Preschool Class Craft #4: Dollhouse Chair

Just like every year I try and find something innovative that I can build as the auction craft for my son's preschool class.  I wish I could take full credit for this idea, but I used this photo as a jumping off point to make my version of a dollhouse chair.

Thankfully while making this, it only took one time and I am happy with the results.  I even made a template, because my son wants me to make him one.

We didn't end up winning it in the auction, I conceded the bidding war, so I need to make another one for Colton.

To incorporate the kids into the build, I thumb printed each kid in the preschool class.

I turned their thumb prints into Christmas lights that went along the roof line.

I love how it turned out.  For the short period of time that we had it, Colton used it as a chair to watch TV, a secret hide out for his super heroes and shot pigs out of the windows with his angry birds.  I can't even imagine all the possibilities that a child could come up with to use this awesome chair for.

If you want to check out all the other auction crafts that I have done while my kids were in preschool, click on the links below. 

Preschool Class Craft #1: Garden Planter Bench
Preschool Class Craft #2: Read Me Bookcase
Preschool Class Craft #3: A Pirate's Chest

Only one year left of doing class auction crafts!

Custom Cufflink Box

I have partially shown off my husband's awesome Christmas gift that I built, but haven't shared much else. 

My husband works in the business world and at times wears cufflinks.  It's not easy to find a good looking jewelry box for a guy that is under a couple hundred dollars.  I set myself up with the task to build him a box (my first box ever) to house some of his cufflinks.

The top, bottom, front and back are birdseye maple and the sides are bloodwood.  I also burned a small blue jay feather in the top for decoration and as a nod to how awesomely supportive my husband is in all my creative pursuits.  He has shown off my blue jay and feather burnings to so many people, he's my number one fan and supporter. 

I didn't follow any plans for this piece as I couldn't find one that suited what I wanted to do.  I had to custom build the insert where they cufflinks sit.  I used wooden dowels, wrapped foam around them and adhered crushed velvet on top. 

I am extremely happy with how this turned out and my husband loves it!  I learned quite a great deal just from figuring it all out as I went.  I think I learn best that way. 

So, did anyone else make any awesome Christmas presents this year?  Comment below and include a link, I would love to see them!

Build Me Up

Being skilled in many different mediums sometimes leaves me feeling fractured at times.  It's hard to know what to do and what to further pursue.  I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I can combine many of my talents and passions.

Woodworking and watercolor painting are my two biggest creative passions.  I did this as an homage to them.  I am currently working on expanding and playing more with the pyrography (wood burning) and painting on wood with wood dyes.  I also need to build a frame for my blue jay feather.  I plan on dying the frame as well.  

Once I have honed this skill a bit, I will give some insight on the process.  Since I am still learning and playing with it, I need to figure out what works and what doesn't.  I am currently in the process of doing a butterfly.  I need to get rid of this cold before I can continue on it since I need to sand it down and I don't want to do that when I can barely breathe. 

I Am Finally Able To Share Some News!!!

The Sawdust Girl herself, Sandra is featuring a fun vase of mine over on her site today.  You should go check it out by clicking this link.  I will be posting over there once a month as one of her contributors.  Isn't that awesome?!?  I'm very excited and hope you venture over there and check out not just my vases, but all the amazing skills she has for making your house into the home you want.

Teacher Gifts: Round 1

Tuesday was the last day of preschool for Colton.  He was adorable in his end of the year program and actually participated on stage without picking his nose!  I call that a big win!

Colton was on the opposite side of the stage from where I sat.  No way to predict in what order they will stand on stage.  I was able to get a couple decent photos, that also showed off the awesome shirt that the teachers Made for each kid.  Hand print suns with everyone's names on their hand print.  Too cute!  The best photo came from the last song where the entire preschool was singing.  Thankfully that was right in front of where I was sitting.   Here is my cutie hamming it up!

As far as gifts go, Colton's lead teacher received this stained glass frog.

I chose a frog for her due to her entire classroom being decked out in frogs and the only thing she had hanging in her window throughout the year was children's artwork on occasion.  She loves it!

The assistant teacher had hinted a few times this year how much she loved the other teacher's pen.  (I made her one back when she taught Maben in art).  I had to make one just for her.

Her favorite color is purple, so it was easy to choose purple heart as the wooden portion and I paired it with a pen with some bling.  She loves it!

My heart couldn't be happier than to give two very unique gifts to two very deserving teachers and have them both be thrilled to receive them.  What a wonderful day.  So thankful that they provided a very wonderful first year of preschool for Colton.

Experimenting

Have you ever had an amazing creative idea that you wanted to try? 

Something that just came to you and you haven't seen anyone else do it? 

Something that in your head looks so amazing that you are afraid to try it because it won't live up to the image in your head? 

Yeah, me too. 

I have been mulling over an idea for months.  Seriously months.  I wanted to do something that combined a number of my creative talents. 

