.  You can get the clear plastic bubbles at the craft store, but they’re way more expensive and don’t include the magnets!

Staples magnets=cheap and effective

It is very easy to peel the magnets apart and remove the previous graphic.

Using the magnet, find images or words from the book that you’d like to magnify under the bubble and trace it with a pencil.  Cut it out with a sharp scissors.  If you have a  1″ punch, you could use that to punch out the images instead, but the punches don’t work on board books.

Brush modge podge on the underside of the bubble

Brush modge podge on the underside of the acrylic bubble, being  careful not to get it on your fingers or on the top of the bubble.  Place your circle cutout face-down into the goop and flip it back over onto some aluminum foil or parchment paper.  You should be looking at your image under the plastic bubble!  Press out any air pockets and continue with the rest of the circles until you are finished.

Modge podged and ready to dry!

Double check to make sure you didn’t get any modge podge on the tops of the bubbles.  If you did, wipe it off with a damp sponge.  Double check for air  bubbles as well, and then use a heavy book to weigh down the tops of the magnets while they dry.  This may take several hours.

Once dry, glue the magnets to the back of the bubbles using a hot glue gun or heavy-duty craft glue.  Allow to dry completely.

That’s it.  You’re done!  Aren’t they adorable?  I love them so much, I actually look for broken books at thrift stores.  They make great gifts for baby or bridal showers, teacher appreciation gifts, or even a travel tic-tac-toe game for the kids (just use two different books for the pieces and a metal tin to serve as both the game board AND storage container).   Have fun!

Book magnets make a great Valentine’s Day or teacher appreciation gift!

Dining with Dragons

A dragon who is at all polite

Finds table manners a delight.

He washes up before he eats,

And waits for others to take their seats.

It is evident he knows the rule

Of using a napkin to catch the drool.

He tucks it underneath his chin,

And waits for dinner to begin,

Though he can hardly wait a minute

To eat the stew with three boys in it!

Or bite into the Princess Tart

(Dragon wants a juicy part)!

He does not grab, push, or whine;

That’s not the way good dragons dine.

He waits his turn and takes a little

Of every kind of tasty nibble.

And even if it’s not his fave,

He doesn’t ever misbehave,

And throw his food against the wall

Or refuse to open up at all.

(Mom lets him pick the eyeballs out

So really, there is no need to pout).

If he happens to burp a flame,

And doesn’t apologize, to his shame,

Dad simply says, “What a light!

Save it for a fearsome knight.”

But Dragon’s manners are so refined,

His father rarely must remind.

He never lets his wings stick out

Or blows milk bubbles with his snout.

He chews each and every bite

Quietly, with fangs sealed tight,

So Mom can’t see the food inside,

Partly chewed and liquified.

When he has eaten every crumb,

Dragon doesn’t dash off and run,

But stays until the rest are through,

Gives Mom a kiss and says “Thank you!”

He takes his cup and clears his dishes

Just like any mother wishes.

He is the pride of every dragon cave

Because he eats like a gentleman, not like a knave.

Perhaps you think only Dragon is able,

But even you can eat nicely at the dinner table.

DIY Butterfly Chandelier

Today’s project is full of ribbons and paper butterflies–perfect for the first day of May!

I was inspired to make a butterfly chandelier for my daughter’s room when I saw one here.  I posted it to my Pinterest board and actually set about to make it.  Score one for me!  Pinterest: 5,062  Kristen: 1.  I’m catching up.  Here’s proof:

Ta-dah! One butterfly chandelier!

A chandelier like this is super easy to make (but it will take a little bit of time to punch out all. those. adorable. butterflies).  Here’s what I did:

1) Gather supplies

I purchased a package of foam pipe covers at my local building supply store for about $2.50.  The package contained 4 foam covers cut into 3′ lengths.  Two of these would become the wreath forms for the chandelier.

I also purchased a large monarch butterfly paper punch (Martha Stewart brand).  This was by far the biggest expense of the project.  The punch retails for over $16.  Fortunately, I had a coupon (woo hoo!).

I also picked up a stack of scrapbook paper since I’m not a scrapbook girl (don’t judge me) and didn’t have any on hand , various ribbons, and a roll of pink tulle.  I already had various crystal beads in my stash to decorate the ribbons.

2) Create wreath forms on the cheap

Wreath forms are expensive.  You can make some for waaaay less money using the foam covers I already talked about.  I created the biggest form from one piece of 3′ pipe foam.  Simply secure the ends with heavy-duty tape to form a circle.  The second form needed to be slightly smaller, so I cut the second piece down to 2′ and secured the ends.

3) Wrap the forms

I found it beneficial to wrap the foam wreaths with pink tulle because I didn’t want any gray to show through, and it was cheaper than ribbon and less time consuming than punching out a gazillion more paper butterflies to do the job.

4) Punch butterflies until your fingers fall off

You will need approximately 50 bazillion paper butterflies.  Somewhere around 20 bazillion butterflies, you will wonder what on earth you were thinking when you chose this project and you will curse Pinterest, even if you don’t normally curse.  Push through the pain.  You’re nearly there!

5) Assemble (in other words, glue, glue, glue!)

No one can eat dinner until the butterflies are glued!

I strung crystal beads on some of the ribbons, wound more ribbon around the wreath forms, and connected the two wreaths with even more ribbon and tied all that ribbon into a bow around a big ring.  The cat was very interested in this whole process.

Then, I glued, and glued, and glued.  So. Many. Butterflies.  Then I punched out more butterflies (because apparently, 50 bazillion butterflies wasn’t quite enough) and I glued those on too.

Pretty soon (not really) it was done!

When it was finished, the heavens parted and angels sang!

After soaking my hands in Ultra Strength Bengay and taking a couple dozen pictures of the chandelier, we hung it in my daughter’s room.

Its final resting place

I’m still hoping to find some more crystal (read: plastic) chandelier beads to add to the final product, but for now, we’re enjoying the look of it in her room.  I would have hung it above my own bed but my husband had something to say about that.  He’s such a dream-killer.

Is this a project you’d like to try?  I have a butterfly punch you can borrow and a couple extra foam-thingies…if you dare.