Mystery Solved and Some Cute Ideas

I felt a little guilty uncovering something someone so painstakingly tried to cover up.  Obviously they  liked the idea of this box for storage, but thought it was ugly. Ironically, the wall paper was just the thing to perfectly preserve all that was underneath.  85.5 years ago this kind of box was just as normal to a person as probably a Rubbermaid tote is to us.  It just wasn't neat or beautiful then.  But now, its so rare and the wood is really pretty.

I had to take a wet dish cloth and set in on top of the paper and wood to soak a bit.  Then I had a plastic putty knife and scraped it all off.  I'll tell you, paper and wood that old really stinks too:{  I almost wondered if it was worth it at times.  

So Amy's guess was dead on.  What's really funny is that I got a call from my Brother who is a lawyer in Nevada saying he's working on a case right now that has to do with this Hercules stuff.  

So, I need to clean it up and preserve the wood nicely.  Any ideas on what product would do this?  

  

I saw this idea on Pinterest (of course) and just knew the girls would love to have their food on plates like this. I found some nice plates at GW and headed to the JoAnne's for some pens that would work on ceramic.  

The sales lady directed me to a section of oil based Sharpie pens where I found these Painters markers.  I got them home and started reading and realize they are acrylic paint pens.  I started to panic because I know acrylic will scratch right off ceramic if I use my nails and it will wash off too.  But, the packaging says non-toxic and permanent so I go ahead and try anyway. After the designs were on, I put them in my cold oven and heated it up to 350 degrees and let them bake for 30 min like all the websites say to.  After they were cooled, I tried to scratch it off and then washed it in soapy water.  Wala, it worked.  Acrylic paint is permanent on ceramic if you bake it.

I also saw this idea on Pinterest (Original) and died because it was so cute.  Baby loves games (and also often cheats to win them).  This dice game is perfect for a preschooler.  I made the older two one as well, just because they might enjoy playing with her.

I made baby a kitty cat because more often than not, she's dressed like one around here.

I was right, the game was a hit.  She sat still and played for 45 minutes by herself no less.  Gasp!  A miracle of small proportions.
I am taking them to church for her tomorrow:)

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment.  I really enjoy all my blogging friends and being able to share things with you.  It's so nice for this SAHM:)

Have a great weekend.