DIY Toy Cash Register

I'm back! I know it's been a while. Things have been crazy these last few weeks and I could not help feel like I have been pulled from different directions. Whew! While I am still recovering from my ridiculous schedule let me share a project that I made a couple of months ago.

Here it goes:
  
Old boxes + bottle caps = toy cash register!

It is common knowledge that toys can be really expensive. But here’s proof that you don’t need to spend a single peso for your kid’s toys.  By recycling a couple of old boxes, toilet paper tubes, bottles caps, added with a bit of imagination you can create toys for your little ones. This project will help you save money, save the environment and at the same time keep your kiddos amused with play! Now don’t be surprised if people start calling you “super mom”.

 For this project you’ll need the following:
 

Old boxes

Cardboard tubes (toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, etc…)

Bottle caps

Glue

Scissors

Paint

Step 1: Look for boxes that will go together to form the shape of a cash register (a medium sized, bulky box, such as a slide through shoe box and another that is relatively taller and thinner, like a cereal or pancake mix box).

Step 2: Paint boxes and glue them together.

 

Step 3: Get s piece of tube (as in a toilet paper tube, paper towel tube, etc...) and adjust the length as necessary. Paint the tube and attach using glue. 

Step 4: Create a “drawer”. This step will depend on the type of box you are using. Cut an opening through the front of the box and insert a smaller box inside (I was lucky to find a box that already had an opening). But if you are using a slide through shoe box this step won’t be necessary.

 

Step 5: Cut a piece of cardboard big enough to cover the opening if the box for the “drawer” is too small for the opening. (Here I also attached the opening flap of an empty pouch used for baby wipes to cover the cardboard. This step is optional, of course)

Step 6: Paint “drawer”

Step 7: Glue bottle caps on top of box

Step 8: Put in all the little details such as the numbers over the bottle caps, a piece of cardboard “monitor” and a little slit on the toilet paper roll to hold the “receipt”.

 

Oh, and don’t forget to fill the drawer with play money!

DIY Tiered Tin Can Organizer/ Tray

This is a project I made for Yahoo! She several months ago. I didn't know (until just recently) that The Frugal Female featured it in her blog. 

 

 Check out the article here just in case you missed it at Yahoo! She.

 

Have a great weekend!



DIY Mini Minaudiere

As promised on my most recent post, here's a fashionable way to reuse and repurpose empty mint cans. 

 

Glamorize an empty hinged tin container, such as the ones used for breath mints, by embellishing it with beads, buttons, sequins or any ornament with a flat base. With a few simple, easy steps you’ll be able to create for yourself a mini minaudière.

 

  Materials needed:

Hinged tin can or container
 

 

Spray paint

Beads or any embellishment  

Mighty Bond

 Procedure:

Step 1: Spray paint the outer surface. Let dry

Step 2: Lay beads over the tin container and arrange them according to your preference

Step 3:  Glue on beads and let dry

 

Tadaah!
 

I bought the square beads from Carolina's while the torquise one is an embelishment from an old pair of sandal that broke out on me while I was at the mall!

Reusing Empty Valda Pastille Tin Cans

I have been consuming quite a lot of Valda pastilles these past few months. I have been "talking" a lot lately: lectures, reviews, story telling with Alonzo. Generally, I simply talk too much...I even talk when I'm asleep! Strangely enough, the first thing I asked my doctor after waking from general anesthesia after giving birth was if there was anything I said while I was "out".

 

Anyway, because I am who I am I have accumulated a few tins of these gummy lozenges and have been saving them for my future crafts.

 

 

This is a super easy way to pretty up those little golden containers.  Simply, cover the sides of the lid with tape and spray on paint over the top. I was thinking that it would be pretty to use a gradient of colors on each tin (to create an ombre effect), stick a piece of magnet at the bottom and attach to the fridge. However, I didn't want to spend on more spray paint so I used only what we had left.     

   

These tins may be reused to store a multitude of little things! Use it as a mini sewing kit, a pill container, emergency kit, etc..

Oh! This reminds me of a fabulous (if i may say so myself) project that I made with a rectangular mint tin container. I promise to post about that soon-ish.