Paint Can Bank

This is a project for my bowling league, where we call ourselves the Odd Balls.  We've been through a few seasons together and wanted to do a fun game this time.

We decided to have the game be that we would pay a quarter each time we did not pick up a split, missed either the 7 or the 10 pin, got a gutter, missed the double wood (when there are only two pins left and one is directly behind the other), and some other hard-to-get shots.  For this game, we needed a coin bank or some vessel to deposit the money into at the end of the three games each week.

The team (that's us, above, last season) gave me the liberty of doing anything I wanted for the bank. I looked online and there were some plastic banks that were bowling ball shaped, but eh, I wanted something unique.

Vince and I went to Lowe's and bought a small 2-quart aluminum paint can with a lid (yes, they actually sell empty cans without a lid) and a spray paint can of chalkboard paint.  We also went to the dollar store and bought a bucket with a handle.

First of all, this is one of those projects that I had the idea for, but knew that if I did it myself, then I would have messed it up somehow.  So, this is where Vince comes in and pretty much does it, and I just help.

The first step is to sand the metal can down with fine grit sandpaper so the spray paint will adhere well to it. 

So, when that was done, Vince drilled a hole in each side of the can for the handle.  We took the wire handle with a plastic hand guard off of the bucket and trimmed it to fit our can.

We put it on to try it out before we painted it.

Once that was fitted, we removed it and put it aside.  Then Vince took the Dremel with a grinding wheel and zapped the lid with it so we could make the hole for the coins.  I say "zap" because this was sparking with the metal wheel against the metal lid!

Next step was to paint.  I have tried spray painting items in the past and I'm just not that good at it.  They have come out uneven and drippy.  So, Vince hung the can from a hook with the leftover wire from the handle and held it at arm's length and sprayed.  It got two coats of paint and left to dry overnight.

Once it was dried, the paint instructions said to rub chalk over the entire surface and rub off (I did this part!).  Once that was complete, Vince put the handle back on and bent down metal end inside the can so it will not pop out.  Now, it was ready to go.

We decided that with the money we pay into it each week, we will take ourselves out to a great dinner and a night on the town.  The rule is that we cannot pop open the can until the end of the season.  We have been paying more than we thought we would each night, so this is going to be one mean dinner!

Come on down to the bowling alley on Wednesday's...we'll even let you make a donation!

Odd Balls Flower Pot

This post is coming from my picture archives.  Back in March, my friend Stephanie and I wanted to make something special for our friend Cathy for her birthday.   Some background: we are on a bowling team with Vince and we call ourselves the Odd Balls.  Her birthday was falling on a bowling night, so we had to do something special.

Stephanie came up with the idea of doing a potted plant.  But we just can't buy a plant and say, "Here."  So we decided to take a plain terracotta planter and paint it.  For this we bought kids paint, sponges and brushes.  Stephanie had yellow paint already for a home decor project that did not go well (for the record, none of her rooms are this color yellow!).

Stephanie painted the pot with with few coats before we got together, so we would not have to sit and watch paint dry.  When we got together, we made "stamps" out of the sponges.  This was done by printing out an outline of a pin onto paper and cutting it out.  Then we traced the outlines of the bowling pin and drew a circle for the ball on a sponge.  Once they were traced on the sponges, we cut out the surrounding sponge so the pin and ball were raised from the sponge.  Very clever thinking!

Pin Sponge Stamp

We used paper plates as the paint tray but found out that if we paint the paint onto the sponge, we would get a more even coat.

Blue Bowling Ball Stamp

Once we got the kinks out of our painting technique, we were off and painting.  She did the bowling balls and I did the white pins.

Pins Are On!

Here is another view:

Balls Are On!

Cathy's bowling ball is like a Star Trek ball where it is a dark blue swirl with a hint of glitter, like the galaxy.  So, to add that special touch, while the blue paint was still wet, Stephanie took a gift bag that had glitter on it and scrapped it onto a plate and blew the glitter onto the ball.  It stuck!  She did well!

Around the rim we painted Odd Balls, Cathy, 2011.

Lettering Is Complete

We let the artwork (and it was a piece of art, let me tell you) dry overnight.  Stephanie sprayed it with a sealant so it can withstand the weather and not chip.  She also went out and bought a few different plants and flowers and planted a small container garden in the pot.  We brought it to bowling the following day with balloons on fishing weights and buried them in the soil.  We celebrated with cheesecake!

Finished

We were pleased as punch that it came out so well.  Happy Birthday (again), Cathy!

Afternoon Tea

My birthday continues for one more weekend!  I'm so lucky!

