gift idea {melty bowl}

 It's been over a month since my last post. Not because there hasn't been anything to share, but because we have been so busy! School finished last week and making teacher gifts was one of the things that kept us busy.

Eli made some melty bowls using Ikea beads, oil spray and a Pyrex bowl. This idea is floating around Pinterest and is a quick, easy and very fun craft project.

 We sprayed the inside of the Pyrex bowl and poured some melty (perler) beads into the bottom.

 Eli pushed the melty beads up the sides so that they were in a single layer.

 We checked to make sure that the top of the beads was fairly even in height all the way around.

And then into a preheated oven (180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 10 minutes.

 When it came out it the melty beads looked fabulous!

Lots of colours and a wonderful texture.

We waited for our colourful creation to cool before taking it out of the Pyrex bowl. We had oiled it well, so it slipped out very easily.

 A bit of a wash with dish washing liquid removed the oiliness on the outside.

And it's done!

While these are obviously not recommended for use with food, they are great for storing bits and pieces like keys or other small objects.

Eli couldn't bear to part with it, so we made a few more to give away!

saving dolly

Dolly and Eli. Let me assure you that Dolly's soft body was not nearly as white as it looks in this photo!

A few weeks ago when I went to pick up Eli from kindergarten he emerged carrying a dolly. Eli's teacher told me that when they had come across Dolly Eli volunteered me to fix her. Apparently he insisted that I could sew her up and make her as good as new. Eli's teacher, being the wonderful teacher that she is, wanted to check with me first. Despite the dubious look that must have been on my face (but disappeared as soon as I saw Eli's I've-got-a-super-mum look in his eyes), I assured Eli's teacher that I would do my best to restore Dolly to her best.

I think that Dolly's best must have been a long, long time ago. She has obviously provided many kindergarten children with lots of love.

One leg was about to fall off.

 Dolly had a two way rip in her side.

                                                                          

 She was very dirty. No she wasn't. She was extremely dirty. I actually would have preferred Dolly to be carried in a plastic bag, but Eli cuddled her all the way home from school and beyond.

                                                                             

 

Dolly had a bung eye.

                                                                         

So, I set to work. First I attended to the sewing part. Then Dolly's hair was washed and she was left in a bucket of Napisan to soak for a day. Then Dolly needed to be dried. I got as much of the water out of her head, arms and legs as I could and then popped her outside on the line to dry. Dolly also spent some time on the dryer rack whenever it was on (often at interesting angles so as to work on ensuring that a particular arm or leg was entirely dry inside).

                                                                   

After Dolly passed the I'm-bone-dry-inside-so-as-not-to-breed-bacteria test she was ready to move onto the next phase: cleaning the flesh coloured parts. A Chux magic eraser did the trick.

Here are some before and after photos:

                                          

Sewing the leg on was the trickiest part. Not pretty, but I'm confident that leg will stay on for a while.

Clean face.

Clean all over!

Okay, there was nothing I could do about the bung eye!

 But I think she looks lovely, don't you?

                                            

I popped into the op shop and picked up some baby girls clothes (our baby girls clothes have been long gone!). I thought a short sleeved onsie and a pair of pants might keep that sewn up leg safe from little fingers.

                                                           

Eli dressed Dolly when he took her back to school. He was very pleased to be able to present her to his teacher!

The lesson for me? Look beyond the exterior and see the potential. Just like Eli did.