This is one for the books. Mitsy at Artmind is a genius. I’ve had this tutorial bookmarked for a few weeks and I was thinking today this would be a real fun way to have a company drawing at a party! Or what if you made a bunch of these and sent them out to your customers. I don’t know. I think I am just excited that we can make these ourselves!

Here’s the tutorial from Artmind [Thanks Mitsy!]:

Here is what you need:
cardboard, a print-out of your lottery ticket, glue stick, sticky back plastic, metallic acrylic paint (preferably silver) and dish soap.
I prepared the paper cutting beforehand so I’ll skip that part in the tutorial.

Beforehand you print out a design that you want to be on the scratch off lottery tickets.
If your printer can take thick paper you can print it directly on the cardboard and skip this part. If you do it in two steps, it is nice to get a fun color background paper and glue the design onto the card.

Then you take a piece of sticky back plastic and put it onto the design

Make sure that the picture underneath the paint is hidden. Add another layer if this is not the case.

Mix some metallic acrylic paint with washing liquid. Try to use 1 part washing liquid and 2 parts of paint. Mix the substance.

Paint the plastic part on the ticket and let it dry.

And then… scratch! Oops, no luck for me!

Now’s the time to have a little fun. Take all the old computer equipment you have sitting in the corner, give each item a number, and give everyone scratch tickets. You accomplish 3 things. 1) Make people feel excited about working 2) Get rid of all that junk in the corner 3) Someone else will be carrying it out because they won it, not you. (Last is definitely most important)

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Everyone has an iPhone at my work and as a quick blog post beforewe run out of the office cheering in 5 minutes (for the weekend) I thought I’d include this DIY iPhone Stand. Thank you Recyclart for always having awesome posts.

You can download the template here.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

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Sometimes in life we all need some absolutely ridiculous humor- the kind of humor that shouldn’t make you laugh because it so out of this world but you just have to laugh when you hear words like “Fringle-Stumpf!” Whenever I’m in need of that kind of humor I either turn to icanhazcheezburger or The Onion. In this article, they’re teaching us how to make our bosses sick. I guess that way we get more vacation right?

[Disclaimer: We really don’t want you to make your bosses sick, we want to make you laugh.]

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Spells and Incantations announced Monday the discovery of a new magical word. “Fringle-Stumpf,” when spoken clearly by a person in the workplace, will cause that person’s employer to become violently ill.

A boss experiences violent stomach pain following an employee’s utterance of ‘Fringle-Stumpf.’ Countless CEOs have been hospitalized since the word’s discovery, including Coca-Cola’s Ted Loesser, whose skeletal structure is slowly dissolving due to an osteopathic ailment not yet identified by science.

“The word has been classified as a fourth-level hex,” said Andrew Gottlieb, Assistant Warlock of the D.S.I., speaking for U.S. Spellmaster General Willard Henforth, who is currently on sick leave. “Anyone with sufficient runelore to activate its sinister powers can visit great woe upon the person whose signature appears on their paycheck.”

Diseases ranging from scurvy to pneumonia to explosive diarrhea have afflicted test bosses at D.S.I. laboratories in Washington, while control bosses, to whom only gibberish was spoken, have suffered no more than a headache.

The new magic word is believed to be the greatest breakthrough in modern spell-casting since 1991’s discovery that “Bosh-Hen-Grelob” will blind an unfaithful spouse. The most recent fourth-level hex to be discovered was 1994’s “Ong-Mashar,” a relatively minor discovery since it only rids the body of pinworms. It is believed, however, that an anticipated rise in pinworm-related boss illnessesmay greatly popularize “Ong-Mashar.”

According to Gottlieb, he origins of the new word are as yet unclear. “It is wondered whether ‘Fringle-Stumpf’ was a Druidic curse, or perhaps the nameof an ancient disgruntled employee whose spirit haunts cruel bosses to this day. Then again, so long as it makes one’s boss vomit blood copiously, who cares?”

As for its impact upon the modern workplace, a new golden age of benevolence on the part of bosses is predicted. “No boss will want to anger their employees now,” said Craig Sundborne, assistant editor of American Magic Magazine. “Firings may remain the same, since a person who lays off an employee is technically no longer the ‘boss’ of the angry party, but for those employees remaining on the payroll, expect some serious restructuring.”

No one is more thrilled by the discovery than America’s employees. “I am Gruber, Lord of Wendy’s,” said fast-food worker Todd Gruber, speaking from his velvet-lined throne next to the hamburger grill. “I shall complete our customer’s orders if and when it pleases me.”

Gruber’s employer, 61-year-old Jim Herbst, was not permitted to comment, as he was busy giving his employee a pedicure. Said Gruber, “I think I shall speak some magic words… although, if a strawberry margarita were filling my mouth I would be unable to do so.” Herbst then shuffled out of the store, visibly dazed.

Dozens of corporate CEOs have been hospitalized since the discovery, which was circulating across the Internet less than two hours after its confirmation. Microsoft head Bill Gates is currently at University of Puget Sound Hospital receiving treatment for swine flu and four other diseases, while Coca-Cola chief Ted Loesser’s skeletal structure is slowly dissolving due to an osteopathic ailment not yet identified by science.

