Train PVC storage

So I was tired of the bucket of trains being dumped all over the floor so I found this great storage idea on Pinterest (of course!).
Link where I got the idea! (Scroll down to number 9)

Supplies:
3- 5ft tubes of PVC cut into 3" pieces. We used the 2 inch diameter. It gave us about 60 pieces. We used this size since the majority of the Take n' go Thomas trains are 1 to 1½ inches tall.
1 Tube of Plumbers PVC superglue.
2 Cans of spray paint. My little one picked green.
4 Caps and 4 screws for mounting.

They were pretty messy after we cut them so some sanding fixed them up.

I did a quick coat of paint before we glued them together just to make sure the middle pieces were completely covered. 

I glued them altogether with a super messy but nice and strong PVC plumbers super glue. I left some odd spaced gaps on purpose so that some of his trains that were bigger than the pipes could have a spot too. We glued on the caps and drilled holes for the screws. We made sure that at least 2 of the 4 screws went into studs just because it is fairly heavy and the metal dye cut trains make it even more so.  

It has been a great addition to our play area. He loves putting his trains away now, and can pick out which trains he wants easily without having to dump them all out. 

Lil man's Alphabet

For my birthday last year I decided to do a big craft for my son's bedroom wall. I had fallen in love with some ideas off Pinterest about wooden alphabet letters so I made a plan and went for it. I found on Etsy Alphabet Boutique 123 wooden letters with different styles for each letter and they were all ready to be painted. So I ordered these:

I then headed over to Michaels Crafts (2nd favorite craft store, Hobby Lobby is just too awesome) and found a variety of acrylic paints. Rather than the typical rainbow I wanted more masculine colors that would fit with the colors I had in his room (Earthy, "pond themed' colors). Then every night and some nap times too I would paint a couple letters. They all took 2 coats and then a coat of varnish so it was a lot of painting since there were was so many different colors, lots of cleaning brushes to switch colors. Finally I finished them all and was able to hang them up which gave me this:

I did take my time hanging them, I used a level to keep them straight and marked the middle of the wall to work out so that I could keep each row centered. I am so happy that is how they turned out. I love finding crafts that I can show my creativity and enjoy making without feeling self-conscious. Although my son is only two when I had to take these down when we moved he was very upset, however the excitement when I rehung them in our new home was wonderful to see. 

The Car Table

So my awesome friend moved away and I absorbed many items that she didn't wish to take with her on her move across the country. One of the items I was left with is this:

Its a Kidcraft table, perfect for toddlers. It has two chairs and 4 plastic bins to fit into the base where the bars are. After fixing up the top that was broken and lifted right off, filled some holes and gave it a good scrubbing I was ready to begin. 

I felt a little limited with this table because of its size and all the ideas I wanted to do with it. For a train table it needed to be bigger, I could do Legos but our toddler isn't ready for small plastic things yet (He is the reason they have warnings on toys for children under 3). So cars its was. Surprisingly Pinterest wasn't useful for this project (Don't worry, I have many more projects to come from there).

So first step after it the repairs was to paint it with primer it to give me my platform!

I was a bit excited to start on the top since that is main focus so I got out some painters tape and a ruler and got to work. It took about 2 days of taping since I ran out and had to get more, but once it was done I was able to paint the roads (below, left) then added more tape for the yellow dashed line (below, right). 

 

Now the fun could start. I wanted this table to be so unique and fun. I Googled around for ideas but once I was into it, this table was all mine and It was going to reflect our family and what my son would recognize. I dug into my huge stash of scrapbook paper, and started cutting. Most buildings were done with a simple ruler and I free handed any non straight lines. Once every building was assembled I purchased some Mod Podge (Purple label for the hard coat to handle all the use this would one day get). A few layers later and here is my finished top.

I'm in love with how it turned out. The parking spaces fit hotwheels, There is an Exchange (with an EGA and the green shirt all marines wear) and Commissary to represent our lives on Camp Pendleton. I still have the two little chairs, the plastic bins and the base of the table to work on, this is a big project but I have enjoyed every bit of it. Crafting is like meditation to me and after an hour or even 15 minutes I can feel my happiness increase and any stress just disappear.
I'll complete this post once I finish the table which hopefully will be before our monster birthday party in December so it can be utilized at the party.