This past weekend I sat down and tried my idea.  What do you think of it?  I am SO IN LOVE WITH IT!!!

I took a reference photo of mine of a blue jay.  I free hand drew it onto my board which is 5x8 inches.  I then took my pyrography tools and did a simple outline and details on the feathers.  I then took some wood stains and painted layers on it like a watercolor. 

I wanted this to turn out well, but since I had built it up so big in my head, I honestly thought it would fail.  I am so glad that I was wrong. 

Can't wait to show it off at my Woodworkers Guild meeting tonight.  I am eager to hear what the old guys have to say about it.  I am also eager to hear what you have to say about it. 

So, what do you think?

Preschool Class Craft #3: A Very Preschool Pirate's Chest

Yup, you guessed it, I did it again.  I willingly volunteered to build something awesome and hand print another batch of kids all for the sake of helping raise some money for preschool.  This year it was for Colton, where in year's past it was for Maben.

You can check out the previous finished crafts here and here.

I searched high and low for inspiration.  I probably spent as much time trolling for inspiration as I did building it.  I hate creative block.  But, when it struck me, that was it, I knew what I was doing.  I saw a hand print pirate.  A PIRATE!!!  How awesome.  BTW, saw it over here.  Colton's hand print pirate pictured below.

After that inspiration struck, I started to look for plans (or figure out my own) to build a pirate's treasure chest.  My awesome husband came to the rescue with a magazine called, "Quick-and-Easy Woodworking Projects," from Wood Magazine; issue from 2006.  I was sold!

The build wasn't hard, parts of it were rather tedious (cutting all those slats for the lid).  I mostly followed the directions and didn't screw up anything that I couldn't fix.  The directions were written well, I just am more of a picture person.  I follow directions much better when it's step by step pictures vs. written word.

Anyways, without further ado I present to you, A Very Preschool Pirate's Chest!!!

The teacher's and kid's names have been blurred out for their privacy.

The finished dimensions were approximately 35 inches wide by 22 inches tall and 22 inches deep. 

A big thanks goes out to the mom and teachers who helped me hand print a bunch of three-year-old children.

Another thanks to Amanda over at Handprint and Footprint Art for the inspiration.

Sharing this over at:
So You Think You're Crafty: I'm Crafty Party #35 
Sawdust Girl: Sawdust Throwdown 
Tatertots and Jello:  Weekend Wrap Up Party

Test Tube Vase: Tutorial

Building the Test Tube Vase was quite easy and came together quickly.  You will need to find test tubes in order to do this build, Amazon has quite a few to choose from.  I understand not everyone will be able to find them at a thrift store, but it's awesome to know that there is such a wide selection out there.  You know, in case I decide to make some for gifts.

Not all test tubes are the same size, so when drilling holes, please keep in mind that what size drill bit I used, may not work for you.

After you acquire your test tubes, you will need two boards.  One for the base, one for the arch.

My Base: Curly maple, exact dimensions 14 x 3 ^3/8 x 11/16"
My Arch: Bass wood, exact dimensions 15 ^3/16 x 4 x 1/16"

The curly maple was leftover laying around the garage from a project my husband did and I picked up the bass wood at Hobby Lobby, it's mixed in with the balsa wood for building airplanes or doll furniture.

<sup>I came up with the length of the bass wood based on trial and error.  Not every piece of wood will bend the same way, so I cut the grooves in the maple first.

I set up the table saw at a 45 degree angle and marked in 3/4" from each edge.</sup>

^{I then ran it through the table saw to cut the grooves.  I used a miter sled (shown above) to make sure that I cut my groove straight.  I set the saw up to only cut 3/8 deep.}

<sup>Once the grooves are cut, play with the bass wood to get the right length for your arch.  Once you figured out your length, you will need to mark where you want your test tubes to sit.  I started by marking the center of the bass wood and I set mine 1 3/4" apart. 

I used a 1/2" HSS (high speed steel) drill bit, even though my test tubes were larger than that.  I have larger drill bits, but not the right type and I didn't want to risk splitting the board.</sup>

^{After drilling the holes, I traced the mouths of the test tubes and took a round file to rough out the holes to the correct size.  The holes on the outside need to be made into a slight oval, because of the bend.}

^{To get the perfect fit, it's all trial and error.  Keep setting your arch into your base board and try inserting the test tube until you get the right fit.}

<sup>Once you have what you think is the right fit, take your piece (just like the photo above) over to your drill press.  

