Present from the Boys

My husband, Andre, will celebrate his birthday tomorrow. I have some special gifts for him, and I wanted the boys to be able to give him something fun, too. Erin posted this idea back in June for Father's Day, and it seemed like a perfect plan of action for the Cash Man. It was definitely a winner idea....fast, easy, colorful, and fun. Plus, I don't know one guy who doesn't like pistachios. I mean really....do you?

First, you have to shell the pistachios. Cash did most of this part, totally eating all of nuts as he went through the process. (They are a bit addictive.)

Second, squeeze some paint into three different ziploc baggies. I used a brick red, yellow, and a turquoise blue. These were just acrylic craft paints I already had in the house.

Third, put the pistachios in the bags and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! This was Cash's favorite part. Can you tell?

Then, pour the shells out on a plate, and separate with a toothpick. Let shells dry.

Next, hot glue the dried shells to a frame. I already had a black frame we weren't using, so I just used that one. This part, of course, is not child friendly...sometimes not even adult friendly. I totally burned my fingers a couple of times. (The shells are tiny!) You can spray a coat of some shine spray over the shells and frame if you'd like. I didn't have any on hand, so I opted out on that one.

Of course, you need a picture to put in the frame. I used one from vacation this summer in North Carolina. I uploaded it to Picnik.com, which is an awesome photoshop for free type of site, and added the text "We're Nuts for Dad!" at the top, and Love, Cash and Luc 2010 at the bottom. I also changed the color a bit to give it a bright funky feel. I save the final pic to my desktop, loaded it up on Snapfish, and sent it off to Wal-greens to print for me. Quick, easy, and cheap.

Finally, I wrapped up the frame with a jar full of left over pistachios. We ended up giving Andre his present early because Cash couldn't wait. He ran right up to his dad and said, "I need you to help me find a place to hang this picture..." This was before the project was even done. So much for surprises.... :)