Halloween History Hallway & Pressed Penny Project

Since Jami was here for over a month, I was able to spend time finishing random craft projects.  My projects have been mocking me every time I went in the office to grab something - but now I had time to work on them!  I realized that I couldn't finish everything I had started, so I worked on a few projects that were bothering me the most.

Halloween History Hallway 

When Jake was in the MBA program and BYU, one of his professors invited the class over for a big potluck dinner.  He lived in a beautiful mansion out in Mapleton, UT.  I remember they had the coolest playroom with a built in 2-story castle and a secret hallway just for kids (and pint-sized adults like me).  Scarlett was in heaven!  After the meal was over they had a little devotional in the basement.  I remember they spoke of what a blessing it was for their family that they got to travel and live in other countries.  They didn't want us to turn down ex-pat work opportunities just because we were scared of the unknown (having done that when I was a kid in Australia I know what an impact it can have on your life.)  But the real take away I got from that night was their Christmas photo wall.  While they were talking Jake and I took turns chasing little Scarlett around so we had the opportunity to check out their decorations.  This wall was COVERED in Christmas photos - all neatly lined up in black 8x10 frames.  They were all labeled with the year and location too.  Every year of their marriage was represented on that wall.  It was fun to see how their family grew and morphed over those years - all on display for everyone to enjoy.

Since that night Jake and I have dreamed of having our own timeline wall.  We realized that Christmas photos were nice, but Halloween was probably a better way to represent our family that year.  And we didn't want a wall of similar black frames, but wanted whatever frame fit the photo best.  So - almost a full year ago - I went to Goodwill and bought a bunch of random old frames.  My intention was to print our photos and hang them up.  But of course, finishing a project is always harder than starting one.  I wasn't sure where to print them either (since then I have researched and actually Sam's Club photo always gets great reviews.  And they have awesome prices!)  Well, when I started getting them ready to print I realized it would be fun to photoshop our family into a backdrop that matched our costumes.  That would really help our Halloween theme pop!  Since I've been interested in photoshop lately, this was a good opportunity to practice some of my new skills and learn some new stuff too!

Jami was so patient, cause this took MANY long hours to finish.  But she never complained.  In fact, if it was after the girls were asleep she would come hang out with me in the office.  By the end my hand was so cramped!  And like most crafts, you are never really finished - you just finally get to a point where you are fine with the result and you're sick of looking at it.  I finally got to that point with all of them, so we printed them and put them together.  I LOVE how they look!  Too bad most people don't get to see them since they're in our basement.  Just a little hidden treasure!  Soooo... here they are:

 

 

Pressed Penny Project

Have you ever seen those pressed penny souvenir machines?  Where you put in 2 quarters and a penny and at the end you get a flattened copper memento?  I LOVE those silly machines.  I've been collecting those pennies since a field trip in 7th grade.  I wouldn't call myself a serious EC collector (that's Elongated Coin for you newbies out there) but I have checked the official list of machine locations on more than one occasion.  Whenever Jake sees one he points it out to me, even Scarlett looks for them now (and I even let her turn the handle... sometimes).  There are people that buy and trade them, they even seal them in special protective plastic sleeves.  I just like my coins cause they are places we've visited and I want to enjoy them.  I'm ok if they eventually turn green.  I first displayed them on decorative paper using glue dots but they all fell inside the frame within like a week.  So I finally figured out a new solution.  I wanted to do something that would be easy to add more coins to (so hot glue gun was out cause I hate plugging that thing in for a small item).  I came across this glue at Hob Lob: E6000.  You will probably hear me talk about it all the time cause I love it.  It glues everything.  It's like super glue except it doesn't dry as fast so you have time to work with it and wash it off your hands.  I found a roll of magnetic tape that I cut into small pieces and glued them on the back of the coins.  I had to flatten them first for it to work.  Then I bought a piece of sheet metal in the air duct section of home depot and used tin snips to cut it to size.  I used duct tape around the edges of the metal to hold it to the back of my shadow box and also cover the sharp edges.  And Bam!  Cool EC display!  :-)