How-To

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Viking Hat	Cake Pan Centerpiece	If You Simply Must Plug It In	Tablecloth Ironing Board
Large Wooden Monopoly Houses	American Girl Picnic Table	Mad Hatter's Hat Centerpiece	Igloo Cake Construction
PVC Puppet Theater	Photo Lanterns	PVC Playhouse	Ice Cream Bacon and Eggs
Felt & Pipe Cleaner Leprechauns	Chicken Wire Cloche	How to Build A Temporary Table for 20 People

Viking Hat
1. Materials and tools: duct tape, newspaper, aluminum foil, scissors, masking tape, brown paper grocery bags, wallpaper paste or wheat paste, black felt marker, paint and paintbrush(optional) and faux fur (optional).* *Furry stuffed animals purchased at garage sales are a cheap source of fake fur scraps.	2. Cut off one narrow side and the bottom from two grocery bags. Paste the two sheets of brown paper together, making a jam sandwich. The paper is the bread. The paste is the jam. Make sure to cover the inside of the sheets completely, rubbing the top sheet with the flat of your hand. Use plenty of THICK glue. It's the paste that makes the hat strong, not the paper.
3. Place the pasted sheets on the Viking's head. Press and smooth with your hands, shaping the paper to fit the head. Don't worry about folds and wrinkles. A good fit is the only concern. Wrap with twine and tie. Have the Viking cover his face with his hands and trim excess paper all around his head. (The littlest Vikings may begin to feel claustrophobic until this is done.) Figure out something for your Viking to do while the paste sets up!	4. The hat does not have to be dry before removing it. If it's able to hold its shape, then it's fine. Prior to removal, mark where you will be attaching the horns. Pencil on a line around the lower edge of the hat where additional trimming may be necessary. Write the owner's name on the underside of the hat. (Not all heads are the same size.) Mark the front and back of the hat on the underside as well.
5. When the hat is dry, make a dome of newspaper on top of the hat and secure with masking tape.	6. Fashion horns from aluminum foil. A thriftier method would be to use newspaper, but foil is MUCH easier to mold.
7. Wrap the horns completely with masking tape. Use more masking tape to secure the horns to either side of the hat.	8. Tear the leftover paper bag scraps into strips. Cover both sides of the strips with paste. Cover the hat with the strips, overlapping as you go. Allow to dry. If a liberal amount of thick paste was used, it should be very rigid when left to dry overnight. (Twenty minutes in a 200 degree oven will speed things along.) The construction phase of the hat is complete. For long term use, cover the horns with a layer of pasted paper strips and paint them a bone color.
9. Add metal bands with duct tape. Draw rivets with a black marker. Glue faux fur around the base of the horns.

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Angel Food Cake Pan Centerpiece
	Gather together: Candle adhesive (I used Stick-Um), Hot glue stick and glue gun, Angel food cake pan, Glass chimney, Glass vase or large votive holder (tall enough to cover the pan's inner cone), Candle. Invert the vase over the inner cone. Attach the candle to the bottom of the vase with candle adhesive. Slip the chimney over the candle. Use a few dabs of hot glue to secure glass elements.
	Fill with water and add flowers.

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Large Wooden Monopoly Buildings
1. There's really not much to it. I used a scrap 4X6 from a recent kitchen remodel. Made a pattern for the ends and for the sides. Then I traced it onto the wood. I can't remember which cuts I made first, but I know I cut what "felt comfortable" first. The saw scares me a little.	2.In retrospect, I think tapering the sides was unnecessary. Clamping the thick wood in order to get a tapered cut on the sides was more work than it was worth.
3. After filling the cracks with wood filler, the houses were lightly sanded and sprayed with a primer.	4. Finally, they received a coat of their now-famous colors: Hotel Red and House Green.

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Mad Hatter's Hat
You will need: One small wastebasket with tapered sides, cardboard, three paper bags, glue, scissors, tape, spray paint, ribbon, and cording (Optional)	2. Cut a heavy piece of cardboard or foam board slightly wider than the diameter of the wastebasket.Tape it to the top.
3. Cut one of the groceries bags open, discarding the bottom portion. Rolling the wastebasket on the paper, make a pattern of its vertical surface.	4. Cover the wastebasket with plastic wrap. Invert the basket onto a bowl or small block of wood whose diameter is smaller than the basket's.
5. Cut open the second bag and paint it with thick white glue.	6. Place the first bag (with the pattern you just made) pattern side up on top of the glue-smeared bag, creating a jam sandwich. (The glue is the jam and the paper bags are the bread.) Press and smooth the bag to make sure the entire surface receives glue. Cut around the pattern, leaving an extra one and one-half inches all around the perimeter. Go to the sink and wash your scissors off right now!
7. Wrap the paper bag sandwich around the wastebasket. Do NOT fold under the lower edge.	8. Cut slits in the excess paper that extends above the top. Fold the excess over.
9. Weigh down the folded edge while it dries.	10. From a paper bag, cut two ovals for the brim and glue together. (See Steps 4 and 5.) Before the glue dries completely, turn up the edges.
11. Glue the crown to the brim. Add cording around the edge of the brim (optional).	12. Spray paint with the color of your choice. Add a hat band with ribbon or brightly colored paper. If necessary, trim the top of the brim to a height that is comfortable for your planned arrangement. Make the 10/6 sign and insert in the hat band.
13. Insert a vase, fill with water and add flowers - or just use fake flowers, like I did.