Craft - Advent Wreath

Every year the kids would make Advent Wreaths in Catechism. They were usually made using birthday candles. Back when I was teaching grade four level, I didn’t want to do the same. I was going to make a flat picture with construction paper but could not find any pink paper in Dollarama.
Since I had waited until the last minute to get supplies, I had to change plans in a hurry. I ended up buying foam board, colored craft sticks, wreaths, hot glue guns, and chenille stems. (Side rant - Back in my day, chenille stems were still called pipe cleaners, and craft sticks were called popsicle sticks.)
It went over well, and in later years I bought crafts sticks in advance and painted them beforehand. This brought the cost down even more as the colored craft sticks I bought only had a few pink and purple sticks in every package.

Supplies:
Foam board – each 20"x30" board will make 15 bases.
Craft sticks – you will need 4 for each wreath.
Garlands – each 8' garland will make 10-12 wreaths
Chenille stems – the ones with the 4 wider sections - you will need 1 per wreath. Red and yellow are preferred but some kids preferred white, and even blue flames.
Purple paint
Pink paint

Tools:
Pencil
Ruler (preferably metal)
Knife – to cut the foam board
Paintbrush
Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
Craft scissors or wire cutters (optional) – to cut the chenille stems

If you do some of the preparation beforehand, you can have your entire class make these in an hour. If you have more helpers with the glue guns, you can do it in less time.

Cut the foam board into smaller squares. I used 6” x 6” (15cm x 15cm) but you can adjust as needed. This does leave a small amount of scrap foam board left. I was able to get 15 squares from each sheet.

Paint the craft sticks. You need to paint three sticks purple and one stick pink for each wreath. I painted them in batches using closes pins to hold one side of the stick to a box while it dries.
Once dry, I separated each set of 4 painted sticks into snack bags.

On the day, I had the kids draw a circle on the board. You want a fairly big circle but still leave about 2 fingers of room between the edges. Get them to write their name on the back of the board at this time.

Then they need to mark 4 spots around the circle where the craft sticks will go. I prefer to put them in the corners as it leaves more room. Then they have to decide whether they want the sticks parallel to the circle or perpendicular to the circle.

Once they have the spots marked, get them to take a craft stick and push it through the top layer of paper into the foam at each of the marks. This works best if the board is on a table so it doesn’t push through the bottom sheet of paper.

Four quick dabs of hot glue in the holes holds the craft sticks. A quick line of glue on the circle holds down the garland to simulate the wreath. Get them to hold the sticks up while the glue cools. I usually burn myself a bit sticking the garland down.

For the flames, take the chenille stems and cut them into 4 sections with a thick part in the middle and thin parts at the ends. Depending on the age of your crafters, you can use wire cutters, craft scissors, or even cut them by hand. If you pinch the stems tight between your fingernails, you can wiggle the stem up and down until the wire breaks due to overstressing. By curling one end of the chenille flames around the craft stick candles, you can ‘light’ them each week. If you want them more permanent, you can hot glue the flames instead.

Figure Painting Total - October 2019

I only picked up a game with a few figures this month. I did also pick up two large semis from Walmart that I will probably give a quick wash but I am not counting them as figures since they will be used as terrain. I also found some camper trailer ornaments at Dollorama – two to a package. So I picked up 5 sets. I will need to sand off the glitter and repaint them, but they should make a nice trailer park.

Combat Arena - 5

Oct total - figures bought 5, figures painted 0
Running total 2019 – figures bought 129, figures painted 1

Road trip: Moorhead - original of the Dilly Bar

While at ValleyCon this year, we decided to do some touristy things. Shan had looked up points of interest and came across this.

The Dairy Queen in Moorhead is where the Dilly Bar originated.

We had been by this location before and had noted it for the very large umbrellas but had never known of its history.


The American Dilly Bars are larger and flatter than the ones up here. They also come in different flavors.

