Leprechaun Traps

Thanks to my B who lives from holiday to holiday, this year we celebrated St.Patrick's Day to unprecedented levels! The girls were super excited to set up Leprechaun traps for the very first time. We read stories and did some research to find out: they are very tricky, love green, sweets, and golden coins. This was the perfect opportunity to make something fun! 

I first thought of a hat found in the Made in the USA kit by SVGcuts.com. It was an Uncle Sam's hat and before I had to struggle with mine, I saw Katie Wegner had made super beautiful leprechaun hat with it already, so I knew it would work. Her hat was fabulously decorated and you can see it at KtsAngels.blogspot.com. Ours were a bit more plain but it has a twist. A booby trap!

I also remembered a black pot from Party on Elm Street SVG kit. It's a Halloween set, also from SVGcuts.com. I was wanting to make this since it debuted and Mary from SVGcuts.com mentioned making a pot of gold right in the tutorial video. It was really sturdy and easier than I thought. Very lucky for us, since these are a big hit with the kids!

 For the black kettle I will mention some details that make it easier for everyone, especially MTC/Zing users. First of all when I imported the file I was sorta "stuck on stupid" and made some huge mistakes on sizing. I am not sure what happened since it was all a mess, so I highly suggest looking at the instruction PDF that comes with the set before you start. LOL 

Next, since I didn't like how deep the scoring cuts can be on some of the files. I worked out a way to keep the cuts from going all the way through. Here's my fix: First I use the edit/shape magic/break function and break apart any pieces that have scoring. After sending the outline of the shape to a new layer (down on the lower right use the "selection to new layer"which looks like a mini mat with a plus sign). Then select all the score marks and use edit/shape magic/join to group them all together. I leave the score marks and the outline on a separate layers and then when I make the first cut, hide the score marks only and use WYSIWYG mode. This way only the outline is cut. 

Then, without removing the mat, I hide the outline and un-hide the score mark layer (open and closing the eye in the layers box). When I go to cut the score marks, since I use WYSIWYG, I clicked the "use last" button for setting the origin and lower the pressure. This way, I get cuts that don't make it a the way through the paper to the back. 

On a side note, there is a sizzix eclipse feature that does this as well and I don't have a clue how it works but apparently there is a tutorial on the SVGcuts.com blog. I imagine there is also a way to work around this issue for other machine as well.

OK so in order to make the traps I made a few changes to the basic designs.  I had many wrong size tabs left over that fit nicely when trimmed, so I used those to attach the "false top" to the trap. I very conveniently also had a wrong sized bottom so this became my "false top." How lucky for me? LOL One tab attached the top to the side of the pot and the other lightly held it up. The girls wanted to put cupcakes on top, then suggested real gold but they settled for pennies luckily.

One tab was to attach it to the side.

The other tab attached to the inside of the pot to keep the "false top" in place.

Here it looks like a solid "Pot o' Gold" Hee Hee

For the Leprechaun hat I created a similar false top by cutting a new oval inside. I used edit/shape magic/shadow and when the box popped up I selected "inset shadow" and sized it using the slider bar, making sure the points of the side pieces would fit withing the ring, by eyeballing it. But I had my thinking cap on by then luckily and it worked out well. It was easier to glue the ring to the side than it usually is to glue a solid piece so I might consider this fact when I make other 3D items.

I used the same concept to attach the false top to the inside of the Leprechaun hat...The tab to hold the "false top" in place was too long in the picture below so it was trimmed to just enough to lightly hold the top up. The other tab needed to be long since it needed to be put in place after the ring was glued so it extended all the way to the side of the hat.

There was much discussion about how the Leprechaun would get onto the tall trap, how tall Leprechauns were, and how heavy and how much "gold" we needed to attract him. Also why they were all boys and if they had parents, but I sorta glossed over that part. ;)

Here's some construction pics:

See how nicely this fits together?

This shows how one piece attached to the top hat and the other was a tab to hold the top in place.

She made a very careful study of how many pennies to place on top before it was too heavy.

Un fortunately for us, the Leprechauns escaped our carefully designed traps. But, they left behind plastic and chocolate "gold coins" and chocolate gold and silver "bars"(Hersheys Nuggets). The girls allo found one gold dollar coin in each trap!

