straw rockets!! (quick + easy, and so much fun)

You'll have to excuse me. I write maybe two posts a week, but I work on an average of three or four projects in that amount of time. Often more. Sometimes, projects like these straw rockets from February (February, for Pete's sake) get lost in the fray. It's a bit sad; there's a lot of good stuff in that stack of bypassed blog entries.

These are fun for birthdays any time of year (as party favors or as an activity), for Independence Day, or just because it's summer! If you keep back from trees (so none of the rockets get lost in the branches), they're super impressive at the park. Whose rocket can go the highest? Whose can go the furthest? Who can hit a target?

Materials needed:

• large diameter bubble tea or milkshake straws (you can make two rockets from each straw)
• smaller diameter milkshake straws or regular drink straws that can fit inside the larger straws (one per person, labeled with a piece of tape)
• staples + stapler
• washi tape
• scissors


To make:

The smaller straws (not pictured) are the "launchers". Each child will need his or her own, because the rockets are fired by blowing into the thinner straws. Label each with washi tape and a permanent pen to make sure you're not spreading germs.


Each larger straw will make two rockets. Cut one in half. If your straws have a sharp point, cut that off too, so no one gets injured.

Staple one end shut. (The launcher will fit into the other end.)

Use washi tape to make tips and fins, as shown. Trim into the right shape with scissors.

Repeat for each of your other stapled straw halves, until you have a nice assortment of rockets.

To fire:

Insert launch straw into open base of rocket.

Aim at target or up into the sky, and blow! Depending on the amount of force, these can blip up just a bit, or shoot ten feet in the air; it's all in how fast air moves through the launcher.

And there you have it: one perfectly good (no dust at all, I promise) project I meant to post four months ago. Have a good launch!


Linking up to:
Lou Lou Girls 
I Should Be Mopping the Floor

knock-off mercury glass lamp and coffee sack burlap shade

updated February 26, 2013: I'm so excited to be linking up again to Young House Love's Pinterest Challenge! The two inspiration projects below were pinned to my {private} Competition pin board back in December in anticipation of the So You Think You're Crafty? competition. In January, this project did well enough in the competition to qualify for the next level. At the bottom of this post is a link to my full tutorial.

I love mercury glass. Love it. It's shiny and vintage-looking and meant to look imperfect, all of which make it work well in my house. I especially love the way mercury glass lamps look, and the contrast of a rustic burlap shade really sets off the shiny mirrored glass. What I don't love is the price-tag.

For quite awhile, I've had the desire to try and make a mercury glass lamp with thrift store cast-offs, on a super small budget. Thanks to the So You Think You're Crafty competition, I had the motivation I needed to pull it off!

First: the originals and the low-cost knock off:

Originals from Restoration Hardware ($174 w/o shade) and Pottery Barn ($269 w/ shade). My copy: $18, w/shade.

I built it using an extra-tall glass thrift-store vase, a repurposed pan lid, the light kit from an old lamp, and some Looking Glass paint. The drum shade is one I stripped down and re-covered in coffee sack burlap. The Edison-style bulbs were a ReStore score for 50 cents apiece.

Mine has a more rustic shade than the Restoration Hardware version, and straighter lines than Pottery Barn's, and it suits me pretty perfectly.  I hope it suits you, too! At a savings of over 90%, you can't really afford not to make one!

For the full tutorial, you can click here, and I'll take you through it step-by-step!

Linking up to:
Junkin' Joe Vintage Finds

and the Pinterest Challenge

Young House Love

Decor and the Dog

Bower Power Blog

The ReModeled Life

engineering 101 : think outside the bots (intro to robotics)

At Bring today with the kiddo (age 32 months), walking by a shelf full of spare house parts:

"Want the robot, Mama. Want to hold the robot."

"What, this? You know, I think it's a doorbell, but you're right, it looks just like robot legs and body."

"Robot head. Want the robot head!"

"This one?" I hold up a thermostat from the pile.

"No! The robot head!" He points to a clock radio. 

"Oh, this one? Wow, that really does look like a robot head. Let's put them together."

"Robot! I love it!"

"What do you think his name is, kiddo?"

"Alphie. Alphie Robot."