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Friday 19 October 2012

When good Mum's go bad - The reason we have no pets!

Morning All,

Today is one of those days where I am going to confess my sins - I am not Catholic but this post leaves me with an overwhelming urge to reveal one of my greatest parenting shames. Firstly here is what I have made,

An Elmo's World Night Light - Dorothy's Tank



A fish tank is a huge deal in the Mansion, because the youngest two will never experience the joy of pet ownership. You see folks I have been banned from further goldfish purchases, I am a fish killer! Now before anyone calls the RSPCA, these have not been intentional deaths but the first three kids flushed fish more often than any other kid we know and Julian finally said NO MORE!

Now he rarely says no but in his words, "the killings have to stop"

So when Madeleine became obsessed with Elmo, he has a pet fish and she loves to look at the fish in the shopping centers. I suggested to Julian that we get her a fish, without skipping a beat he said "I think she is too young to learn about death" so the poor kid has not been able to have one. Well this little fishy fits all my pet requirements and she is in love with it.

Here's how I did it.

Supplies:
Glass Cookie Jar
Vinyl
Digital Cutter and Files
Beans
Battery Operated Tea Light Candle

So this little tank did not go exactly the way I had imagined, I'd seen all these painted glass vases that had been done using Modpodge and food coloring - Ugg did not work for me! So I washed it and did not take a photo - sorry but honestly it looked like dirty water.

Then I painted it using blue acrylic paint


Washed it off because it looked horrible, by this stage I'm thinking, Oh No!
Then I thought I would cut out my fish, well little did I know I owned a beach/fish themed digital set, YAY. (My cutter is new and I'm only figuring out how to use it - I still cut by hand a lot)

So I cut them out


Then I applied it to the Cookie Jar


Added white beans inside the jar to replicate pebbles


Then I popped in a battery operated tea light candle and called it done!


Waited for night time to get a shot of it in the dark



So there it is a night light - which would never have come about had it not been for my friend Maureen at It's All Connected, who asked me what was left and mentioned 3 things, 2 of which had not occurred to me - including lighting. This is why she is the professional and I have my L plates on (that's what learner drivers have on display here, in case that doesn't happen anywhere else) Check out her place, it's 200 years old and just awesome!


DIY Delight or Disaster? Do you know what, this was not the project I had imagined but for $4 it's actually turned out pretty awesome so I am going with Delight! What do you think?

Also no fish were harmed during the making of this post, I even avoided tuna for the day!


Thanks for reading,

Mel xo 

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!
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42 comments:

  1. We have 5 aquariums running right now ranging from 45 gallons to 250 gallons. Madeleine could sit for HOURS and watch the fish swim & swim & swim.

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  2. That's so cute! I love the cannelini bean pebbles. I won't mention how envious I am that you can cut vinyl. Nope, nope, nope, I will not mention that. :)

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  3. Thank got you avoided tuna that day!! LOL!!! This project is a delight! Jacob loves Dorothy and would stop in his tracks when she came on! Great project Mel..a delight and NOAA approved I'm sure! (Did I not tell you that Maureen is so awesome??!!)

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  4. Ok, this is seriously adorable. So glad it didn't turn out quite like you envisioned because it's got this simplicity beauty that makes it perfect the way it is.

    I am mostly a plant killer...not quite the same but I am trying to relate :)

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  5. Delight, for sure!!! This post was so funny!!!

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  6. Delight, delight, delight! Such a great project and adorably cute too.

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  7. This is so adorable, Mel!!! I love it! So so stinkin' Cute! Pinning! Great post - hilarious!

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  8. Projects more often than not don't end up how I had planned them in my mind in this house. lol But I usually love anything that's only $4!!

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  9. Now this is my kind of pet! Our house is the same. We've killed our share of fish along with some mice and hamsters, never on purpose, but we aren't willing to mess with dogs or cats, and it seems the smaller options just can't seem to survive past six months. Your night light option is adorable, and it doesn't require cleaning! Yay! You have a cute blog, so I'm now following you. I hope you'll stop by mine too.

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  10. OMG MEL!!! you went there - you made dorothy! i knew i loved you. macie would love this. i have been a fish killer since a young age so she will never know the delight (and horror) of having a goldfish. i may need to pin this for the sole purpose of stealing it for her :) good job!

