More headboards....

Hi Everyone!  Happy Weekend!  Do you have anything fun planned for this weekend?  I of course have to work tomorrow morning and then I need to get ready for the return of the snowbirds!  And I don't mean the feathery kind.  I'm talking about my parents.  They are coming home from Florida.  In fact, they are part way home as I write this.

Ridge with his girlfriend Rachel

They will of course be stopping tomorrow to spend the afternoon and evening with my nephew Ridge (he's on leave from the Marines) and my brother and his family will be driving down so they will all get to spend some time together before Ridge goes on to more training.  So I will be opening their home and getting ready for their arrival Sunday evening.  Which also means that I must give back my dad's truck.  Oh what fun I've had driving it!

I have to show you what I picked up today on my lunch half hour.  I ran home to let the dogs out for their mid-day potty break.  And on my way back I was going to go to the bank.  But I drove by this place that I refer to as the junk place.  It's an on going garage sale and you really have to dig through the junk to find something good.  When they are open they put furniture outside and sometimes leave it out even when the weather is bad.  So I was driving by and spotted some "new" headboards.  Not really new, but ones that haven't been sitting out in the bad weather.  So I stopped.

 And look at what I got!

 This one is missing the top to one of the posts but I think I can still make it work.

And this little pair is adorable!  He said they were shipped over from England, but I think that might just be in his imagination. 

 The set even came with the rails!

 So what would you pay for all of this?  I paid $10 for all of it.  Do you think I got a good deal?  I sure do!  Now, what should I make?  I can of course see benches.  But I can also see several other things.  What would you make?  Thanks for stopping by!

"From the Halls of Montezuma, To the shores of Tripoli...."

Hi Everyone! Well, it's official.  My nephew Ridge is a Marine.  His graduation was today.  I am so very proud of him.  He is heading home for 10 days and then he will head back for weapons training and then on to Pensacola for 9 to 14 months of schooling.  He's going to learn to work on aircrafts.

Unfortunately, none of my family were able to make it out to San Diego for his graduation.  But his mother's side of the family were able to attend.  I'm so glad someone was there for him.  My brother and his family and my parents are all going to get to see him before he heads back to San Diego.  My parents will be on their way back from Florida next weekend and will be staying over to spend some time with him.  And will meet up with my brother's family.  I'm so happy that they will get to spend some time with him!

I am so proud of Ridge and the decision he made.  He decided at 17 that this is what he wanted to do and signed up for 5 years.  Such a grown up decision from boy.  He's not a boy any longer. 

My sister-in-law said it best, "Just a few short weeks ago, a scared but excited young man left for boot camp.  Today, the United States Marines are returning to us a young man, a Marine.  I have so much love and pride in my heart that he has undertaken such a noble goal.  Today he joins the elite.  He is a United States Veteran forevermore."

Congratulations Ridge!  You make me so proud! 

Cream bench...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Sunday!  I wanted to show you a bench I made for a relative.  There were 12 surviving siblings in my grandfather's family and one of his sister's daughter (my mom's cousin) bought a bench from me previously for one of her daughters and ordered this bench for one of her other daughters.  Are you confused yet?  She wanted a cream colored bench like the other one she got.  So this is what I came up with.

 To me it has a more primitive look to it, unlike the other benches I make.  My uncle Bill had given me this  headboard this fall and I knew when I saw it that this is the bench it would go with.  Did I mention that my mom's cousin ordered this back in the late spring, but she didn't want it until December.  So I put it off while I worked on everything else until it was almost December.

 I forgot to take pictures of the original headboard.  I found portions of spindles to made the arms.  And I painted it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old Ochre.

Then I waxed it with clear wax and added the saying using black paint.  I have a stencil that I used for this.  It's the same one I use on all the large benches, but since it's smaller only part of it fits.  I delivered this and my mom's cousin loved it.  I sure hope her daughter does too. 

And on a sad note, the last of my grandfather's brothers passed away this week and I'll be going to the visitation later today.  He was 89.

And today, my nephew Ridge heads out for Marine Boot camp.  I wish him the very best!  And I'll miss him!

Well, thanks for stopping by.

Farewell and Good luck to my nephew...

Hi Everyone!  Well, my nephew was here.  And we had a wonderful time.  I took a few pictures of the Christmas tree at Union Station in Kansas City while we were waiting for his train to arrive.

And here is my nephew and Dad minutes after he got off the train.  I hadn't seen him in person for almost two years.  And it was two years too long.  It's hard to believe he's 18 and joining the Marines in a matter of days.

