Big Game Prep with Rubbermaid, Sharpie & Target

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Rubbermaid and Sharpie but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #RubbermaidSharpie http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Football season is my favorite. I’ve mentioned before that if I weren’t a football fan, I think that my relationship with Dave would have lasted about 20 minutes. So naturally, playoff season — and the big game, of course — are huge in our house. {Unfortunately for this season, I am from north of Pittsburgh and Dave is from outside of DC. So we needed to find some new teams to cheer for during the playoffs.}

But regardless of who is playing, we still like to have “at home tailgates” {as the boys call them} for playoff games. We usually set up all the food on the coffee table in the living room, which means everything is at Mason height. Which, as the parent of any two-year-old can tell you, also means that we’re not going to be using our fine china. And of course, because I’m me, we need to have decorations as well. 

So off I headed to Target {because I love Target more than words can say} to check out their selection of Rubbermaid storage containers and Sharpie markers. After about 25 minutes of drooling over all the markers and containers, I finally picked out a few winners. 

And now it’s your lucky day, because you’re getting a tutorial two-fer. Try to say THAT 5 times fast. {Update: I just tried it, and it’s actually not that hard. And now I look like an idiot, saying tongue twisters to myself in front of my computer.}

Anyway.

The first thing I did was fancy-up the containers. I mean, they work perfectly fine just plain, as you can see. But that’s not how I roll. 

So I got some astro turf and made little container slip covers. Seriously, how cute are these containers now?!? And they were super easy to make.

First, measure the height and circumference of your container. Note: if your container is tapered, like mine was, measure the circumference at the top of the container, so it can sit nicely inside the slip cover. Add 1/2″ to the circumference measurement to allow for overlap, and then cut a strip of astro turf {which you can get at pretty much any large hardware store} to those measurements. You will want to heat seal the edges of the strip so you won’t have little green flecks of grass falling off all over your table. To do this, just quickly {and carefully!!!} run a lighter around all four sides of the strip.

Finally, just hot glue the astro turf strip into a circle, making sure it fits snugly around the top of the container. Once the glue is hardened and dried, slide your container in there, and boom! Awesome little container slip covers.

The best part is that, because they’re not permanently attached, all you need to do is slip the container out to wash it and/or use it as a storage container!

Now for the football season sign. 

Here’s a little secret about me: as crafty as I may be, I hate paint. Spray paint I’m ok with, because it’s the lazy girl’s way to paint, and I will happily paint a room. But if you ever want to torture me {which would just be rude, by the way, because I’m a perfectly nice person}, give me some craft paints and some tiny little paint brushes and make me paint something decorative. Blech. I do not have the patience for it, which means that I will get all antsy and try to rush it and it will end up looking like something Connor made in Kindergarten. {Not that I don’t love me some Kindergarten art projects. When they’re made by a 6-year-old.} 

So when I realized you could make wooden signs with Sharpies, I was one happy gal.

I grabbed a piece of scrap wood I had lying around {tip: if you don’t horde scrap wood like I do, check your thrift store for old wooden cutting boards.}, but when I looked at it, I realized I really wasn’t happy with the color. However: see previous comment about hating paint. The same applies to stain.

So I decided to try to use something that most of us have in our fridge or cupboard, and it worked like a charm. Any guesses on what I used?

SOY SAUCE!

Seriously! Soy sauce! I actually used some packets that I got when we ordered take-out the other night. You just have to dip a paper towel in the soy sauce and rub it into the wood. I could not believe how well it worked. The difference was amazing.

The wood on the left is after the soy sauce stain, and the wood on the right is an untouched piece of the same board. I could not believe how well the soy sauce brought out the grain of the wood. And in answer to the question I know you’re about to ask, once the stain dries, the smell goes away completely. 

As the stain was drying, I designed the sign in Word and printed it out.

To transfer the words to the wood, I used the same method I have used a few times before {like on my Peace on Earth Globe}: just flip the paper over and color over the back of the words with a pencil.

Then, tape the paper to the wood and trace over all the letters with a pen. The outline will then be transferred to the wood, and you can trace over it again with your Sharpie, and then color in all the letters.

That’s all there is to it! WAY easier than paint, in my opinion — plus, as a bonus, there’s no need to wait for it to dry!

So that was our game day spread yesterday. And if you look closely, you’ll see that the Sharpies got put to use in another way as well.

 

{It was physically impossible for my husband to sit there with a football-field tablecloth and not draw out some plays. He also does this in every restaurant we go to that has paper on the table and crayons available.}

So when you’re getting ready for the big game this year, definitely check out Rubbermaid and Sharpie at Target. As a bonus, if you text the word COUPONS to TARGET {827438}, you can get the latest coupons available. And from January 25 through February 8, Target will be offering coupons for $1 off any Rubbermaid food storage and $1 off any Sharpie 4-pack or larger. Sign up today to be sure you don’t miss them!

You tell me: what’s your favorite way to prep for big games?

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