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  11. Oh my gosh! This is so adorable! I would love it if you came over to Cast Party Wednesday and shared this with my readers1 I KNOW they would love it! Thanks ~Sheryl~
    http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com/cast-party-wednesday-link-party-63/

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  12. What a delight to watch that night light in the dark!
    You are so amazing....

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  13. That is just adorable, a sure delight project to say the least!

    Enjoyed reading your post, by the way - sooo funny! Thanks for sharing...

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  14. This is such a DIY delight that I'm pinning it! I want this for my granddaughters but I don't know how to cut vinyl. My kids had 2 goldfish they won at a fair that refused to die. They lived for years, until the eldest daughter got the notion to take cleaner to the tank while they were in it. Ekes! We flushed 2 dead, five year old fish! ~ Maureen

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  15. This is great! I loved the end result (and the story) but having geeky tendencies I would also have liked to see a photo of the digital cutter- and battery operated tea light- what is that? :)

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  16. Thank you for stopping by The Ease of Freeze. I'm your newest follower! Cute fish tank...and I don't buy any pets for my daughter. :(

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  17. Wow - can Mac come visit? She would go nuts over all the Elmo things. I love what you did with this - so amazing - Giving you a shout out on my FB page. Hugs xxxx

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  18. Absolutely adorable idea! Thanks for sharing!

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  19. Really cute - definitely a delight! And the fish of the world thank you for sharing this alterative ;-)

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  20. Delight, for sure! This is much cuter than a real fish (I've got pets, but I could never understand fish) and you don't even need to feed it and clean the tank (eek!)

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  21. This is awesome! I need to make one for my boys! New follower! Would love for you to visit me and join my site as well!

    riversrecipereview.blogspot.com

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  22. woke up to dead gold fish in my tank as a child so we won't have fish as pets either! looks like something out of the ikea catalog!

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  23. What a sweet, sweet idea! I have a little man who is elmo-obsessed and he would LOVE this!

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  25. I'm a fish killer too! We wen't through 9 fish in 3 months when we got my son's first tank. Getting the hang of it now that I stopped buying them from Petco! But this is adorable! What a cute idea. visiting from TT&J wrap up! http://www.craftinterrupted.com

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  26. It turned out great! What an adorable nightlight it turned out to be!

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  27. Delight for sure, as was reading the humorous round about road you took to making it. Glad to know I'm not alone, nothing EVER comes out as I'd envisioned it. Sometimes it comes out OK and I can say that's what I was going for all along and sometimes it gets hidden in the bottom of the trash can, never to be discussed again

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  28. I was never any good at keeping fish alive either and don't even get me started on hamster those poor things death certificates were signed as soon as I walked out the door with them.... ;)

    I love this it's a really creative idea and it turned out awesome, crafty lady!

    Found you threw thee networking blog hop

    Ashley
    Beauty Flawed

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  29. This is the cutest! Definitely a Delight!!!! Visiting via the Shine on Fridays hop :)

    Jessica
    http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/2012/10/sweet-saturday-25-nutty-peanut-butter.html

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  30. what a fun idea! New follower from the blog hop :)

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  31. This is the first time I've been here!! So darling a fish tank. I hate it when fish die, too! It hurts and then my granddaughter cries. Oh! I love this idea. She might like making this, too, which is double delight. Linda

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  32. This is such a cute idea! It makes a fantastic night light and the cut outs on the front are too cute.

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  33. It's a great night light! And no feeding of the fish or changing the water...plus, plus in my book! You are too funny ;D

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  34. This is such a deLIGHTful idea! :-) So cute! I'd love for you to share this night light and any other crafts at my new linky party, Submarine Sunday. I hope you'll stop by!

    T'onna
    http://navywifeypeters.blogspot.com/2012/10/submarine-sunday-3-features.html

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  35. Oh how cute is that, what a great idea for a night light

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  36. Haha, what a fun (sad) story!:) It's a super cute light.

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  37. What an original idea! Love it! Thanks for sharing at Keep Calm and Link Up!
    Barbara at Chase the Star
    chasethestar dot net

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  38. this is hilarious! just stinkin' cute! thanks for linking it up to tip-toe thru tuesday! and i love the "no fish were harmed"!

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  39. Oh I love this! What a great idea. I've pinned this as well - thanks for sharing at MightyCrafty Mondays.

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  40. Adorable, Mel!! Glad the fish (and tuna) are safe:)

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  41. What a cute fun idea. Thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday.

    xoxo
    Denyse

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Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, between housework and 5 kids, this is the only thing I get out of bed for ;)

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