Lander - base

I noticed that the seam where the two parts of the base were joined left a straight line after being painted. It’s only noticeable from certain angles but, from that angle it is quite noticeable.

So I sanded along the seam with an emery board and then applied model putty.

After it dried I did a bit more sanding to blend it a bit better and then repainted.

It is better but still noticeable. So the paint needed to be sanded again. More putty applied, more sanding, and painted again.

Action figure - army building

I recently came across the RetroBlaster Channel on YouTube. I got lured in by the Restoring the Death Star videos and have now watched a bunch of them. One that really hit home was his video on Building an Army.

In it he talks about how hard it was to collect multiples of the troop figures. Given the choice between getting a new figure and a duplicate of a figure you already had, most kids opted for the new figure.

I was lucky enough to be picking up Star Wars figures from the "original 12" days. It didn't take long to get all the originals so extra stormtroopers were an easy choice. I also was able to get some figures for $2 from a clearance center after some store must have had a fire. So I had a pair of Jawas, a couple of Tusken Raiders, and a few Stormtroopers.

I also got some extra Stormtroopers when my fried Arron moved. As well, I got some of his buildings based on the Woman's Day plans. I had set up many dioramas on the basement pool table with them. They lasted for many moves but have sadly passed on.
I also inherited his Death Star when he moved. My son was very impressed to play with this back in the day.

Freestar finished, torch passed to Terrain

Because we were having trouble with the Freestar we started looking for a new vehicle. We figured that we would rather do it on our time instead of having to rush and get a car when the next car died.

In July we ended up getting a new 2019 GMC Terrain. It was brand new - with only 50 km on it. It has a sun roof, and the black-out package - which means that the chrome and rims are black. It doesn't have a CD player so I finally had to figure out how to rip our CDs onto a USB drive. It also doesn't have a gear shifter so I am getting used to changing gears with the buttons instead.

We've mostly been using it on the weekends, and gave it a good run out to Regina on the August long weekend. It seems like it will be a good fit for us. It's also the first new brand new car that we have bought.


Which is good as the Freestar didn't want to start after Labor Day long weekend. We had it towed to the shop and they asked if we had driven through water. It seems that it wasn't the battery or even the starter. They said the engine crankshaft had seized. If we wanted to fix it, we were looking at replacing the entire motor - about $3500.

It's a tough call, as we hoping to get at least another winter out of it. But it is starting to rust, and the brakes would probably need to have been done soon as well. So we really can't justify putting that much into it.
It's a shame as it was a good fit, and had tons of room. But it really doesn't owe us anything. We had a lot of good road trips in it and I will miss it.

Books read May to August 2019

May
The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity: How the Modern Culture is Robbing Billions of People of Happiness by Matthew Kelly
Outremer: Faith and Blood by Jamie Gordon
Dracula’s America: Shadows of the West: Forbidden Power by Jonathan Haythornwaite
Billiards – The Official Rules and Records Book (2000) by Billiard Congress of America
Star Wars: Lightsabers – A Guide to Weapons of the Force by Pablo Hidalgo
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
Camelot edited by Jane Yolen

June
Heroes for Wargaming by Stewart Parkinson
Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite by MC Escher
Dream Sewing Spaces: Design & Organization for Spaces Large & Small by Lynette Ranney Black
Storage & Shelving by Jill Blake
Singer: Sewing Activewear by Cy DeCosse Incorporated

July
The Dracula Centenary Book by Peter Haining
Killing Floor by Lee Child
Heat Rises by Richard Castle
Brian Froud’s Goblins! By Ari Berk
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Aug
The Official Art of Big Trouble in Little China by Tara Bennett & Paul Terry
Time-Life Books: The Epic of Flight: Knights of the Air by Ezra Bowen
The Costume Making Guide: Creating Armor & Props for Cosplay by Svetlana Quindt aka Kamui Cosplay
Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game by Cam Banks
The Book of Cosplay Sewing – Starting from Zero by Svetlana Quindt
Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely