DIY Lego Table!

If you kids are anything like mine, I'm sure they love building with Legos. It's good for their brain development, it teaches them math, architecture, and science, and it also helps build their imagination, social skills, and fine motor skills. Legos are great for girls and boys, and really all ages!

With that being said, my kids are pretty much in love with Legos. My son is obsessed. He has all the books, all the video games, knows all the videos on Netflix, and just started playing with real Legos (not Duplo). We saw the Lego Movie a couple weeks ago-- he just can't get enough. Which is awesome, because his birthday is this weekend.

While my husband and I were talking about what we wanted to get him for his birthday presents this year, he brought up the idea of a Lego table. I thought it was a great idea! Gives him a place to sit and play without having them strewn about all over the floor (hey, a mom can dream, right?), and a level place to build. I looked into them, and they go for anywhere between $40 and $300! You've got to be kidding me. That's when it hit me... I could totally do something like this. Or I could at least try! It might turn out pretty cool, ya never know.

I talked to my husband about me making him a Lego table, and he was totally into it. It's cool, I could make it custom, just for him, and know that no one else has one like it!

I decided to modify or "hack" the LATT Children's Table from Ikea, because it's $20, and comes with two chairs. I stuck with the primary colors, and used spray paint.

Photo step-by-step:

Ikea children's table comes with two chairs, $20

Lay down a plastic sheet (to protect your ground!), lay out your items, and group them how you'd like to paint them. It helps to keep it separated.

Sand all the pieces! I promise, it makes a big deal. There was one spot on one where I didn't sand very well, and the paint kept sliding off. I had to let it dry and re-sand that area. Don't go crazy, just take off all the "smooth" areas, and make it slightly gritty, so the paint will stick.

yellow, red, blue (and green, soon!)

It was so easy, and fun!

This is the paint I used. I got it at Michael's craft stores, but I ended up needing 2 cans of red, and 2 of the blue. The surface area was larger on those pieces.

I got the seats and table top painted green.

4 flat base plates from the Lego store. This was the perfect amount... the guy tried telling me to only buy 3, but I got 4 "just in case" ...I ended up using all but a couple strips and one tiny square!

***MOST IMPORTANT STEP***
MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS! Don't just line up the sheets and stick them together. There's a very small space in between each sheet, and it makes the difference of that area being playable or not! DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!! If you attach Legos at the 'joints' it will line it up perfectly for you and keep everything attached.

Next, make a straight line of Legos where you will be cutting it, and use them as your guide. You will need a box cutter ($10 at a craft store, but probably WAY cheaper at Home Depot or Lowe's.), and to go over  the same area with a strong arm twice. That's all I needed to do, and it was VERY easy. Just be mindful and don't try to 1) cut it in one swipe, and 2) do it fast. Just take your time!

You can see the line I made above (the horizontal line) and that's what it will look like.

Then bend the sheet, right at the line. Bend it a couple times and it will come right apart.

The two lines and square I mentioned before. That's all that was left from the 4 sheets of base plates! 

This is how the chair turned out!

I sprayed the whole thing with a glossy clear coat spray paint, to help protect the paint. Then, I used some flat orange letters to spell out my son's name on the side, his Lego Table! After that, I sprayed the whole thing again, over the letters, with the clear coat... that way the letters stay put.

The guy at the Lego store suggested I used double sided tape, as opposed to adhesive spray or mod podge. He said the tape helps allow it to bend a little when the legos come off, and the adhesive tends to not work and crack off when it dries. The double sided tape was a great idea. HOWEVER, make sure you put Legos down the entire length of the joint, to help keep it attached when you flip it over, otherwise it will keep breaking apart and drive you crazy! It sounds funny, but I basically applied the tape in the "shape/outline" of the british flag. A few lines around the border, pay attention to each sheet (don't treat it like one), then put a few diagonal pieces in the middle. Flip it over carefully, center it, and press down firmly. Test it by attaching and removing Legos :)

Here's what it looks like up on it's legs!

And here is the entire table, finished, and set up!

All things considered, this was an incredibly easy and FUN project to do. It took a day for me to gather supplies, and a day for me to complete the project. And I'm so happy with how it turned out! I know he's going to love it.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Pin this to pinterest, share it on facebook, instagram, and G+, and tweet it on twitter! @itslikemusic #itslikemusic #ILMlegotable I'd love to see your finished products!!

Scribble Monsters!

Here we are, October 1st! Did the year fly by for you like it did for me?

October is here, and it means I can start doing some fun and simple crafts with my little ones! My favorite of our Autumn crafts are what I like to call Scribble Monsters.

I started doing these a couple years ago. My oldest was just a year old, and I was pregnant with his little sister. I love decorating for Halloween, but I didn't want to do anything too scary, since he was so little. I also wanted to find something he could have a big part in, but that wasn't easy.

I started by drawing a pumpkin jack-o-lantern, then gave him all the orange-colored crayons from the box. He had a blast, colored everywhere, didn't matter if he colored outside the lines or not, because I was planning on cutting out the pumpkin and putting it in the window. Then I thought, how about monsters??

We had watched Disney/Pixar's Monsters Inc. already (he loved it, but what kid doesn't?!), and we had been on the rides and seen the attractions at Disney's California Adventure Park at The Disneyland Resort, so I knew some fun monsters wouldn't be too scary for him.

