Cups on the fridge - Hey! I made something!

We have a serious problem in this house...our cups runneth over.  Right over the edge of the sink!  I was so sick of the cupboard being empty and the sink full of cups that were used for 5 seconds, that I got desperate.

I bought these cups for $3 at Big Lots way back in May (I was desperate way back then, but only acted on it now).  I bought some strong magnets at the craft store and pulled out my 15+ year old glue gun and glue sticks.

I piled the glue on a magnet.  I was really generous.  Heck, if I still have this thing after 15 years, I know I'm not going through glue too fast!

Then I set the cup on the hot glue.  I usually have to learn the hard way, but this time I knew it would be foolish to try to handle that little magnet, the glue gun and the cup.  This way, it was almost too easy.  I pressed down until I could see the glue oozing out evenly all around the magnet.  This was easy to do with translucent cups!

In ten minutes, I had 6 cups on the fridge.  Some kids of course tried to hang their cup on the fridge with water in it.  Be prepared for a wet floor if that happens to you.  I used a Sharpie to write initials on (it's so handy to have a different letter of the alphabet for everyone's name) and we were ready to roll drink.

Admittedly, I have not tried washing the cups with the magnets on. We don't use our drying option on our dishwasher, so I am hoping these will wash OK.

Homemade Puppet Show

I ordered Joseph's birthday present a couple of weeks ago. (I am really on the ball, this time! His birthday isn't until November!) It came in a big, long box and I got to looking at it last night. The longer I looked, the more the idea formed: a puppet show!

I started by taping up the flaps to make the box deeper. Then I ran a really long piece of tape all the way around the outside of the flaps, to increase durability.


Next, I marked a square opening and cut a hole in the front with a steak knife. It went pretty easily.


I found a large bottle of craft paint (left over from painting in the girls' room) and painted the front and part of the sides.


A proper puppet show has a curtain to hide the puppeteer. I had a pressure curtain rod tucked away. I knew there was a reason I didn't throw it out! See? Sometimes, you really do need that stuff you just can't toss out. I pulled some fabric out of my stash, serged from selvage to selvage and made a simple casing.


I punched some holes for the rod about 6 inches back from the front of the box, put one end through the box, slipped the rod through the casing in the fabric and out the other side of the box.


Now, all it needed was a sign.


The puppet show is ready for action! Sarah is modeling how to do it.


But she just can't resist being part of the show.


The project cost me ZERO dollars! I made the curtain wide enough to use in a larger box should this one die and we need to make a different one or different size. My total time spent on the project was about an hour and a half.