Homemade Holidays: Paisano Horeshoes

NZ & his sister play a game of Paisano Horseshoes

In the spirit of keeping our Christmas gifts unique, NZ and I did our best to continue our streak of making Christmas gifts. Last year, NZ made fishing poles for a few lucky recipients, and this year, he and I found ourselves at Home Depot, loading up on materials to make a couple of fun backyard games for our Christmas "picks".

It took him a few weeks from start to finish, and he even learned how to lay and tack carpeting down in the process while covering the boards, which were made out of pressure treated wood and 2x4's. He's pretty crafty, that ol man of mine.

The Zentil family ( all of them, not just the immediate Zentils) love their games. Every year in Yosemite, there are a couple of games of cribbage going at any given time, using a cribbage board that Nick's grandfather made long ago. We all enjoy word games, board games, and anything interactive. At our wedding "after party", a rousing game of Bocce Ball was played in my father-in-law's backyard until it got too dark to continue.

So, NZ and I decided that a couple of "Paisano Horseshoe" games would be a good gift for our family members. The game is usually called "Mexican Horseshoes" or "Washer toss", but to keep in the spirit of being Italian, I just renamed it. So there you have it, it's now called Paisano Horseshoes, and I'm stickin' to it.

NZ's sister, Breakin' in her new game

 Looking forward to watching these boards get years upon years of use, and good family memories made in the meantime.

Mini-Memory Game

I recently gave new life to our bathroom vanity drawers with the help of pretty wrapping paper from Border's (purchased for $1.99 a sheet with a gift card, yay!). I cut out the paper to fit the drawers, but needed ModPodge to seal it. It only took a few weeks for me to get to Michael's crafts to buy some, but before I did, I wanted to research what type of Mod Podge to use. A quick google search for Mod Podge and I ran across this website, Mod Podge Rocks. What an awesome website with soooo many ideas..I found a link to a minature memory game made by Dandee designs, and decided that it would be the perfect stocking stuffer for a few little ones in our lives. Not to mention, I'd have another reason to buy Mod Podge other than to seal our drawers.

Supplies for the mini-memory game:

ModPodge Gloss Finish

sponge brush

6 colors of solid color scrapbooking paper ( I used scraps)

patterned scrapbook paper ( again, I used scraps)

1.5" diameter wooden discs ( 12 needed per game)

1" circle punch