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Making a Condiment Tote from Scratch - part 3

2011-11-30T19:52:00.000-05:00

This is part 3 you can see part 1 here and part 2 here

Now that the sides, ends and bottom are cut I stain them, on the insides only, before putting the box of the tote together. It's much easier to stain before glueing because trying to reach your hand inside a box and stain it is very difficult.

With pine, I use flecto Varathane's Gel Stain. It does not require any undercoating and always give me a streak-proof finish. Not all stains work well on pine but I have had great success with this. I rub it on with a piece of old t-shirt material.

The stain is left on for a few minutes (it can look smeared and uneven as below) and then the excess is rubbed off, moving in the direction of the grain.

I put a coat of stain and three coats of polyurethane on all the sides, ends and bottom pieces.

What I should have done is taped off the inside of the end pieces where they will be glued to the sides so as not to stain nor put polyurethane on them. Instead I had to sand off the stain and clear coat where the glue will go as you can see below.

The pieces are glued and clamped and after drying I remove the clamps and put two finishing nails in each joint.

Because there is a continuous groove made on the tablesaw for the plywood to fit in, the groove runs out the side and can be seen as a small open square of wood. I make a small square dowel that will fit the opening exactly and put it in with a dab of glue.

When the glue dries I cut the dowel with a flush cutting knife.

The boxes are sanded on the outside and measured on the inside for the exact width of the handle that fits inside. The handle was not cut until this point in order to have a perfect fit.

I make a cardboard template (from the back of a cereal box) to get the correct sizes. The width is the width inside the box as stated above, the spot at where the handle begins to angle upwards is the height of the inside of the box. I felt I needed about a 3" wide handle opening and marked that on the template in order to figure out a proper slope on the handle to the top. The total height of the handle piece had to allow someone to hold the tote without their hand hitting a ketchup bottle that is placed inside it.

..to be continued...

Making a Condiment Tote from Scratch - part 2

2011-11-27T17:19:00.002-05:00

In the previous post (part 1) I showed how to prepare the wood for the four totes I am making.

After the wood was resawn and cut apart with the handsaw it will have a slight ridge down the middle (and often a few scratches from the saw).

You can remove the ridges, if you like, with a hand plane, but it's not necessary. The wood is put through the planer until it reaches the desired thickness, which in my case, is 1/2"

6 pieces are needed for each tote, two sides, two ends, a bottom and a handle. The handle is wider than the wood I have so I have to glue two pieces together to make the width I need. This is done with clamps and wood glue, I don't use biscuits or anything else to align the wood, just glue.

The end pieces and side pieces are the same width, so they are cut to width on the table saw. I use my rabbit push stick which I blogged about previously here

The tote is designed with a plywood bottom that sits in a groove in the sides and ends. I leave the pieces I prepared for the sides and ends uncut so that I can put a groove in the whole length of wood and then cut it apart after. The groove height is approximately half the thickness of the wood, so about 1/4" deep. I just sit the wood beside the saw blade and eyeball the height I need. The bottoms are not cut yet, until I know exactly what size I need for them to be after the grooves are cut.

I use my table saw blade and keep the groove around 1/2" from the bottom by running the wood against the fence set at the proper measurement for that.

The plywood I have is just slightly thicker than the width of my blade so I move the fence just a little and re-run the groove to widen it. I always practise first on a piece of scrap to get the measurements precise.

I then cut the side and end pieces to length on my sliding compound mitre saw.

Since I'm making four totes, I end up with 8 sides and 8 ends.

I then cut the plywood to size to fit the box that the sides and ends will make.

...to be continued...

Showing this at the following blogs:

Making a Condiment Tote from Scratch - part 1

2011-11-25T12:42:00.009-05:00

This series of posts will show how I made four condiment totes for a local restaurant. I'm going to show most steps from rough wood to finished product as many of my readers are beginners and haven't made projects this way.

The restaurant wanted holders for ketchup, mustard, relish and vinegar that the waitresses or waiters could take to the table with them. (In Canada, some of us like white vinegar on our fries. On my trips to the U. S., I have had strange looks in restaurants when I've asked for vinegar, so I've given up doing that).

I first made a prototype to see if it would be appropriate.

Upon returning to the restaurant, my sample was a little bit too long, so it was decided to shorten it, so it would hold the condiments but not have much extra space. This way it would also take up less space on the tables.

The next step was to make out a Project "parts" sheet:

On this sheet I list how many are needed of each part, and the sizes needed. This way when I go to my stack of wood I can figure out how much to prepare.

This is my stock of rough pine. It's about 6" wide and 1 1/4" thick and rough on all sides, meaning no smooth sides. I prefer working with wood like this. I can make it whatever size I need and find a satisfaction in taking the wood from rough boards to a finished product.

You can read how I made my lumber rack here

When looking at my parts list I see, for example, I need 8 sides at 6 3/4" long. Each board is checked over to see how the different pieces I need might fit best on it. I always allow a bit extra for knots or splits, so might allow 8" for those 8 pieces and therefore I'd need a piece 8x8"= 64" long for the sides. I find that length long to manoeuvre so I prefer two pieces at 32" for the sides.

The boards are cut to a manageable length on my sliding compound mitre saw:

The next step is to joint all the boards. Jointing makes one face flat and is done on the jointer:

Once one face is flat and smooth, the board is turned up on it's edge to get a smooth edge that is perpendicular to the smooth face:

Now, normally I would go to the planer to get the other face of the wood smooth, but I only need my pine to be 1/2" thick. To plane from 1 1/4" down to 1/2" is not only a lot of work, but also a waste of wood, so...

