Daisy Do...

This will be a short post. I have so many thoughts running wild through my spaghetti brain that I can't seem to decide on what to write about. That goes along with my low production this summer. Usually I am out working in the garage everyday. The last few months have been too hot and I can't seem to gather the energy necessary to be creative.

That being said, I have found a new type of creation that I thoroughly enjoy making!

Painting with stain on a wood canvas. It is so fun to see an idea come to fruition! Do things always work out how I see them in my mind? Definitely not. But I am just a beginner when it comes to painting with stain. There are a lot of techniques I want to try. 

This daisy and the carnation I posted last time, were drawn freehand. I found pictures I liked and then drew them out on a wood "pallet." 

I used a fine tip brush to outline the flower. In places I wanted darker, I added more stain. This can be time consuming, but it allows me to work on other things in between drying.

To shade the daisy petals, I used a cloth and very lightly dabbed the open lid of the can of stain. I then rubbed the cloth over the petal until it had the look I wanted.

I love it! Wouldn't this piece of art look fabulous on a gallery wall? (Not an art gallery, a home gallery. You know, the type with family pictures and the like?) Actually, it would look good anywhere! Maybe that's why I haven't taken my creations to my booth to sell yet...

Tick Tock...

I was asked to make a clock project for our Relief Society's Super Saturday. For those of you who don't know, Super Saturday is a time to get together with the other ladies in the neighborhood and craft, visit, eat, and craft some more. These gatherings are a lot of fun and gives us a chance to learn from one another and get to know each other better. There were several crafts going on, such as glass etching, crocheting, paper qwilling, and wood craft. Mine, of course, was the wood craft. 

I was asked to do some wood clocks like this one I did several years ago:

I no longer have the clock. I gave it to a friend, who was once my neighbor. Whose mother is still my neighbor. Who is also my friend, who happens to be in the Relief Society presidency. Which, I'm guessing, is one reason I was asked to do this project. 😉

I made this clock with reclaimed fence wood and a vinyl wall clock from Die Cuts With A View. I got the clock about 4 years ago from a local Real Deals store, which has since closed. The clock cost me a whopping $3! A total steal, seeing as the original price was $39.99! 

I was slightly worried about getting clock parts for this project. I didn't know if I could find the same clock parts. I looked at various ways of doing it, but really, the easiest is vinyl. I was browsing a new website I found, Hollar.com, and guess what they had? 

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Yep. Jackpot! These babies were $5 each when I bought them. (Now, of course, they are $4 each.)

I ended up making 12 of the clock bases for our Super Saturday. Now, I don't like to procrastinate things, but I am ashamed to admit I did not make these clocks until the day before the big shin-dig. My excuses are many. I had to make Mother's Day gifts for my booth. My son had surgery and required my attention. I had a dentist appointment. I had to sleep. You get the idea. It was like rushing through an essay the night before it's due, only way more enjoyable.

I used 1"x4"x8' furring strips for the wood. I cut the boards into 20 1/4" lengths and gave them a quick sanding. Each clock takes 6 boards.

I laid them next to each other and attached them together with wood lath, glue and screws.

Now, simply repeat 12 times.

All of the ladies had a fun time painting the clocks. I am really kicking myself for not getting pictures of each of them, but I requested pics of the finished clocks hanging in their houses. If I get permission, I will post them here.

Each clock only cost $11. Not a bad investment, if I do say so myself!

Mother's Sweet Peas...

Today's post is sweet. Sweet with peas! I have had this idea running through my head for a while now. With Mother's Day fast approaching, I knew it was time to give it a try.

I made more signs like I showed you last time, here. I used my wonderful chalk pens and bought a few paint pens as well. I have used paint pens before, with horrible results. I don't know if it was me or the pens themselves, but I got paint everywhere! Thus, I have not wanted to invest my money into buying more. However, I really like the control I have when writing with pens, and I wanted some in green. Chalk pens mostly come in the popular neon colors, but the paint pens I used come in a variety of greens. I got mine at Wal-Mart for about $2 per pen. 

I got to work on the first sign, which made me nervous, because I don't like to freehand art. I shook my pen, held my breath, and went to work. Before I passed out, I stopped to see what I had done. To my utter surprise, it wasn't bad! 

So, I kept going. The lettering was tricky. I looked at the font I wanted and tried to replicate it. 

Why do I put myself through this stress? 

I asked my kids what they thought of my sign. Almost all of their responses were a giggle and, "Aww, how cute!" My oldest's response was...a small smile. Triumph!

What have I learned from this project? Well, first and foremost, is to try doing things that scare you. You will surprise yourself! Next, if you have failed at something before, don't give up. I looked those paint pens straight in the eyes and won! Third, getting my oldest son to smile for me melts my heart into ooey-gooey fondue!💗

A Small Tutorial...

Mother's Day is coming! I need my booth to be prepared! What is something fast and easy for me to make several of? 

Small pallet signs! 

Problem: I don't have any pallet wood right now. Solution: 5 1/2" x 6' cedar fence board. This stuff is rough, so plan on sanding it down and creating lots of sawdust. You can absolutely save time if you use other wood, but in this case it was faster to sand than go shopping. 

I cut the boards to 10 3/4" lengths. Why, you ask? Because I wanted the signs to be square, and 2 boards next to each other measures 10 3/4". (There's that sneaky math creeping up on me again!)

I then cut some wood lath 8" long. I glued and screwed 2 on the backs of the cedar board to hold them together.

Two cedar boards and 2 wood lath gave me enough pieces for 6 pallet signs. I had 2 - 5" lengths of the cedar board left over, so I made them into smaller signs. Waste not, want not!

Here's my stack, all ready to go!

