Hey there! Welcome to today’s craft. You know, I really love the retheming of Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier at California Adventure even if I only go on one of the rides (Incredicoaster). It has a fun atmosphere, the light are beautiful, and it keeps that California boardwalk feel. This project can be flexible if you want to try it yourself. If you can find cubes of wood that will save you a lot of time and energy. If you want to use stickers instead of stencils and paint…that will also save you a headache or two. In any case, this project is super cute and has that same fun and sunny energy as Pixar Pier itself.
| Supplies List: | Tools List: |
|---|---|
| 3 Whittlers Blocks | Tiny Paint Brush |
| 1 Mini Wood Crate | Medium Flat Paint Brush |
| Daffodil Yellow Acrylic Paint | Saw (the power tool kind) |
| Cayman Blue Acrylic Paint | Pencil |
| Apple Red Acrylic Paint | Ruler |
| White Acrylic Paint | |
| Red and Yellow Paint Pens (optional, but very helpful) | Tweezers |
| 1″ Stencils | Craft Glue |
| 0.5″ Stencils | |
| Gold Glitter (chunky or tube) |
Let’s Get Started!
Right off the bat, I purchased my materials knowing I was going to have to cut them to fit my mini crate.
I marked the center of the whittler blocks on 3 of the long sides (we’re cutting this guy into quarters). Before using a saw please wear eye protection. Ear protection is also a good idea for a power tool as well as a mask so you don’t inhale the saw dust.
I lined up my center line with the miter saw and used two pieces of scrap wood to push my block to the back of the shelf. As you can see in the picture, I used my foot to push against the right side so I could operate the saw.
After cutting the block in half once, I cut each of those halves into half to create 4 long rectangles. For 3 of the rectangles, I sliced a little bit off the ends so they’d fit into my mini crate.
I also cut my cubes. They’re about 4.5 cm on each side and after cutting, there was a bit of leftover wood from the block. I cut the leftover piece so that it would fit into my mini crate next to the 2 cubes. I used centimeters because the pieces are small and it’s sometimes easier to use instead of inches.
Working on the Cubes
I punched out the numbers and star shape from my paper stencils.
Because the background of the cubes (and the leftover piece) are going to be yellow, I primed them with white paint so the yellow will pop.
Before committing to the placement of my numbers, I sketched out where they’d be with pencil.
Your numbers have to be in the center for this calendar to work with just the two cubes. Here are the numbers you need on each cube: Cube A: 0, 1, 2, 6 (doubles as 9), 7, 8 | Cube B: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
I sponged on my red paint over the stencil on each side of my cubes (if I could do this project over again, I’d just use a paint brush). This is where I realized my hatred for stencils because you can’t get a nice crisp line.
On my leftover piece, I wanted to put ‘ST’, ‘ND’, ‘RD’, and ‘TH’ on each edge. I used the 0.5″ stencils to do that. I really should have just used the paint pen for a cleaner look.
After everything dried, I used my yellow paint and cleaned up as much as I could around the numbers and letters.
And filled the rest in with yellow.
Priming the Rectangles
I painted the 3 rectangles with blue on all sides.
While they dried I worked on the mini crate itself.
The Mini Crate Makeover
The sides of the mini crate were painted yellow and allowed to dry a couple minutes before moving on.
The front border (or rather, the opening) of the box I painted blue.
Back to the sides, I used the star stencil that came with the 1″ letters and stamped on a red star on each side with drying time in between.
This is totally optional if you want to make the project quicker, but I painted the inside-sides and inside-back red.
The remaining sides (aka the top and bottom) on the inside were painted yellow.
The backside of the crate–on the outside this time–was painted blue.
Back to the Rectangles
I had marked off 0.5 cm from the bottom edge of each side of each rectangle so I could stencil the names of the months evenly…but decided it was better to just write the words with paint pens. Because stencils are horrible. You can definitely just use stickers here.
Finishing Touches
I had gold tube glitter leftover from another project and decided to glue them onto the top and front border of my calendar. I had to use a tweezer to place them one at a time. It reminds me of the twinkling lights that line Pixar Pier at night.
All Done!
Thanks for checking out this project. I hope you are able to make it! The paints I selected are perfect color matches for the actual Pixar colors if I do say so myself. They’re bright and happy and make you think “Pixar” immediately.
Congrats for making it down here! Give us a follow on Instagram and Pinterest for more projects like this and please SHARE with your Disney DIY loving friends and family. We’ll catch you in the next one.
All images on this website were taken by and belong to Main Street D.I.Y. If you wish to share an image, please give credit where credit is due! Send the people our way!
Main Street DIY 