Your holes will be larger than your drill bit, so center your drill bit and set your stop.</sup>

^{The stop is shown above.  The holes you are drilling is so that the test tubes have a place to set without slipping around.  I set my stop up to stop my drill bit from going any further than 1/8" deep.}

 

^{Once you are done with the drill, take your base and arch apart.  I hand sanded the arch and used the oribtal sander to sand the base.  I took it to 220 grit sand paper.}  

^{I then stained and dyed my pieces.  You can take a look at all the dying fun right here.  The staining of arch needed only one coat on each side.  The basswood soaked it all in very quickly and evenly.}

^{I did a shellac finish on both the arch and the base once the dye and stain dried.}

^{In order to the apply the shellac, I use a process that my husband showed me.  You will need some batting, a lint free rag and a binder clip.  Our rag is an old white t-shirt.  Place the batting on top of the rag.}

^{Wrap the batting inside the rag, then attach the binder clip to hold it all together.}

^{The binder clip also provides a nice handle to hold onto.  I did quick thin layers of the shellac, making sure that they were completely dry between coats.  I also buffed it up between coats with some fine steel wool.}

<sup>Once the shellac was completely dry, I took a new, clean rag and applied a Renaissance wax finish on top.  It's not the cheapest stuff, but the quality is amazing and you do NOT need a lot to get the best results.  It helps protect pieces from dust, fingerprints and liquids.  

Once you have completed your finishing process, put the arch back in the base, insert your test tubes and add some flowers and water!  Then marvel at the beautiful piece you made.</sup>

^{Sharing this over at:
So I Married A Craft Blogger: Man Up Link Up II
Sugar Bee Crafts: Take-A-Look Tuesday}

Dying Wood

When creating my test tube vase, I performed something I had never done before.  I dyed wood.  This was only after an epic fail of attempting to stain the wood, I'll get to that disaster in a moment.

I dyed the curly maple base a beautiful blue.  It really brought out the grain and made the piece pop!  Had the base been a wood tone, I don't think it would have been as successful.  In order to do this, I went to my local woodworking store and bought some Mixol blue and green dyes.

At first, I tried mixing them with some shellac.  When doing this, you are staining the wood.  The shellac sits on top of the wood, and there is very little penetration into the wood.

THIS WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL!  

I think a lot of it had to do with the color I was going for.  The Mixol dyes and the shellac were not mixing well.  My husband suggested it might have been that the shellac was a little old.  Whatever the cause, it was not working so I needed a new game plan. 

I had to wait for it to dry completely and sand it off.  What a pain!  There is nothing more frustrating that having to complete a tedious process all over again.  My new game plan, dye the wood.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would work, because when you dye something, it penetrates.  There would be no sanding it off if it didn't work.

Here is what I used to dye the wood.

• Denatured Alcohol
• Mixol Blue and Green
• A rag made from a t-shirt
• Gloves (because you do NOT want to dye your hands)
• Glass jar for mixing
• Respirator mask (because of fumes)

Caution: Make sure you do this in a well-ventilated area!

I mixed approximately 2/3 cup of denatured alcohol with 15 drops of blue and 6 drops of green in a mason jar.  I shook it up to mix it well.  I then soaked half of my rag in the mixture and rubbed it on the wood.  

I wish I had photos of the whole process, but I didn't want to dye my camera blue and my husband was sleeping.

The dye went on quickly and easy!  The denatured alcohol evaporated very quickly allowing me to put three applications of dye on in under an hour.  This was the look I was going for.

The difference between the staining and dying was night and day!  I learned the hard way, hopefully you won't have to!

The dye was bright, vibrant and this was before applying a finishing top coat of shellac (new shellac just in case).

I will be explaining the full build of the test tube vase later in the week.

Sharing this over at:
Sugar Bee Crafts: Take A Look Tuesday

SYTYC Reveal - Test Tube Vase

After a second place win this week, it secures my spot into the final three!  YAY!  I am so excited that I have made it this far into the competition.  Here is my thrift store piece.

The thrift store I went to was amazing.  The Texas Art Asylum.   After striking out at thrift stores in my neck of the woods, I remembered this place and decided to drive into Houston to check it out.  It was exactly what I needed.  I found more inspiration in there than I had every other thrift store combined.  Look at this place, how could you not be inspired?

The aisles were packed with all sorts of goodies that could be reused.  There were old tools, a barrel full of corks, flooring samples, fabric, glass bottles, wine crates, empty frames, etc.

Among this hoarders paradise, I was able to bring home a few things, but I ultimately settled on using these test tubes for my So You Think You're Crafty project.

I will show you next week how to build my test tube vase and how to dye wood.  This build was so much fun and didn't take a lot of time.  My husband was even surprised at how fast it all came together.

I really feel like I didn't just craft this piece, but created fine art.  Being a trained artist and an avid crafter, sometimes I feel like the two worlds pull me in opposite directions.  Other occasions, they come together in a perfect marriage.  This piece is what came from my background in both.

I couldn't be happier with it.  I now want to plant more flowers that I can cut just to have flowers in it all the time.  I might have to settle for some real looking fake flowers while I wait for more flowers to bloom in my garden.

Click here to go to the tutorial.

Showing this off over at:
Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party