The next day the Leprechane had gotten out.

He got away and must have been in a hurry since he knocked the ladder down!

I made this bag for my teenager so she wouldn't be left out. This was from the Charm and Chance kit from SVGcuts! She sent a picture text to her friends and was very happy. Phew. :)

Lots of "gold" but no Leprechaun...

This shows how the top lifts off....but no Leprechaun.

Last but not least we parents were invited to a fun St. Patrick's Day party at a friend and neighbors house. The print and cut images from Lettering Delights.com dressed up my brownies just enough. I made enough to leave a piece for the girls with their own toppers which are now fun "paper dolls" Hope your St. Patrick's Day was a blast!

Yummy too!

Chinese New Year Craft-Spin Drums

It has  taken me awhile to warm up to 2012, even though it has some really cool things going for it. I mean seriously, it it the last time in my lifetime I will be able to enjoy a date like 1/1/1, 2/2/2, and so on. This year is gonna be 12/12/12 at the end of the year and well, it's a bit sad we won't see 1/1/1 until January 1, 2101! That's 89 years folks and I hope my DD's get to see it.

I was glad to see it's not too late to celebrate the New year! The Chinese New Year on January 23 that is. So I have a project....Chinese Spin Drums! I made these with my Brownie Girl Scouts, and will make a few more for home too since the are so much fun. I'll show you how to make yours and also share the cutting files below. I found the idea on FamilyFun.com and adapted it to make it fit my needs. The one below has a dragon cut from the Chinese New Year SVG set from SVGCuts.com....

The dragon cut so well on my Zing, despite the tiny bits due to being about 2.5 inches tall Great file!

OK so here is how I made the spin drums!

 You'll need the 6 cut pieces from the file: two large circles for the ends of the drum, the center band, the two end decorations(mine have Chinese dragons downloaded from the internet and printed on) and the little "pizza table" style cut piece shown in white here...Also about 14 inches of yarn, a Japanese style round chopstick, two beads, a piece of ribbon. And glue!

I drew in the score lines here to show where the "pizza table" goes and what the different holes are for

 First fold the funny pizza table looking thing so that it stands up a bit and has tabs at the end. Place a glue dot in the center of the square created with the score marks on the red piece of paper. Then glue the tabs of the table onto either side of the square, but don't push the "table" down...instead let it sit above the red paper.

 Place a glue dot in the center of the square. Then glue the tabs of the table onto either side of the square, but don't push the "table" down...instead let it sit above the red paper.

Overlap the ends of the long strip glueing it down and be sure to get the holes lined up and the edges flush.

 This is where the chopstick goes into the drum. Be sure to put the flat edge in first.

 The chopstick should be snug within the hole and then go through the pizza table too. Place your hand on top of your drum and push the chopstick firmly onto the glue dot.

 The tie the yarn or string right to the middle of the chopstick so that there are equal amounts on either side.

 After threading the yarn through the side holes make sure the "drum" portion is well rounded by adjusting it a bit and then tie a knot to help it keep it's shape. Do this on both sides and make it snug. This is important to help keep the whole thing form getting loose as it spins too.

 Fold the flaps of the long strip in a bit and put glue on the tabs.This shows the yarn tied and also the tabs gently folded in. This view looks through the inside of the drum and the glue goes on the outside of the tabs so turn i over to apply the glue evenly.

Be sure your glue is all the way to the edges of all the flaps for it to be secure. Place the large circle on the end and fiddle till your happy with the fit. It wont be perfect but it should be even.

 Once the end piece is a set a bit, turn the whole thing over and use a pen or something to press the tabs down.

 Mark the place for the bead with a pen by bringing it up and measuring(eyeballing) where it meets the center of the drum. Then tie a bead on each end where the mark is.

 Decorate the smaller circle with a fun drawing or print out and enjoy!

  It works best if you hold it between your hands with your palms flat and rub them like you are trying to warm up...My little one had fun demonstrating! :)

Here are files: Just for reference the largest circle should measure 3inches.
For SCAL just import the SVG...if you do not own an electronic die cutting machine, the PDF can be printed and cut by hand. Then use a hole punch where required.
MTC
SVG
PDF

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