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Monday, February 17, 2014

DIY My Singing Monsters' Valentine Cards & Crafts

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Hello,

I meant to get these out to you sooner before Valentine's Day but it didn't happen. As you know, I am a big DIY crafts person. Sometimes my eyes and heart are much bigger than my "time". I want to do more than I get to do but it doesn't always happen. I always make the boys Valentine boxes for school and usually am working on them down to the very last minute. For some reason, I work better under pressure! :)

This year, I finally made everything happen and on time. I made the boys Valentine boxes and cards for school. I really enjoyed every minute of it! If I could just craft all day I would!!

Well, I asked the boys what they wanted their V-day cards and boxes to be. We obviously know what Spencer picked….drum roll…….Minecraft! Yes, I said it, Minecraft. So I made him Minecraft themed cards and a grass block for his box.

Preston's ideas/requests, however, are always a challenge. It puts my creativity to the test and challenges me to a whole new level. Creating something your child will like and will actually want to show his friends at school is way more stressful than an art contest or my public speaking class! :) Preston plays this game on my cell phone called, "My Singing Monsters" and absolutely LOVES it! This game is pretty neat. you create a community of different types of monsters and each monster has a certain sound that they make and you put different types of monsters together in various worlds and make different types of music. Some say bum, bum or la, la, la. One monster is a DJ with ice blocks. Another one plays a guitar that is also a monster. It is pretty cool. They only thing I don't like is the fact that it is free to download but has in-app purchases. This means in order to do anything and get anywhere fast, you have to buy these diamonds and for 200 or so diamonds, you have to pay $10 of your own money. If you want a rare or certain monster, you can try to breed certain ones to get it for free but it rarely happens. So you can purchase diamonds to buy the monster. Plus, you can use diamonds to speed up breeding otherwise, you have to wait 24 hours or so for it to hatch. I would rather buy a game for a certain amount and then not have in-app purchases. However, my son loves this game and I really do too. I think it is such a neat and new idea for a game. So, I set out to design him "My Singing Monsters" Valentine cards and a monster box.

So today I am sharing Preston's Valentine Cards that I made for him of the "My Singing Monsters" cell phone app game.

I am not affiliated with the people who make "My Singing Monsters" game. The characters that I used to make these cards were found on google. If you would like references then I would be glad to give them to you. I can give references to anyone that needs them. I didn't create these creatures but I designed the cards myself. I hope that you enjoy them.


Here are the cards I made. If you like them, then you can download them below.

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts


 To make these cards, print them on brochure/presentation glossy paper. I set my printer to that type of paper and printed them out. They printed out beautifully. Then I layer them out and sprayed a varnish protectant spray and let them dry and then cut out and sign. I also created little stickers to use to keep them folded. We signed them, folded them in half, then used the stickers to seal the edges to keep them folded. They looked better than the real thing and the boys LOVED them because they got cards made by mom and made with the characters they like.

I will be posting our Minecraft Valentine Cards and box we made later.

Here are pictures of our cards printed out and the box that my son and I made together of one of the monsters. His name is Riff. He is the one in the card of the monster that has the guitar that says "I think you are electric!"

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Here is the cards that we made and printed out. The other ones in the pictures with the My Singing Monsters is Minecraft. I will print them later. These are after we sprayed them with the protectant.

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Here is the Valentine Box of the "My Singing Monsters" monster named Riff. 

My Singing Monster's DIY Valentine Card Tut. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

We made this  monster in one night and so he isn't perfect but we LOVE him. His mouth is were they put the cards. :)
I hope you have a wonderful year and good health.






#mysingingmonsters #valentinesday #valentinesdaycrafts #crafts #Valentinecards #kidscrafts


Monday, February 3, 2014

Minecraft Sword Tutorial Using Wooden Blocks

The boys LOVE Minecraft and have gotten me hooked on it too!
Here is a tutorial that my boys and I did together and it was so easy! I got the idea off of youtube from username, "Ihascupquake" She does a bigger version of the sword and I changed a couple of things. I also do mine a little different than she does her sword as far as color, size, etc.

