Last week I shared my Outdoor Concrete Side Table on the Better Homes and Gardens blog! I’m so happy with how it turned out. I actually created 2 of these little stool/side tables. Love them.

For a complete tutorial on how I made this, check out my post (link above). It’s quite simple and inexpensive. I made both of these stools for under $30. Enjoy!

- Chelsey

Uh oh. I got my hands on some concrete and sorta maybe went crazy and am making ALL the things concrete. CAN. NOT. STOP. Not all of my projects have been successful, but I’m in love with the pieces that worked. Today I’m sharing my Concrete Honey Bear. He’s so cute.

Let’s jump right into it. This is how I made him:

Supplies:

- Roughly 3 cups of Quikrete 5000 Concrete

- 1 Honey Bear bottle

- One 3/4 inch wide by 12 inch high piece of PVC pipe

- Water

- Duct Tape

- Shovel/stick to mix the concrete.

- Large container to mix concrete (we used two 5 gallon buckets)

- Pliers, wire cutters, and blade to peel off plastic

Directions: 

- Prep your boney bear bottle. Clean it.

- This part is sort of optional: cut the top off the bottle. I did this so I could fit the PVC pipe into the bear.

- Use duct tape to seal off one end of your PVC pipe piece.

- It’s time to pour your concrete! Safety note: wear gloves/eye protection/dust filter mask for this process. I also suggest doing this process with a friend, makes it so much easier (also, the concrete bag is 80 pounds and I couldn’t even move, ha, my husband helped with that). Mix your concrete together with water. I’m not positive how much water I used, but slowly add water until the mixture is slushy. Add more concrete if it get’s too watery. If you’ve never mixed concrete before, I really recommend watching this video by Quikrete.

- Pour the prepped concrete into the bear.

- Push the PVC pipe (with the duct tape portion as the base) into the concrete bear. You’ll have a bit of concrete pour out. Tap the base of the bear on the ground to get air bubble out. If the pipe starts to float to the top, tape it down. Clean up the top of the bear (it’s a bit messy).

- Optional: I chose to remove the PVC pipe after the concrete had set for about 45 minutes. I’m not sure if I’d do this again, but I wanted it out. You can keep it in, if you’d like. I’m 99% sure it will be really hard to remove once the concrete is dry.

- 30 to 45 minutes after the pour, smooth out the top of the bear’s head.

- Let Honey Bear dry for 2 + days. I took this bear out after 24 hours, and he still had a few lose pieces on the back. Needed more time. Still looks cute!

- Onto the pain in the buns portion of this DIY: Take the plastic off your concrete honey bear. I admit this killed me. Lots of swearing, etc. BUT, I did it. Using pliers, a wire cutter, and a blade. Tips: Use the blade to cut some lines on the back. Use the wire cutters to snip little pieces to get a portion of the plastic to start peeling. Use the pliers to twist off (I’m talking actually twisting the pliers) to pull off the plastic. I worked on creating one big line on the back. I was able to pull it off… after a bit of work.

- You’re done! It’s now a cute kitschy pencil holder…. or bud vase? I think I’ll be putting a little succulent in it and putting him outside. Yes, that’s cute.

ALSO, new blog post on Better Homes and Gardens. Can you guess what it’s about? Yeah. Concrete. You gotta check out my Outdoor Concrete Stool/Table.

- Chelsey

The milk jug watering can. It’s free and easy to make! Wait…. why make it? Well, if your kiddo is like mine and wants to help you water the plants every time, and always ends up getting soaked from normal watering cans, then this is for you.

There are a couple ways to make this. You can poke holes in the lid or right on top of the jug. I failed with getting the lid to work (the lid was very flimsy), so I scrapped that idea and poked holes on the top instead. I used a large nail to start the holes (spacing them about 1 inch apart). The holes weren’t large enough to get a nice water flow from the original nail hole, so I used my  X-acto knife to trim and make each hole a little bigger. Draw on a face (kiddo asked if the watering can could look like she’s spitting… I think it looks like she’s puking, but she loves it), add some water, and put on the lid.

Hand this watering can over to your kid and HOPEFULLY it’s easier for them to water (and maybe they stay dry while watering in their jammies before bedtime).

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

This past week I took on something new… A full on DIY with my kiddo. With her help. It was hard, but we did it. I’ll chat more about working with my kiddo at home, but for this moment I really just want to share what we made. Cardboard Playhouses! I’ve been seeing these wonderful creations ALL over Pinterest (I mean, where else) and I have wanted to make this for R. It’s cheap and easy. That’s perfect for me.

Directions:

- it’s all pretty easy… but the basic idea is starting with a couple of large boxes. There was an awesome guy that helped us, at Home Depot, to find these damaged boxes.

- Unfold the box and use masking tape to connect the flap edges of the box or boxes.

- Use a permanent marker to draw on doors and windows.

- Cut out the doors and windows with an xacto knife (watch your fingers).

- We decided to turn our 2 boxes into one giant row house, cutting a door on the inside and taping it together.

- I added some cardboard to the roof area to add height (especially since my kiddo is so tall. Put on the roof.

- If you’d like a shingled roof, cut out little rectangle shapes for the roof top. Scalloped roof? Use some paper and cut scallops out. Tape on with clear tape.

- Add paint to any doors/windows. Let dry.

- Tape or ModPodge on some cute wrapping paper onto your home. I went with ModPodge, since I know this will help keep this home cleanish for a bit longer.

- Do any touchups, and you’re done!

The kiddo has LOVED this. It’s long enough she can lay down in it (for about 10 more minutes). This was a fun project to create with my kiddo.

Enjoy!

- Chelsey

P.S. one of my favorite cardboard house inspirations is from Skunkboy Creatures.