All I had to do now was decide how I wanted them to look. I stained all of them in either Minwax Jacobean, Ebony, or Gray, and added some clear coat spray. Then I found some cute quotes about mothers on Pinterest. I got out my new favorite tool, a white chalk marker (yes, I have a new favorite tool for just about every project I do), and free-handed the quotes. I finished with a last spray of clear coat.

Viola! 

And the smaller signs:

Now my booth will be full and ready for Mother's Day!

Are You Being Served...?

Super simple serving trays. I have done serving trays before, but these are a little different. I made these from wood slices. Luckily, I didn't have to cut down the tree or make the slices. My uber talented sister-in-law gave me several tree slices that were left from her son's wedding a couple of years ago. (She is always ahead of the trends.)

These wood slices have a "live edge," meaning the natural edge of the wood is part of the design. Here are a couple of examples I love:

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For my live edge serving trays, I sanded the flat part of the slice until it felt smooth enough. For the first one, I taped off the edge of the circle to make a border. Then I used chalkboard spray paint. When it was dry, I added some leather straps from an old belt. I attached the straps with screws to make handles.

The other one is basically the same, but I tried it without a border. I'm still not sure which one I like better.

In case you are wondering, I did not make the dessert on the above tray. I just happened to have it left over from our family's annual Easter dinner. And yes, it was as decadent as it looks!

In Love With a Ladder...

I fell in love with a ladder. A ladder that isn't used as a ladder. This is the ladder in question:

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I followed the pin to credit the original source, but none was found. That makes me sad. Someone should get credit for their beautiful inspiration. Getting credit is something near and dear to my heart, as you may know. If you want to know the whole story, click here.

Anyhoo, I simply had to make one of these ladders! I love the idea! Just one teensy-weensy problem. I don't have an awesome old ladder hanging around. Guess I'll have to build one!

First I decided what size ladder I wanted. I had some 2" x 2" x 8's. To make it easy, I cut one in half. (To prove that I really do use math later in life, that means 2 pieces of wood 24" long.) Then I cut 3 pieces of the 2" x 2" to 12". I wanted to be able to display an 8 x 10 frame between the rungs.

Next I made marks where I wanted the rungs to be, evenly spaced. I forgot to write down the exact measurements, sorry.  I used a counter sink drill bit to drill holes for the 2 1/2" screws. Using a counter sink bit will make sure the screw head doesn't stick out from the wood. We don't want a Frankenstein ladder, do we?

Time to assemble the ladder. I used wood glue to hold everything in place and let it dry. I feel it's easier to screw together if the ladder is already one piece. 

I used my Ryobi driver to attach the screws.

Time for some stain! Once again, I used Minwax Jacobean stain. 

When the stain was all dry, I sanded down the edges to give the ladder an "aged" or "worn" look. I then added some semi-gloss clear coat to "wake-up" the wood. When that was done, I measured out some chicken wire. This stuff is fun to work with, but can be sharp. Wear gloves and use wire cutters to get the amount you want. 

The chicken wire was too shiny for my taste, so I whipped out some black spray paint. I just happened to grab my can of High Heat paint, not because I plan on heating the wire, it was just the first can of black I saw. I wasn't meticulous in making sure the black paint covered everything. I just wanted to tone down the "newness" of the wire. 

For the next part, I grabbed my staple gun. I then added staples to the back of the ladder to hold the chicken wire in place. 

I also added some D-ring hardware (no picture, sorry) to hang the ladder on the wall. I added the hardware so that the ladder can hang horizontal or vertical. Or the ladder can just lean against a wall. 

I thought the ladder was missing something, so I added some fun decorative metal pieces. 

I also stuck some clothes pins on the wire to hang pictures, notes, memos, reminders, etc. 

I am very happy with how it turned out! What do you think?

Quick and Easy...

Today's project is quick and easy to put together. I wanted a "ledge" shelf to hold picture frames for our master bedroom. I wanted something more stylish than some frames hanging on the wall. I also didn't want to put holes in my new pallet wall. Not a simple spackle and paint job for holes in a pallet wall. 

Speaking of my pallet wall, I will post about that later. The wall is done, but I have some building projects to add first. I want to have a big reveal!

Moving on...

Step 1:

Decide how long you want your shelf to be. I just kinda' guesstimated on mine, but it ended up about 22" long. I used scrap wood molding and a piece of wood lathe for this project. Cut the pieces to be the same length. I then sanded the pieces to smooth and clean them. (Using my fabulous Ryobi sander!)

Step 2:

Paint or stain the wood to a color you want. I used Minwax Jacobean stain. This is the longest part of the project, because you have to wait for the stain to dry. What is that saying, "like waiting for paint to dry?" Yup

Step 3:

Using wood glue, put the 2 pieces of wood together lengthwise at a right angle. It should form an "L" shape in profile. Use clamps to tightly hold the wood together. Wood glue takes 30 minutes to dry, so be patient. Or, if you are a mom of 4 kids, get distracted for a couple of days before getting back to this quick project. Either dry time will work!

Step 4:

I used small "L" brackets and attached them to the bottom of my shelf. Then, mark your wall where you want the shelf to go and attach the other side of the bracket to the wall. I used 2 brackets, but if you are doing a longer shelf, you may want to add more brackets.

TIP: If you are centering the shelf, measure more than once! Remember how I said I didn't want holes in my pallet wall? Well, there will be if I fix my shelf placement. Yup. The best laid plans, etc., etc.

Isn't it beautiful? And, you get a peek at my pallet wall!

Wait! Before you go, I have to show you my organized peg board wall! It is a work in progress, but I have been asking Hubby to hang this peg board for a year very long time. All it took was him getting a 3D printer to print peg board hanger clips...

Seriously though, thank you to my sweet, thoughtful, hardworking Hubby!