It’s a wonderful life…

A while back, I saw this sign on etsy, It’s a Wonderful Life. Steve loves this movie and we find ourselves watching it every Christmas. I would’ve snagged the sign up in a heartbeat, but it was no longer available. I waited a couple months thinking that it might be restocked and it wasn’t. (Naturally, it was restocked at the beginning of the year, after I cut all but one letter!)

So I got familiar with the scroll saw again. It had been a year since I had made the Noah’s Ark set and I was a little rusty. I had all intentions to give it as a gift to Steve for Christmas as part of our traditional homemade Christmas presents. But as luck would have it, the saw broke on my very last letter and I was unable to get it finished and the saw was unrepairable. So it sat unfinished in a Wal-mart bag in the garage for far too long.

Only 8 months later, I was able to get the last letter cut, the letters painted and the sign complete. Merry late Christmas Steve. Or even better, merry early Christmas.

It's a wonderful life

It's a wonderful life

Lego guy cut-out…

Lego Guy Cut Out
We’ve been prepping for a lego celebration for someone special’s birthday party coming up. We made a surprisingly easy Lego guy cut-out for kids to take their pictures with. The best part: no paint required. You need a poster of the image, spray adhesive and a piece of wood or even cardboard.
Lego Guy Cut Out
I searched high and low to find a printer to print a 4ft tall picture of a Lego guy. I had quotes coming in at $80, which was not happening for a kids birthday party. When I had nearly given up hope of a photo op station – I came across Walgreens who prints banners – 2’x6′ for $25 (they always have coupons for their print shop which can get you 40% off). I was a little skeptical at the quality for that price, but I was pleasantly surprised. It printed true to color and was as crisp as the original photo.

The banner came 24″ wide, which is exactly the width of “Project Boards” from Home Depot, so no cutting of wood. Keep your banner rolled up because it makes it easier to work with. Spray the top six inches of the board and line up the top of the poster and press into place.
Lego Guy Cut Out
Spray the next 6-8 inches and slowly unroll the banner smoothing out as you unroll. Keep spraying, smoothing and unrolling until you reach the bottom.
Lego Guy Cut Out
Hunter was in heaven. What kid obsessed with Legos wouldn’t love a life size mini figure?!

I told him I needed to cut out his face and a look of horror came over him. “Don’t ruin my Lego guy”. The only reason why I made this guy was to cut out his face! I let it hang out in the house for a couple days and after the newness wore off Hunter wasn’t nearly as sad to see his face go.
Lego Guy Cut Out
I used a jigsaw to cut out a circle. I first cut picture side up (which leaves a rough edge) so I could see where I needed to cut and then I flipped it picture side down and went around the circle again to create a nice clean edge on the front.

The kids then took turns pretending to be Emmet. Pretty entertaining. Especially the voices.

LEGO POSTER DOWNLOAD

You can download the file I sent to Walgreens here. (Right click on the word here and download the linked file.) It’s set up as a 2×6 banner – although the graphic is only about 2×4. For file size constraints, its saved as a PDF – You’ll want to convert it to a JPG before uploading. Open the file in any photo editing software and save it. 

Find more ideas for a lego birthday party:
Lego Birthday Treats
Lego Party Ideas
Lego Party Invite
Lego Costumes

SaveSave