Actually, during the week my bowling team, the Odd Balls,  threw me a mini party on our Wednesday bowling night.  They had a carrot cake, caramel hershey kisses, seven layer mexican dip, crackers and mini hot dog weiners.  It was great!  They got me a teacup planter with pink impatiens and a Fire King hobnail milkglass planter that the kisses were in.

Love it!!



Vintage glassware; I could do a whole post on Fire King! 


Then this weekend, there was High Tea served in my honor at the Royal Tea Room in Tampa.  Myself and seven of my girlfriends gathered and sipped tea served with scones, finger sandwiches, savory pastries, mini cupcakes and fruit-filled chocolate cups. 

Yummy in my tummy!

There is an order that you are supposed to eat this delicious food in and it is from the bottom up.  First the tea was poured, which the first type was an apricot tea and then we chose a strawberry-chocolate tea.  Normally they only serve one tea type a day, but we insisted on the strawberry-chocolate tea too.  We pushed politey. :-)

We first ate a blueberry scone with jam and clotted cream.  From the second tier we ate cucumber sandwiches and a black bean quesadilla pastry pocket.  Finally, the top and third tier, were vanilla cupcakes with frosting and chocolate cups filled with a bit of kiwi, strawberry, blueberry and raspberry, anchored in the cup with a bit of whipped cream.  It was delicious!

The Tea Tables

It was a lovely time and after all of that tea and scrumpets, my friend that set-up the tea party had a cake for me to blow out candles that were teacups and a teapot!

Finishing touch!

Yes, they even sang to me!  We were the loudest group in the tea room, as if we wouldn't be.  We acted like we were the only ones in that place.  Where were our manners?!


The look of just being sung to!

After tea we headed to this deli called Datz, that is also a restaurant/bar where they have 20 plus beers on tap and wine galore!  Instead of having a beer or wine after all of that caffeine, I chose to have gelato!

Strawberry Gelato!

I really did not need to eat this and this did put me over the edge, but it was soooo good.  We hung out just for a bit and then we all went our separate ways for the rest of the evening (by this time it was after 5pm).  But, we took one last pic before we left:

The Ladies of the Tea Party (at the bar) hehe

It did seem a bit incongruent to attend a tea party and then go and have a beer!  But, it was a great time; one that I would love to do again.

To end the evening festivities, one of gals and I went thrift store shopping.  Yes, even more incongruency going on, but I enjoy thrift store shopping for cool glassware and odds and ends.  My motto is you just never know what you are going to find!  That is what I enjoy the most, seeing something new each time I go.

I do believe that that was my last birthday party of the year.  I do still have lots more Cheesecake Factory carrotcake cheesecake in the freezer, so I can still celebrate anytime!  Thank you to everyone who helped me ring in my 35th year!  Let's do it again next April!

Bowling Party

Me and three other friends from work are in a fall bowling league.  We are called the Odd Balls.  We have t-shirts, black pom-poms and friends that stop by to cheer us on. 

I figured I would write a Mid-Week Mini to chat about one of the Odd Balls and her birthday bowling party.  At bowling, we love to have fun and joke around with everyone so since her actual birthday landed on a bowling night, we threw her a mini party.

I had gone to Goodwill earlier in the week to look for some pretty glassware with a pal and I happened upon this random bowling trophy.

I guess the Most Improved Male did not like his trophy

This was marked about $3, and I thought that was a bit much for a plastic bowling trophy at Goodwill.  So, I may have embarrassed my pal when we got to the register, but I haggled with the cashier on the price and she took off $1!  Yes, I haggled at Goodwill; I have no shame!

The time between work and bowling I went to the party store and bought a few balloons and used this trophy as the balloon weight.  I had also made a new "plaque" for the trophy.

It was our table centerpiece!

We were bowling against one of our favorite teams that night.  We had some friends stop by to cheer us on.  One of our friends had brought her baby by and I think she really likes the bowling atmosphere!  We tend to bowl really well when she is there so we call her our Lucky Charm.

Lucky Charm, Ines!

Here is me and the birthday girl, Stephanie:

Yup, we wore birthday hats!

Of course, Vince, my sweetie is an Odd Ball (he is our anchor, us gals do our best).  This is us:

Odd Ball sweethearts

We won six out of eight points!  Poor Anthony and his team!  We normally have a ying and yang thing going on each week, we win some, we lose some.  We had fun, that's for sure.

Cathy even made a cake, so we served any team that wanted a piece.  It was a peanut butter cake: Yum!



We ran out of gel, so it was just Happy Birthday Stephy!


Here is our first group pic of the season:

Gooooooo Odd Balls!


We love having company, so let me know when you want stop by to cheer us on!