I've got many more tutorials of Minecraft goodies. Minecraft bingo, v-day cards, and many more that I want to share with you.

This sword is made using 1/2 in wooden blocks that are painted and then glued together. The tutorial on youtube was made using 1 inch blocks I believe. I wanted to make sure they would like it and it didn't take as long as it did when we did the 1 inch blocks. Plus, it was a perfect size that the boys could choose if they wanted it hung on the wall or some other way.

I have to say that sometimes our crafts that we make always end up with me making the rest of it while the kiddos go play but they stuck with this one. I really had fun making it too.

I will have the link to the website that we bought these blocks at the end of the post.

Here is the finished product...

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts


Supplies
  • 1/2 in wooden blocks (or size of choice) I would buy at least 100 blocks to be safe (It doesn't take quite that many)
  • paintbrush
  • cup of water
  • wood glue (I used elmers) Cick here on more info on glue
  • mod podge (I used matte finish) Click here for info on Mod Podge
  • paint (colors depends on the color you want your sword). we did the diamond sword and I used a picture I found off of google images to match up the colors as close as possible. I made sure to have black and white on hand for the lighter blues and darker blues as well as the browns. The main blue color I started out with is a greenish blue color and just did my best to mix them. If you would like to know the exact paint colors I used, comment me or message me and I will get back to you. 
  • I used a base acrylic blue color and mixed in white, black, green, etc. to get the other shades of blue and I did the same with the brown. I did use burnt umber for some of it as well. To pick the colors and match them, I looked at a sword from the game and on google and use it as a reference. 
  • Pen or pencil
  • super glue 
  • pattern of the sword 
  • strip of wax paper
Instructions

pull up or print out your pattern of the sword. I kept mine on my computer and looked at it. Below is a pattern made by: http://sarrel.deviantart.com/art/Minecraft-Sword-Pattern-34474512



I used this sword pattern because I loved how they took the time to number them with matching colors. This helped me out more than anything. Make sure to group the colors and mark them by number and write the number lightly on the back of the blocks, so you know where they go. It is much easier that way.

Next, it is easier to sort out the blocks you need by the matching color to number and mark them on the bottom of the block. The website that sells these awesome wooden blocks in bulk is www.barclaywoods.com They are extremely reasonable with their prices. They sell them per wooden block. 
Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts


We put the sword together quickly before painting it just to get an idea of how many blocks and the layout.
Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts


Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Then, I took the blocks apart and began painting. I only painted one side of the block and half way on each side.

DO NOT GLUE THE BLOCKS TOGETHER BEFORE PAINTING THEM! I only put them together like in the pictures above to get an idea.

Then, I mixed up one color at a time and painted those blocks then moved on to the next color/number. (for example: I painted all of the # 4 and then when I was finished, I painted the next group.

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
 Above are some of the colors that I mixed up.

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts

Above, is a picture of the finished blocks after I painted them. Don't worry about the whole sides of the blocks being painted because it isn't needed. Once you have all of the painted blocks glued together well, then you will paint the sides of the blocks. 

Next, you need to lay out your wax paper and start gluing the blocks according to the pattern/color. 


Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
 Next, I start putting the sword together in rows like in the pictures. It is much easier to put it together this way. I glue each block down one by one.
Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts


Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
 Once you have the whole sword glued together and it has sat down a couple of hours, then it is time to paint a coat of mod podge onto both sides of the sword to seal the blocks together even more. I apply several thin coats. I apply one coat and wait for it to dry and then apply another until you feel it is sealed. Afterwards, you can nail hanging accessories on the back and then hang on the wall or do whatever you want with it. We had so much fun!


Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Property of Cassie's Creative Crafts


Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Property of Cassie's Creative Crafts

Minecraft wooden sword tutorial. Copyright Cassie's Creative Crafts
Property of Cassie's Creative Crafts

Our sword is now hanging on the boy's wall in their room and we are planning on making several more Minecraft items with the wooden blocks.

Click here to go to website with wooden blocks




#minecraft #minecraftprojects #diyminecraft #crafts #diy #crafttuttorials