Duct tape on the wall

Lately I've been doing my best to de-clutter my house; I seem to have taken to the idea of hanging things on the wall to get them off the furniture.

I came across this wall mounted kitchen organiser, which I thought looked pretty cool. But I wasn't willing to pay $350 (£230) for the privilege of owning one. Anyway, I don't need it for the kitchen - I wanted something like that but for stationary. I decided to makeshift one using my junk modelling stuff and some duct tape.

For the back, I found a piece of cardboard the right sort of size and trimmed it a little so it would fit into the space on my wall. James and I collected all the stuff we wanted to put in our organiser, then for each thing we found a container the right sort of size. And I've finally found a use for the decapitated triceratops body I've held onto for a long time.

I cut all the containers up - some I cut in half and others I just cut the top off. Then we arranged and re-arranged them on a piece of card for several hours until we were happy with it. During the process we found a few more things that needed storing so we added them into the design.

I bought some duct tape and started taping the boxes to the card, making sure to cover everything. I put the items back into their containers as I went along, so I could make sure I wasn't blocking anything from getting in and out of its box.

James and I agreed that the triceratops body would look better not covered in duct tape - we wanted to see its original colouring. So to attach it I did something a little bit complicated.

First I blue-tacked pins to its feet, then I pushed it down onto the card base, to make guide holes.

Next I took the same pins, put them through the guide holes the other way and superglued them in place.

That's when I realised I hadn't made a spot for the superglue.

So, back to the triceratops. I taped over the pins at the back for extra security then stabbed them into the dinosaur's feet. The plan was to then remove the dinosaur and glue it on, using the pin holes as a guide, but it didn't want to come back off so I left it there. It might just stay put.

Once I'd finished building I had to figure out how to hang it up. I noticed at this point that it'd gotten quite heavy, so I figured I wouldn't be able to use string for this.

I bought some garden wire stuff from the 99p store. I made two holes on each side of the organiser and threaded the stuff though. I tied it at the back and secured with more duct tape (front and back).

Next I took my organiser and hung it by the wire using two picture hooks from B&Q. Having cut the wire way too long (on purpose) I was able to play about with how low it would hang. Once I was happy with the length I took the thing down and wrapped the excess wire down the length, taping the ends to the back of the cardboard.

Then I hung it back up and filled it up. So here's how it looks:

Making Christmas with Tusks

This is Tusks.

Today, Tusks is helping me get my house ready for Christmas. Since we don't have very much space for a tree, we've decided to put bits of tree on the walls instead. I bought these things from the 99p store.

I unravel the garland and Tusks helps me to bend the trim, giving it a fuller more natural look.

Next he puts the bells on it.

And I hang the garland across the picture rail.

Now that's not very much Christmas for the whole room, so Tusks and I make up a few more garlands and this time I hang them vertically.

And we find some decorations I've had in a cupboard for a while. Tusks is furious to find that I've kept all these shiny things from him for so long.

I find a cupboard door to hang up the wreath I made a couple of years ago.

Tusks wraps the banister up with tinsel.

There's a mini Christmas tree, which still has the baubles on it from last time it was out.

Christmas is ready.

House Cake

Last week James bought me some silicone cake moulds for my birthday. They look like little houses.

So I made up some cake mix (using my brand new scales that James bought me for my birthday).

And I greased my moulds (using my brand new pastry brush that James bought me for my birthday).

And I put all the mix into the moulds. Turns out they were bigger than I thought. I hope they'll rise.

They did rise :) but in the wrong shape so I squished them with a teaspoon so they'd fill the mould into the corners. Maybe next time I'll cover them with foil to make them rise in the right shape.

And they turned out like this:

After they'd cooled I decorated them using the writing icing we had left over from our Gingerbread Decorating Station.

And then I fed them to James :) he's getting very good at buying me presents.