And here he is with my mom shortly after we got him home.  We had a great time.  Played lots of games.  He loves to play card games or the tile game (as my Mom calls it).  We laughed a bunch and just enjoyed having him here.  He helped Dad do some chores around their house and helped Dad and I move some farm equipment back into storage.  Which was a lot of help, especially after the tongue of the hay rack landed on my foot leaving me to hobble along.  It's not broken just bruised really bad!!  And boy did it hurt!  The swelling is coming down which is good, but it's made it difficult to get orders filled.  So hopefully this weekend I can get caught up.  Mom and Dad took him to meet my sister-in-law so he can spend time with his Dad before he leaves for Marine boot camp on December 12th.  I will miss him and wish him well on this new phase of his life.  Good luck Ridge and be safe!  I know you'll make a great Marine!

My mom's tree...

Hi Everyone!  After our Thanksgiving meal, I put up my mother's Christmas tree, so I thought I'd show you how it turned out.  I made her the tree topper star as well as the snowman ornament in the middle of the tree.

 I really like how it turned out.  And she was very happy to have someone put it up for her.

I also gave her one of the trees I had left over from the craft fair.  Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Jenny Lind headboard bench...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I am spending today with my nephew Ridge but I thought I'd share with you one of the benches that I made for my last craft fair that did not sell.  This is what it started out looking like.  It is a Jenny Lind headboard.

I made this one armless since I did not have a footboard to go with it.  I took the feet from another headboard (one that I didn't like and used the back to make a sign out of it) to make the front legs of this bench.  Then built the frame work.  I had originally wanted to make storage in the seat of this one, but I ran out of time.  But if you look at this, it only needs the bottom of the storage part.  Maybe I will rework this one and add storage to it.

I painted it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Graphite with a little black paint added to it to darken it a bit.  I upholstered the seat with my usual fabric choice (it's just been so popular).  And I added the saying to the bottom, Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often.  But since it didn't sell, I think I'll finish off the storage in the seat and then it will be ready to go for next year.  Well I'm off now to spend quality time with Ridge before he heads off to Marine Basic training!  I hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by. 

The end of fair season...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday!  I know I've been missing this week.  Last Saturday was my last fair of the season.  It went pretty well.  The parking lot at the facility was all torn up so there was limited parking which I think hurt as there weren't nearly as many customers as there normally were.  I still managed to sell quite a few things including a bench, lots of tress, and some one of a kind items.  I'll show more in the next few days.  One of the things that sold right away was Hank, the snowman post.

The gal that bought him was so excited when she saw him and picked him up right away and said she just had to have him.  It always makes me smile to see people get excited about their purchases.  So I know he went to someone who will appreciate him.

I ended the day last Saturday with several orders so I had a total of 10 things I needed to make.  I managed to cut that to 4 on Tuesday and then picked up another order on Wednesday.  Tuesday I started getting a cold and by Wednesday morning it was a full blown cold.  So needless to say, I haven't gotten anything else done this week besides going to work.  I'm feeling a bit better today, so I will be hitting the shop this afternoon to get going on these five orders.  I need to get them done soon! 

I got some exciting news on Sunday.  My nephew Ridge, who is joining the Marines and is leaving in December, will be coming here for a few days!  I am so excited.  I was afraid I wasn't going to get to see him before he left. 

I bought him a train ticket and my parents and I are picking him up a week from tomorrow.  He'll be here for a few days and then my parents will take him to meet his Dad where he will stay for a few more days before heading back home and then leaving for boot camp.  I'm so proud of him and can't wait to see him!  So I must get things done despite my cold!  I hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Storage bench...

Hi Everyone!  I wanted to share with you the project that my nephew helped me build.  We started out just making a regular headboard bench using two twin size headboards.  They didn’t match perfectly, but they were similar enough that I thought they would make a good bench.  I started out by cutting the shorter of the two headboards in half.  Then I cut the turned ball off the posts of the shorter headboard that has now become the arms.  I cut and sanded them off because they didn’t match the ones on the back headboard and it gave it a unique look. 

 I clamped the arms to the back headboard, and in three different places, drilled holes through the back of the headboard into the arms, added glue and then screwed the two headboards together.  Then we measured the side of the arm from post to post and glued, nailed, and drilled pocket holes and screwed them together.  I have a tendency to over build benches so that they can withstand the weight and then I know they are secure and going to last.  My mom always says that an elephant could sit on them.

