Welcome to According to Plan!

And welcome to the new website for According to Plan. According to Plan is a half hour TV show about having fun building things!  All kinds of things.  Check out the "shows" section for a look at some of the projects.

So let's talk about the latest project, the pinball machine. I found this great old pinball machine in an antique store in my home town.

This probably isn't what comes to mind when you think "pinball machine". It doesn't even have a cord but I wanted to copy it because it has so much potential to be a fun project. I made two versions of the game with different customized backgrounds.

The first version used a full sized photo print as a background. In fact, if you look to the left of the website you will see the same photo. I figured I would get some mileage out of that photo since the neighbors were watching when I took it. In my neighborhood those are "goin out to dinner clothes" so really wasn't a big deal. As I was saying, the magic in this project is the ability to make it "be your own" with photos or artwork. If you have access to a large format printer you can use a single photo. The pinball board is sized to be able to use three sheets of regular sized paper so you can also piece a photo together.

The other background version is made up of lots of photos and clip art. This is sort of my version of how the world should be. All you need to do for this one is head to Walmart's craft department for some scrapbook supplies and then paste some irreplaceable family photos in there (Don't really use irreplaceable photos unless their from your spouses family.).

I used some beautiful cherry wood for the frame, it sets off my hazel eyes, and a bunch of other stuff from the hardware section to finish the game. Of course, it is all chronicled in the show and there is a plan set available with two full sized templates.

You can get more information on the pinball game from the shows section of this new According to Plan Official Website.  And finally, the website is still "being built" so keep checking back for more features, photos and fun stuff!  

Yippeeeeee!