DIY Key Chains for Dad

It’s the end of May already! Thinking ahead to Father’s Day, we are going to do a couple of posts all for dad, and this week we are going to show you how to make some key chains. We made these with dad in mind but you can make them for anyone at any time!

The first type was painted. We found some wooden cubes.  The ones we chose had holes already in them which was perfect for the last step of our project. You can pick other shapes as well and then drill holes in them before you paint them.

We painted the cubes. Now we decided to do three for each chain but you can do more. The more you do, the bigger the chain so I’d probably stick to 3-5. We chose some nice colour combos for the three chains that we made. Then we painted.

You probably want to do a couple of coats and then let them completely dry overnight.

Next we wrote on the cubes. I always like to lightly sketch the letter/design with a pencil first before I commit to a final design.

We used a Sharpie, but you can use paint with a really fine tip paint brush, and we traced over our pencil.

Write on all the sides or on just one, two, or three. Do whatever you like. We did a mix.

Since it’s for Father’s Day, we did a couple that say dad and one that says “I ♥ U”.

Lastly we attached some twine to the actual key ring, then the cubes together with the twine.

We connected a couple by knotting the twine between the cubes and then the other one we just put them all on a strand and knotted the ends so they didn’t fall off.

For the second key ring that we did we used hot glue!

First of all you’ll need to pick the paper that you want for the two sides. We decided on a pattern piece along with a solid piece that matched the pattern. Pick whatever you like. You’ll also want to decide on a shape and cut that out with scissors, a punch, or a cutting machine. Make sure the shape is slightly larger than the key ring you are going to use. You’ll need two no matter what size and what type of paper you use.

Lay out some parchment paper to glue on so that the glued piece is easy to remove.

Hot glue over the entire shape being careful not to go off the edges, and do that for both of the matching shapes.

Let it dry completely. Ours warped a bit so we flattened them under heavy books.

We then took some floral wire that we had left over from another project and twisted it into a loop with a “tail.” You can use a different easily bendable wire that you have or you can buy pre-made eye hooks.

Once the two sides are flat and you have your wire/hook ready, then put hot glue on the straight part of the wire/”tail” and stick it down on the inside of one of the sides.

Take the second side and put a thin layer of hot glue and stick them together.

Attach the key ring to the hook.

The finished products...

Summer Slushie Drinks

Ok so as promised...here is our finished DIY Mod Podge tray. It’s all dry and we added on a black decorative ribbon around the edges.

Now for the drinks...

We tried one called Summer Slush. It ended up being quite sweet so I would cut back on the sugar by at least half, maybe even more. Both of the juices are sweet along with the 7 Up that we used.

For the Summer Slush you will need 46 oz. can (4 ½ cups) of pineapple juice, 12 oz. can (1 ¼ cups) of frozen orange juice , 3 cups of sugar (this made it super sweet so try cutting it down to 1 ½ cups), 46 oz. (4 ½ cups) of water.

Combine all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and boil until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a 13x9 inch pan and a loaf pan. We used some recycled containers along with a reusable container. Freeze overnight. We let it sit for a couple of days. 

When you are ready to drink, chisel some of the frozen slush out into glasses and pour 7 Up over it. You can also pour Ginger Ale, Club Soda, or even some of Vodka, Tequila, or Wine!

Some other drinks that we thought sounded interesting are...

Mango Pineapple Frozen Sangria – Combine in a blender, 1 bottle of sparkling wine (half frozen), 1 ½ cups of frozen apple juice, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, and a 1/3 cup of triple sec. Blend it until fully mixed and serve with a garnish of fresh pineapple.

Watermelon Frosty – Combine in a blender, 2 cups of frozen watermelon cubes, ½ frozen banana, juice of half a lime, ½  tbsp. of honey, 2-3 mint leaves. Blend until incorporated but still thick. Garnish with mint and lime.

Pina Colada Smoothie – Combine in a blender 1 cup of pineapple, 1 cup of frozen mango chunks, ½ banana, and 1 cup of coconut milk.  Blend until smooth.

Maybe we’ll give some a try in the warm weather ahead. Enjoy!

DIY Serving Tray

Last week’s cool beverage suggestion at the end of our blog got us thinking about the next few weeks of May. Usually they are sunny and bright. There’s a holiday weekend coming up and May is the start of the season for BBQ’s, bridal showers, and backyard get togethers. We’ve decided to do a post of drinks to serve at these gatherings but first a fun and decorative way to serve them. Today we are going to show you how to decorate a tray to serve your refreshing and cool drinks on.

This is a fun and affordable way to spruce up your table and trays for your parties or get togethers. If you have an old tray that needs some TLC then use that but if you don’t, then you can pick up a plastic one (like we did) or a wooden one or even a metal one. We found our plastic one at the dollar store.

There are many different ways to decorate something like a tray but we have decided to go with Mod Podge. Our design is rather simple. We found a white plastic tray and decided to use some sparkly tissue paper and some polka dotted napkins to decorate. You can really use any colours or design; this is what we liked and thought would look nice for a Spring time serving tray.

Once you’ve picked your tray and tissue etc. you can start. Just make sure you have some Mod Podge and a paint brush or sponge brush.

So we’ve decided to put sparkly tissue up the sides of the tray and a blue polka dotted napkin on the inside of the tray.

First we measured out and cut tissue for all four sides. You’ll need two pieces per side. We left some extra length at the ends which will fold over.

Next we cut the napkins to fit. We cut the bumpy boarder off first though.

Now it’s time to Mod Podge. We started with the short sides that have the handles. We put some Mod Podge down and then laid the tissue down on and covered with more Mod Podge. You can gently brush it on so that you don’t get wrinkles, but if you do get some wrinkles, don’t worry, it adds character! It doesn’t need to be perfect. A little helpful hint...we found an old Becel container (any old smaller container or box will work) to rest the tray on. We found out that putting it down on the newspaper caused sticking and a bit of ripping.

Once you get three sides done, then allow it to dry before doing the last side. Some of the extra length tissue tore as we Mod Podged so we just ripped it off. You won’t see this as the napkins will cover the tops and you can’t see the bottom.

Repeat what you just did with another layer of tissue.

Now you have to Mod Podge the napkin. This was harder than imagined because the napkin is two layers thick and it began to tear as we applied the Mod Podge. Our plan to use a knife to cut the extra bits didn’t work so well so we ended up cutting the edges with scissors and will add a decorative ribbon piece to cover up any imperfections. We also hsve to cut out the handles holes once it's all dried too. 

The tray is all covered and will take some time to dry completely so be sure to take a look at next week’s blog where we’ll have the finished tray along with some drink recipes and drinks to serve it on it!