 I don’t have pictures of the in between portions where my nephew and I made the frame for the seat area because I had decided to turn it into a bench with storage and since I hadn't made one before it was a little trial and error and working without any plans.  So of course the camera wasn't in my thoughts at the time.  My nephew and I made the frame for the bottom of the storage area.  I added the support and the end pieces of the storage unit.  If you notice the end pieces that are green is a large scrap piece of luan that I was using as my spray painting board.  It just happened to be the perfect size for the end pieces.  All I had to do was cut it down, insert it and glue and nail it in place.

I cut the bottom piece of the storage from a large piece of luan that I had in the wood shop. I glued it and nailed it into place.  We added several other pieces on the bottom side of the luan to better support it, again gluing and nailing it into place.

This is a spindle that was cut in half from another headboard when I cut it half to make arms.  I like to keep these pieces because you never know when they will come in handy.  I added it as a decorative piece to each side of the outside front arms to cover the slots where the rails would have slid into instead of filling it with putty or silicone.

Up to this point all of the wood was scrap pieces that were left over from other projects.  We had to go to the lumber yard for a piece of 1x12” for the front and back of the storage unit.  I decided not to use luan for these pieces as they will carry some of the weight on them.  

 Here you can see an additional piece was added to the front of the frame of the storage box.  It was added because the front piece of 1x12" needed to cover the inside leg where the rail slot is and so there was more edge for the lid/seat to rest on besides just the frame.

The boards for the seat were left over from another project.  It has two 1x8" and one 1x4" that had to be shaved down to fit.  We cut the boards to length first, then glued them and clamped them.  We let them sit overnight.  My nephew didn't like to use the glue and wasn't a believer in the power of wood glue.  But after seeing that the glue held those boards together perfectly, he's now a believer!  We also drilled a finger hole in the middle of the front board so that the lid could be opened.

 Since this is the top of the storage and the seat as well, we reinforced the glue with two wood strips that we glued and then nailed into place with the nail gun and then put a screw into each of the boards for added strength.  We also made sure that the strips were short enough not to interfere with lifting the lid up or with the frame brace that goes across the middle of the storage.

 Then we sanded all of the wood with the exception of the headboard and arms. 

 Here's my nephew testing out the fit of the lid after sanding it.

And here he is after we finished building it.  We didn't have time to paint it.  And I will be adding this to the painting pile.  I have several craft fairs coming up and have decided to build all the benches first and then paint them all at once so I don't have to put away the paint after each one or clean up the sawdust before I paint so it doesn't get mixed in to the finish.  Also, I don't have to interrupt the building process while waiting for paint to dry.  So we'll see how this goes.  But that's my first storage bench build.  It took a bit longer than I had anticipated but the first time usually does.  Plus I was showing my nephew how to do things as well as getting help from him.  We had a good time working on it and that is the main thing.  He thinks he can go home and build one himself.  I'll be sure an show you the finished, painted project when it's all done.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Don't forget to sign up for the sign giveaway.  Click here.

My nephew...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday.  My nephew Quinton has been here for three weeks and today he is returning home.  My parents are meeting his Mom part way between their home and his home. 

This was his first trip over by himself and we had a great time.  He was a big help to me in the work shop and we made a few things together.  He helped exercise my dogs in the pasture, climbing hay bales with them and running them until everyone was tired. 

Hard at work in the workshop.  Making all sorts of things.  We had a good time together!

Thanks for all the help and the great memories!  Have a great rest of the summer Quinton! 

I can't believe he's graduating...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Thursday!  I can't believe my nephew Ridge is graduating from high school.  It just doesn't seem possible.  Tonight is his graduation ceremony and unfortunately, I can't be there.  I have to work and I have the puppies to take care and to try to find homes for.  My brother and his family are going, my parents are going, but the timing was just wrong for me to make the trip.  And boy do I feel bad! 

 I lived in the same area as his parents did when he was born and for the first 6 months of his life, I helped take care of him everyday!  He slept through the night for the first time at my apartment.  He had colic and when his parents just couldn't take it anymore, they would call me and I'd make the 15 minute drive to their home and not more than 10 minutes after I got there he would settle down and go to sleep.  I moved and then his parents moved and then they got divorced.  And despite all the things that have gone on his life, he has remained a very kind hearted and sweet boy who has put God at the forefront of his life.  He goes to church, Sunday school, and on mission trips and I've been so impressed with him. 

He use to come and stay with my parents and I for a month or so every summer, but hasn't the last couple of summers and I've missed spending that time with him.  But he had a summer job and his friends.  And now he's enlisted in the Marines because he wants to serve our country and make a difference.  And I couldn't be more proud of him.  I just hope I get to see him before he leaves in the fall. 

 So, Congratulations Ridge!  Wish I could be there!  Love you!