Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a great week.  It has been a fun week for the family.  It is nice to get back on a normal routine.  Leatha has started her science fair project this week and it was fun to work with her.  Leatha is doing a project about natural foods versus man made or man altered foods.  Basically natural versus chemical or chemical enhanced foods.   She is doing a comparison between Twinkies and home-made yellow cake (not from a box), Whipped heavy cream versus Whipped topping, Fresh apple slices versus Fast food chemical enhanced apple slices,  and fresh home-made French fries versus the  typical fast food chemical French fries.   We have placed samples of each out on a plate and put them in a room temperature corner of our kitchen.  Over the next week we will see the difference between each item of manmade chemical versus natural foods.  It should be very interesting.

As promised I told you I would tell out about what Cameron received from the family this year for our homemade gift exchange for Christmas.

After looking for a long time in the craft store, Amelia decide that she wanted to paint something for Cameron and when she saw the collection of treasure chests she was very excited.  She decided that she wanted to make him a treasure chest to put all of his money in.  Cameron was using a plastic jar as a piggy-bank at the time.   She picked out the size of box she wanted and she asked if Dad could cut a hole in the top so Cameron could place his money in.  We thought this was a great idea.  Cameron needed a new bank.

The box came with the front clasp and the hinges.

Amelia helped to sand the treasure chest and get it ready to paint.  Justin cut a hole large enough in the top for a dollar coin.  Amelia took great pride in deciding how to paint this box for Cameron.  It was a lot of fun to have her go through all of my craft paints and decide which colors to use.   She wanted the inside RED and the outside Gold.  She carefully painted each section.  When the first layer of paint was dried she painted on two rainbows with clouds.

With this present also, we had Amelia write on the bottom of the present so Cameron would always know where his Treasure Bank came from.  Amelia had a great time painting a special picture on the bottom of the box

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This was a very easy present to make and paint and Amelia loved to make it for Cameron, And Cameron Just could not wait to put his money inside his new treasure box.  Amelia did a lot of work for a 4 year old and the bank turned out great!

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Cameron and Justin, Love Pirates (they even celebrate Talk like a Pirate day!) so Justin wanted to make Cameron a Treasure Chest that was larger.  He wanted a box large enough that Cameron could use it to put all kinds of treasure in.  Cameron has filled the box with his favorite cars and star wars toys.

The box came with the neat closure, the handle and the hinges.  Justin cleaned up the box and sanded all the rough edges and stained it a nice light color.  The inside was stained the same color as the outside.

Then when the stain was dry he added some silver paint to the binding on the chest and did a light wash of the silver paint over the stain to help the treasure chest look like it had an aged weathered look.

The final touch was a painted monogram with Cameron’s initials on the front.  Justin Also signed the bottom of the treasure chest for Cameron.  Felt feet pads were added to the bottom of the box after all the painting was completed.

The overall look was a great treasure chest for a 7 year old boy.  Cameron loves his Treasure chest and every day there is a new toy hiding in his box.  He loves to hide special toys and items from his sisters.

I hope you enjoyed this post with some more ideas on special fun presents and gifts to make for a 7 year old boy.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

I love to hear from you.

Check out my Store.  I have added some items this week.  I have been behind on adding items to the store with my special orders that has come in.  I am getting caught on and I am starting some new projects for BrendaQuiltShop.com.  Let me know if there is anything you want me to work on next.

Thanks for reading.

Brenda

Tags: gifts, handmade, homeade, treasure