Remember last year when my husband built a deck in the sky?? Well, he calls it a tree fort, but I saw the receipts, soooo… we’ll go with sky deck.
My son looooves it and spends quite a bit of time up there hanging out with friends, reading, eating lunches and more. He bought a velcro dart thingamabob at a yardsale earlier this summer that lasted for all of 1.3 days before it was totally destroyed by nature. He loved it, though, for that 1.3 days.
So I set out to make him something he could use with his marshmallow shooter his cousin made him and that would cost me el-nothingo. I’m el-cheapo like that.
I had pretty much everything laying around my garage dump pile, and only had to spend $1 on a plastic bin at The Dollar Tree. You wouldn’t necessarily need to buy the Rustoleum NeverWet, but since I wanted this to last longer than the velcro dart set, I decided to add it. That will add on to your cost, but you use such a small amount on this project that you’ll have plenty left for other projects! I was fortunate enough to have Rustoleum send me some to sample… thank you!!
And since this is such a jumbled pile of supplies, let’s take a moment to explain what each one is for!
Supplies:
Moen box– I used the flaps as the rectangular targets that spin. You want a solid box that is corrugated
Family magnet– this was my template for my rectangular targets.
wire hanger– this is what you thread through the corrugated cardboard so the targets can spin on it
plastic beads– use these to separate the targets
scrap wood– nice little frame for your targets
And you’re ready to get started!!
1) Cut your box flaps into rectangles that spin easily within the measurements of your plastic box. You want heavy duty cardboard that is corrugated. Here is what you want your cardboard to look like for the targets:
2) Use indoor/outdoor vinyl to cover your cardboard entirely. I had scraps of vinyl that I used. Cover one side of the cardboard with vinyl trimmed to size. Then cut another piece of vinyl for the other side, that leaves about 1/2″ flaps on all 4 sides. Cut in at each corner so it folds neatly, and then wrap these around so you can’t see any cardboard anywhere:
3) Cut your scrap wood to build a 3-sided “frame” that will sit inside your plastic box. Two screws to hold it together and you’re set!
4) Now it’s time to assemble it! Drill holds towards the top of each of your wooden side supports and carefully drill a hole in the plastic container where it will line up. You want your wooden frame to sit pretty low in the plastic container so that your sides should hit about 1/2 way up and your targets have plenty of room to spin. See how my wooden frame sits pretty low on the bottom of the plastic box?
5) Once you have your holes drilled, use wire cutters to cut the bottom straight part off of your wire hanger. Thread that through each hold and straight through the vinyl on the targets. Place a plastic beach between each piece. Then just bend the wire hanger on the outside of each side of the plastic container to hold it in place.
6) If you choose to spray it with NeverWet, now is the time for that! Just follow the directions on the cans!
7) Hang it up in that sky deck tree fort and start aiming!
Linking up to: