Elmer’s #CanYouTopThis craft & $500 giveaway!

I cannot even tell you how EXCITED I am about this awesome new giveaway I have! But first, I have to tell you about this craft project I made. Because it took me hours. And hours. And I really need my work to be validated.

Last week when we did our bi-weekly grocery shopping trip at Walmart, we got one of these:

See, every year we put together a gingerbread house. And have it for the month of December. And then throw it away. And it just seems like such a waste. I hate throwing things away, especially things we create together. So with that in mind, I headed to Walmart (again) and picked up an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Board. And then I saw that Elmer’s has a lot more products that I could use for my project.

I got pretty excited. Because I knew that I could make something really amazing with Elmer’s craft supplies and glue products.

Do you see all that glue?! I was quite excited, so I headed home with all my purchases and decided to make a Felt Gingerbread House That I Will Not Throw Away Every Year.

Here’s my supply list:

• Elmer’s tri-fold board
• Brown felt squares
• Green felt square
• Elmer’s chenille stems
• glitter pom-pom balls
• 1.5″ long pearlized pins (found in sewing section)
• Elmer’s Craft Bond rubber cement
• Elmer’s 3D Classic Rainbow n’ Glitter Colors pens
• Elmer’s Project Popperz Dual-tip markers
• Elmer’s Rubber Cement
• Elmer’s No Wrinkle Washable glue
• Elmer’s Craft Bond All-Purpose glue (I know, I know, that’s a lot of glue. I was a teensy bit excited about all the glue possibilities)
• ric rac – I used red & white. This is found in the sewing section near the thread.
• styrofoam cone (yes, I know gingerbread houses don’t usually have cones. But wait for it, you’ll see what it’s for)

First, I took my Tri-Fold Board and drew lines. I made 4 sides at that were 2.5″ wide and 3.5″ tall. Then I made 4 more sides that were 4″ wide and 6″ tall.

Then I cut the sides out.

Next, I took one of the sides, laid it on the felt and cut around it, leaving just enough of a border that I could fold it over onto the board when I glued it. And no, it doesn’t have to be straight because no one will see the uneven edges. Love it when I don’t have to make things perfect!

I took the Elmer’s All Purpose Craft Bond glue and glued the edges of the brown felt then folded them over the side.

I did that for all 8 sides that I had cut out.

Once all the sides were felted, I glued them together so they formed an open cube. And I called my husband. Because it was time to make The Roof. I love doing crafts, but when it comes to using geometry to figure out roof angles, I figured my geek would enjoy creating some sort of computer program to solve the equation of x+y-z to the nth. Right? So he dutifully came and made a roof for me. And we covered that in felt, too.

Then came the fun part – decorating! I made several pieces of the “candy” that we put on the house with pieces of felt and used the Project Popperz Dual-tip markers to color in parts, and the 3D Classic Rainbow n’ Glitter Colors for added dimension and sparkle. Here’s one of the peppermints we made:

We also made candy canes, windows, doors, hearts and so many other shapes. It was fun for my 9 yr old to color the pieces with the markers, then we’d fill in with the 3D glitter pens. I added chenille stems to the border of the front of the house where the pieces joined so you didn’t see the seams. And I added ric-rac on the larger house for the same reason.

Now, the really nice thing about my Felt Gingerbread House That I Will Not Throw Away Every Year is that the felt candy pieces don’t need to be glued on. Since felt sticks to felt without adhesive, we can move it around and change it up each year. And we can make new candy to add to the house whenever we want for a totally new look.

We had such a good time making the house that we made an accessory for our houses – a little decorated tree! We just took a styrofoam cone shape, glued some green felt on, and pushed in some 1.5″ long pearlized pins, wrapped the Elmer’s Chenille Pipes around it, added some glitter pom-pom balls, and voila! It’s done.

Here’s the finished product, complete with tree:

And a side view:

Of course that is not dust on the shelf. It’s faux snow. Mmmmhhmmmm. I made it especially for you to set the scene.

Now, are you ready for the. most. awesome. giveaway. ever? I mean, seriously, this is SO exciting for me, I can’t even tell you. Elmer’s & Collective Bias are giving me FIVE $100 Walmart gift cards to give away to FIVE readers who make their own #CanYouTopThis craft and try to top what I made! Here’s what you need to do:

1. You MUST purchase an Elmer’s tri-fold display board and use it in some way for your craft. As you can see from what I made, you don’t need to keep it in-tact. These boards cost less than $4 at Walmart.

2. You MUST post your project and “recipe”/instructions on your blog (if you have one) or on Facebook as a public note so that we can see it.

3. You can enter by leaving a comment here with a link to your blog post showing photos of your craft with a recipe & instructions, or a link to your public Facebook note with photos & your recipe & instructions.

4. ALL blog posts and/or Facebook public notes MUST have the hashtag #CanYouTopThis to be eligible.

5. Entries must be received by December 1, 2010 at midnight. I will select FIVE winners based on uniqueness of project on December 2nd. Winner MUST provide me with contact information by on December 2nd to receive prize.

And here’s the cool part – I’m not the only one hosting a giveaway like this! Once you make your project, make sure you enter it on these crafty bloggers’ sites, too:

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Tagged as: crafts, giveaways