DIY Scrabble Serving Tray

Just thought I'd share another little project I finished recently...a scrabble themed serving tray!  This will be a Christmas gift to my Grandma, who is both an excellent hostess and Scrabble player, so I think it will fit her well.  Luckily she does not have a computer so I can share this with all of you before Christmas.  ;-)

I picked up this perfect serving tray for $4.99 at Saver's a few weeks ago.  I considered this one perfect for this project for a couple reasons...1) The tray itself is flat, 2) The plastic handles are easily remove-able with a couple screws. I have been scouring the thrift stores for weeks to find an old Scrabble game with no luck...until last weekend when I stopped by a garage sale and found one for $0.25 cents.  Score!!

 

After giving the tray a good cleaning, I un-screwed and removed both of the plastic handles, with plans to replace them with something more fitting later...

I spread some glue around and stuck down all of the letters.  This tray held one entire game's worth of Scrabble tiles.

Here they sat to dry.

 Next, I thought it would be fun to use the old wood letter trays as new handles.  So, I measured and marked the tray off of the existing plastic handles, and cut them apart with my coping saw.

 Be sure to pre-drill the holes so you don't split the wood when you attach these.

 Once the holes were drilled, I screwed them into place...I think it added a cool touch! 

If you have enough letter tiles left, it may be fun to glue a few into the tray on the handle too.  Maybe even spell something fun.

 The next day, after the glue was really dry, I mixed up a batch of EnviroTex Lite resin to pour over the whole thing.  It's the same stuff I used on the top of my train table.

 I used a wooden paint stir stick to mix the resin and then to help spread it across the tray, making sure all of the tiles were covered.

 As it dries, check on it every few minutes, and exhale over any bubbles that come to the surface...the carbon dioxide makes them pop so you have a crystal clear coating!

Aaaaand, we're done!  Pretty fun project!  If you didn't want to use clear resin, you could also grout it like a mosaic which would also look very cool.  I'd recommend sealing the tiles in a clear varnish before applying any grout, to ensure that they wipe clean and the wood grain doesn't hold onto any haze from the grout.

So there you have it...one Christmas present down, many more to go!

And BINGO Was His Name-O!

So the other day I found this cool old Bingo game for $0.99 cents at Saver's.

You can get every game under the sun these days in digital form in the palm of your hand.  But, there's just something about the tactile nature of these old games. 

 I love feeling this pile of the round wooden markers in my palm...the etched dimension of the letters and numbers...the sound that they make when I dig my fingers into them in their cardboard compartment.  I love the texture and smell of the old, yellowing cardboard bingo cards, and the illustration of the New York World's Fair on the box cover.

No, I didn't intend on buying this to play Bingo, although I do have fond memories of laying down my quarter to play in the Lions Club Bingo tent at our county fair growing up.  I just wanted to make these parts live on in some way...bring them out of their dusty box on the thrift store shelf, "upcycle" them, and show them the light of day.  I'm not sure what I'll turn them into yet...I'm thinking something along the mosaic lines.  But, it did make me want to do some web surfing to find other fun Bingo game recycling ideas...

I love these recycled sketchbooks that use Bingo cards as a cover.  These are the kind of cards I remember playing with at the county fair...I can still feel those little plastic fins against my fingertips as I'd swipe my hand across the card to reveal a sea of red windows...the sound of the old ladies around the table whacking them against the folding table to knock the windows open again for the next round.  There's that tactile thing again...just irreplaceable by an iPhone app!

The little markers and balls provide ample opportunity to make jewelry, like these Bingo ball earrings and necklaces by Amy Pfaffman...

...or these earrings made from the flat markers over at Eclectic Elements:

...or these cufflinks made from vintage wood Bingo markers by Numpty on Etsy.

You can even wear them in your hair with these Bingo marker bobby pins.

Or how about a Bingo card clock?  There's always time for BINGO!

All of this game recycling talk has gotten me looking for all kinds of game pieces to recycle in thrift stores.  This week I picked up a box of wood dominos, some poker chips, and old playing cards.  Now if I could just get a solid week of uninterrupted time to create stuff, I'd be set!!

XO Handworks: Custom Recycled Pendants, Pins, Magnets & More!

I am still in the process of sharing what I saw at this year's Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, and for today's vendor highlight I would like to share the work of XO Handworks of Osseo, MN.

 I was really drawn in by this great display of jewelry made from recycled maps.  They have buttons, pendants, keychains, you name it.  I love how they displayed the soldered map pendants on a board with the map behind it, so you can find the location you want.  This is such a neat gift idea for someone who wants to show off their home state, country, favorite vacation spot, hometown, or whatever! Be sure to check out their beautiful creations here! They also have some really great items made from Scrabble tiles, bottle caps, and more!

A while back I used to sell pocket mirrors and buttons made from recycled maps, which were really fun.  I'm still hoping to offer more recycled map items in my shop in the future...once I get some better button making equipment that produces less duds!