We are in party prep mode here at Ugly House. My husband is hosting a party for work and that, of course, means I am doing all the work. (Okay, to be fair, we all know I don't hate party planning) I have been trying to get a bunch of little projects done before the party. One of the projects I have been wanting to do for a while is a popular Pinterest idea: outdoor Yahtzee. I love board games and the like, so a bigger outdoor version is even more fun in my opinion. Not going to lie though, outdoor over sized Jenga and Connect Four also look like a blast.
Remember that free scrap wood pile from our fence? There were a couple of 4x4 scraps, so I didn't even have to pay anything for the project. Everything except the scorecard clipboards were already sitting around the house. Yahtzee!
As you can imagine there really isn't much to this project. First, you cut the wood so it's a 4x4 cube.
Can I just take a minute to write a love letter to my miter saw? I had always been afraid of saws. After all, most of us have a shop teacher and/or classmate that lost an appendage from a saw. My tough-as-nails grandfather-in-law had several tips of his fingers missing from his life in construction and carpentry. The one and only time I tried to use a table saw, the wood kicked back and left a bowling ball size bruise on my chest.
However, almost all the projects I was pinning involved a saw. So, I searched for a solution to my saw fear. My miter saw had allowed me a ton more freedom for projects (no more waiting on the husband to cut something) and even gave me some confidence to use the other saws in our shop. Except the table saw. No thank you. I like my ample chest intact.
Anyways, back to the dice. After cutting them, I sanded them down smooth and rounded the corners. I could have painted the dice and been done, but I decided to wood burn them so they would last longer. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I am happy with the result.
The final step was to seal everything with some clear spray. I didn't have to, but I liked the gloss look.
However there isn't just dice to Yahtzee. I needed a "cup" or in this case, a bucket. I found a left over white one in the back of our shop. A quick coat of Rust-oleum and it was ready to shine. (Side note, when I was last buying spray paint I stopped some newbie painters from buying competitor's paint. I then proceeded to answer painting questions in the aisle for about 20 minutes. I was happy to have stopped them from wasting so much time and money on that "other" spray paint. Can I start getting paid for all this love I'm showing them? ;)
The last step was the scorecards. There was a couple of different options. There are some really fun printable score cards for yard Yahtzee available online. Most people just print them out and laminate them. I already had a bunch of official score cards so I decided to use those but with a fun twist.
I had this small clipboard from Target, and it's super cute. If I lived within 30 miles of a Target, I would have gone and bought four more.....and a latte, towels, dishes, shirt and a new pair of shoes. But I don't so I had to make due with something else. I found these clipboards for $1.00 locally. I decided to give them a bit of a face lift.
Finally, I used Mod Podge to stick the paper to the clipboard and sealed everything with a clear spray. Always use clear spray on top of the semi dried Mod Podge, especially when its humid. Otherwise the Mod Podge will take three months to dry. Also, when you have a project like this one (paper on both sides), it's handy to have somewhere to hang the clipboards to dry. I made a mini clothesline with twine and used "S" hooks to hang the clipboards. Paperclips would have worked too.
So, there you have it. Using left over supplies, I made a fun yard game. See, hubby? Keeping all that random junk around was totally worth it.
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