What you see below is the very first monster I drew for my son to scribble all over. He asked me to help, so I colored the horns; can you tell? :) He had SO. MUCH. FUN. with the monsters! We made and colored scribble monsters all day until our windows were full of them! We did them again the next year (which is the other photos you'll see in this post) with as much fun as before. This year, I thought I would share it with you, so you can make the Scribble Monsters with your children!

Scribble Monsters are SO easy. Anyone, any age, can make a Scribble Monster! Read on, and I will show you how! :)

What you will need:

• Blank white paper
• Dark black marker
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Tape

I start by drawing a monster, using the black marker. Just use your imagination! It can be as silly or simple as you want it to be. Once you draw one, more will come to you. You can ask your kids for input, too. It is so much fun!

Next tape down the sides of your paper. This is so the paper doesn't move around, if you have little ones, it's difficult for them to hold the paper while they color.

Give your kids the crayons and let them go crazy (on the monster!). They can do anything they feel like and they don't even have to stay in the lines! Not gonna lie, it's fun for adults, too :)

Once they are done coloring, cut out the monster from the page! You can tape it to the window, hang it on the fridge, or tape it to a blank piece of paper and put it in a scrapbook.

That's it! Awesome craft, awesome Halloween decoration, and so much fun with the kids!

I would LOVE to see your Scribble Monsters, comment with them below, share them on facebook and repin them on pinterest, and #ScribbleMonsters on Instagram & twitter, @itslikemusic! 

Anniversary Numero Six

That's right folks. My husband and I have been married for 6 years and 2 days. We've known each other for 6 years and 3 months. No, I'm not kidding! We met some time around Easter in 2006, he proposed to me the weekend after his 21st birthday (June 21) and we were married just a few weeks later on July 8, 2006.

Why?!

...Well, when you know, you know...

In these last 6 years, we've lived in 4 different places, I worked at 3 places, started my own company, he worked in two places, we've had two beautiful children, and have never ever been happier!

This year we had a lovely anni. We woke up when our son came into our room, so we snuggled with both babies for a while. We exchanged presents (I got him an awesome watch from Diesel, he got me beautiful diamond stud earrings from Tiffany & Co.) I got up and made my family real french toast with scrambled eggs. It was a pretty big and kinda late breakfast, so we didn't really do lunch. We hung out at home for a while, played games, did some normal 'around the house' stuff... then later in the day, my hubby's parents watched the kidlets so we could go to dinner!

We went to McCormick & Schmick's - Irvine for our 5:00p dinner reservation.  We get there and pull into the valet area... the valet guy is just hanging out in his truck waiting for the restaurant to open. He gets out and runs over to us, totally not "ready." He hands the valet ticket to my husband and away we go to the restaurant! He goes to open the door for me and almost fell over while trying to pull it open. He says, "It's locked..?" "It's locked because they're not open..." I replied. Then we just started cracking up. It was funny, because they open at 5:00, which we didn't know. It was also funny, because we tend to do the normal thing and arrive a few minutes earlier than our reservation time.


The hostess and manager inside noticed us and didn't do anything. For about a minute. Then they let us in and showed us to our table. Now we were the only people IN the restaurant, other than the staff. Super awkward for me, because that's never happened to me before. But it was kind of cool because we had the whole place to ourselves, even though we stayed at our table.


Our waiter was nice, but quiet, spoke fast, and spoke with an Asian accent. Just had to double check what he said a few times, but nothing major. Everything was going well-- until we moved the silverware and table settings. Maybe it's because we were the only people in there. Or maybe he was just extremely anal retentive. Either way, it was really funny for us. We didn't notice it at first... then he kept doing it. Every. Single. Time. We moved a spoon, he'd put it back on the placemat. We used a fork, he'd take it away and put a new one down. We ordered food, he'd move the settings again. He did it the entire night, and it was hilarious. Towards the end of the dinner, my hubby just started moving things on purpose.


Hubby ordered wine, I ordered a seasonal sangria. Then mango iced tea. Then regular iced tea. We got a caprese flatbread appetizer. Hubby got a iceberg wedge salad with bacon, tomatoes, and bleu cheese dressing, with crumbled bleu cheese on top. I got a caesar salad. For dinner, hubby got alaskan halibut with crab on top over a mushroom risotto. I got parmesan crusted chicken with a caper butter sauce next to garlic linguine. For our sides, hubby ordered creamed spinach and lobster mashed potatoes. I got grilled shrimp scampi style, and a lobster tail. For dessert, hubby got a mixed berry florentine over vanilla bean ice cream, served in a dish made of caramel and assorted nuts. I got a vanilla bean creme brule topped with strawberries.

First thing, I ordered a sangria that looked way yummier than it tasted. So I got a mango iced tea-- the waiter said the bartender would make it with a mango syrup. NOPE. Made it with mango juice. It was delicious, but not at all what I was expecting, so I just went with iced tea after that.  Our caprese appetizer out as a pizza, but it's okay because it was way yummy. Our dinners were absolutely AMAZING. The lobster mashed potatoes were literally the best mashed potatoes I have ever had in my entire life. I almost don't want to eat any other mashed potatoes ever again. The lobster tail was cooked perfectly. The shrimp scampi? To die for. Our desserts were perfect. All in all, it was a fantastic anniversary dinner... we got the bill to prove it!


After dinner, we picked up our babies and enjoyed the rest of our night together.

...and to my wonderful husband,
Thank you. Thank you for being my everything, I love you with all of me! Happy anniversary, here's to a million more! (...if you can handle me for that long!)

6 wonderful years... can you tell?