Think about it Thursday...

Today I am thinking about how much I actually MADE for Christmas this year!! Oh boy...no wonder I was crafted out for a few weeks!

So here are the last few things I made...I didn't take pictures of a few, but I made some stitches as gifts...I made this one for my mother-in-law. The pattern came with all sorts of "kids" and "pets" to choose from. It was fun to pick the ones that looked most like my BIL and my SILs. I think it turned out really cute and I can't wait until the baby factory is shut down in our family to make one for me!


Now for the project I made for my sister. Has anyone ever heard of the Maori game Tititorea? When my family went to Oahu last June we spent a few days at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Oh what a place! A must see if you ask me! While there we learned how to play this really fun stick game. When we came back we talked about it and how fun it was to play...and how great it would be to have our own set. My sister teaches 5th grade and said that she would LOVE to have multiple sets for the kids to play in her classroom. This is the kind of info I latch onto in the months leading up to Christmas so I decided to make her some.

1 set includes 4 sticks (2 for each player) I chose to make 5 sets for her class!

Supplies:

• doweling cut down to 12 inch pieces

• 2 colors of electrical tape

• sand paper

I was surprised at how quickly this project came together. I picked up my wood at Home Depot and they cut it all for free. My wood came in 8 foot lengths. I chose red and white tape because that is what the ones at the PCC looked like (and hey...it was a Christmas gift...they totally look like candy canes) I made a set for our family that is green and yellow!

First step after getting your wood home is to sand down the ends. The length of it was pretty smooth but the ends were pretty rough after cutting.


Next step is to take your first color of tape and starting at the top wrap it down the wood leaving space a little smaller than the width of your tape inbetween each stripe. This way when you go over it with your second color it completely covers the stick leaving NO wood showing. After covering with both tape I took my second color and secured each end by wrapping a strip around each end in a circle.

Can you see the solid red at the end? It was a little tricky at first to get the spacing right when I was wrapping but you get the hang of it pretty quickly!

This is us at the PCC playing the game.

Below is a video from the PCC of the performers playing the game. Traditionally you do it while singing a pretty chant. It is amazing to watch 10+ people tossing sticks like crazy and everyone catching them all at the same time.

It is also a pretty competitive and addicting game so beware!

What game can you recreate?

Think about it...