“Fringle-Stumpf” is scheduled to be scribed into the National Grimioreon Wednesday at midnight by a robed magi using a quill pen dipped in virgin’s blood. All loyal servants of the Unnameable Dark One are invited to attend.

[Now that we’ve been mean to bosses, be nice to your boss and get him a nice purell pal for his desk. Don’t you dare say “Fringle-Stumpf” while your’e handing it to him!!]

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Did you hear? We now carry tools! Whether you need office supplies, industrial tools, restaurant supplies, etc etc etc etc We carry it all.  In celebration I thought I’d post this awesome tutorial for mini tool boxes. It may seem girly but Altoid Tins are not girly and they seem like a great way to store extra screws, nails, bolts, or whatever.

{Thank you to Alpha Mom for this great tutorial!}

I’ve been wanting to craft with Altoid tins since forever. Have you ever googled all the things you can make with them? It’s mind-blowing. It makes me wonder if Altoid stays in business more for their tins or for their curiously strong mints. I vote for tins. But then I’m not a real big fan of curiously strong mints.

I thought about it and thought about it and decided these tins would make a great caddy for holding collections of little odds and ends. Like screws and nuts and bolts and stuff! Things that dads need. Why not make an Altoid-Tin Nuts and Bolts Screw Organizer! And THEN I thought of making it look like a little red toolbox! I love miniature things with a passion. Give me anything at five percent of its actual size and I will swoon. Seriously.

These are the materials you will need:

• At least 2 Altoid tins
• A metal eye strap. These are actually used on boats for attaching chains and clips and line, etc. We will use them for our little itty bitty tool box handles. Ask your local hardward store employee to help you find these.
• Two blunt-ended very small sheet-metal screws. I don’t know the size exactly but you want them small enough to not take up too much room inside the tin.
• 20-gauge beading wire or something similar
• Spray paint for metal, one can of primer and one can of glossy red.

These are the tools you will need:

• a hammer
• a big nail
• a little nail
• a flat screwdriver
• wire-cutters

First you will need to gather your Altoid tins. To create the traditional double-decker model you will need two tins. If you want to make a bigger toolbox just add more tins. If the dad in your life is an auto mechanic with one of those really big roll-around style toolboxes then you might want to stack four or five, depending on how much time and work you want to put into this. The single model is still quite cute and functional in my opinion.

After you empty your tins of the Altoid mints, you can disassemble the lid from the bottom if you like, by simply prying open the simple hinges on the back with a flat screwdriver. I tried detaching the lids and leaving them attached and it worked both ways for me. Detaching them gave me better paint coverage but leaving them attached caused less wear and tear on the hinges. So it’s up to you.

Next you will need to create the holes that you will use to wire the boxes together (if you are creating multi-drawer toolboxes) and to attach the handle. For the handle holes, use a large construction nail and a hammer to gently tap a hole through the lid. Measure first by scratching a circle through the screw holes of the handle with your large nail. Then tap your holes.

For the smaller holes that you will use to wire the tins together, use a small picture-hanging type nail or brad. It’s important that your holes match up, so do this carefully. Make sure that the holes inside the top tin match up with the holes that will go through the lid of the bottom tin. I actually tapped my holes through both tins at the same time and that made it a bit easier.

Now it’s time to spray-paint! In a well-ventilated area paint all your tins with a primer coat. Let that dry and then paint with the red. I did two coats. This part is easy enough. Just make sure you let them dry long enough so that you don’t create any tacky fingerprints.

After the paint has thoroughly dried, it’s time for assembly. Resist the urge to call your kid’s father for help. That will completely blow the surprise. You can do this. It’s not as hard as it looks. If you need a little help ask for a little foot to help you hold your tool box still. Just be careful not to stab that little foot with your screwdriver.

And that’s it! Fill with your bits and bolts of choice and you’re done!

So let’s say you’re not into this whole girl-gets-down-and-dirty-with-manly-man-tools thing, you don’t want to use a hammer and a screwdriver and God forbid some wire-cutters and spray paint. Well, do not fret! I have just the craft for you! OR maybe you need a little something-something that the kids can make just for Dad.

Here is a downloadable pdf that you can print out, let the kids color and then use a decoupage sealer (like Mod Podge) to the top of your Altoid tins. Decoupage sealer is the easiest way to affix paper to the top of something metal. It goes on thick and white and can be a little scary but when it dries, it’s clear and holds better than contact paper.

If you don’t want to color my funky designs then use the plain template and make up your own cover. An old photo, a small rectangle from a map of a favorite place, your kid’s art… anything that can be glued down will work for this.

So yeah I think I want to make one of these.

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It feels like a good time to save 20 bucks on your next Shoplet Order right? Right. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll giving you hints to guess the Shoplet Employee Picture of the day. That’s right, you can see all us Shoplet workers as our mini- kid -selves. If you guess the right pic, you’ll get a $20 coupon for your order! (Unless there is more than one person who guesses right, in that case will pick the winner randomly.) All you have to do is follow Shoplet on Twitter and Tweet your guess @Shoplet.

See all the pictures and contest details HERE

The winning begins on September 17th!

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