I make my wood thinner. Unfortunately I don't have a bandsaw, which is the proper tool for the job, so I use my table saw. First I cut the second edge parallel to the first, as wide as I can get the board, in most cases around 5 1/2". Now there is one smooth face and two smooth perpendicular edges.

To narrow the wood, which is called "resawing," I put the fence at over 1/2", probably about 9/16" (just under 5/8") and start with a cut about 1" high.

I flip the board and do the other edge, always leaving the smooth face against the fence.

*NOTE: This is not for the faint-of-heart since the blade is fully exposed. Before performing this type of operation you must know exactly how the wood can react and what to do and not to do. (Not for beginners)*

Progressively I raise the blade so that my saw is not cutting through too much at once:

I keep going until there is just a small band of wood left in the middle:

I use a handsaw to cut that small strip of wood out of the middle of each board:

...to be continued... PART 2

Showing this at the following blogs:

Sawdust and Paper Scraps

Why not to use pallet wood outside... fixing the bridge

2011-11-08T10:02:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time I had a beautiful bridge that I made myself out of reclaimed pallet wood and logs. It looked like this:

Unfortunately, pallet wood doesn't like to be outdoors and because of Mother Nature and her rain, snow, sun and cold... untreated wood and logs decay.

I even had woodpeckers hammering into the logs that were used as posts, creating big holes in them. Two of the log posts even fell right off.

Some of the pallet boards caved in. A sorry site for a once beautiful rustic creation.

I decided to leave the base underneath and replace the boards with pressure treated decking.

First step was to dismantle the thing, starting with the remaining posts, which had lag screws holding them to the bridge base. A socket wrench makes easy work of taking out the screws.

Then, using an electric drill I removed all the screws that held the pallet boards onto the base.

I bought 1" thick, 6" wide (actually 5 1/2") boards at Home Depot. I needed them 3' long and didn't want to take 12' boards home in my van, so the nice man at HD offered to cut them for me to 36". That saved me a step.

I spaced them out across my bridge base leaving a gap between each board for water run off, just as you would for a deck. I found 1/8" thick poplar boards in my shop that would leave the perfect spacing to fit seven boards on each half of the bridge... 14 boards in total. Spacers make the job go easier, you just fit them between the last board you attached and the next one and you get an even spacing for your whole project. This is just a lay out to see how things will fit.

I then started in the middle of the bridge and worked down one side. This way the middle of the bridge had the 1/8" gap centered on it. I used two 2" screws and attached through to the base on each side, leaving a 1 1/2" overhang.

(Always be sure to use the correct screws or nails for pressure treated wood. If you don't, the screw could be eaten by the concoction that is in the wood to keep it from decaying.)

After the first board is in place, I put the spacers in place and pushed the next board up tight and attached it, working my way down to the bottom where the bridge meets the ground.

For this project I had a great helper who didn't complain, just enjoyed the November sunshine with me. Here in Northern Ontario one is not normally working in the garden during the first half of November!

When I got to the last board, I saw that the base 2" x 12"s had decayed where they meet the earth. Instead of replacing the whole thing, I added some pressure treated scraps to the inner base to attach the last board to.

Of course I was left with the old boards and logs and almost kept some of them... I did keep the handrails, but all the rest was cut up to go into my woodstove.

Now, I suppose next spring I will add posts and handrails, but for now it's just the boards.
Definitely not as nice as the previous bridge, it has no character and isn't rustic, but it will hold up in the weather and no one will put a foot, or a paw, through it.

Now to rake the leaves before the snow falls...

Posting at the following Parties:
Funky Junk Interiors
Dittle Dattle

Assorted Signs

2011-11-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

I make a lot of signs and often forget to post them. Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage is having a Coffee related party, so that reminded me of a sign I made for a special person who loves her Starbucks. It's made out of pine and hand painted:

The next three signs are made from pallet wood, the first one for a local store that carries some of my products for sale:

This sign is self explanatory, we have a lot of visitors around because of the beautiful scenery, lakes and forests and fishing opportunities:

This is my attempt at trying something different by painting everything in the background and letting the woodgrain show where the letters are:

Sharing at:

Happy Birthday to daughter Laura

2011-10-31T08:31:00.002-04:00

Today is another special day, (and I don't mean because it's Hallowe'en)... my daughter Laura turns 18 today!

It's hard to believe how quickly those 18 years went... Laura was born on Hallowe'en in the morning. I woke up just after 7am and fed my dogs and realized with the sharp pains I was getting that perhaps I should head to the hospital. Since my baby was due the next day, I quickly dressed my two sons and off we went to the hospital.

There was no time to wait in the pre-birthing room, the baby was coming fast, I quickly had to fill out some forms and then went into the delivery room. When the doctor announced a birth time of 7:30, I said it can't be, I left the house at that time! In fact it was, back in 1993, the Sunday morning of the clocks changing for Daylight savings time and I had forgotten that. So Laura was born about an hour after I left the house.

She came home the next day... here's a photo of Laura only one day old with her older brothers Daniel, 6, and Bryan 2 1/2.

I enjoyed so much being at stay-at-home mother and watching my children grow. I miss my little babies more than I can say. And now my baby is 18.
This is her Hallowe'en hippie costume she wore on Friday to the school dance:

When she was young, Laura suffered from something called Selective Mutism, a mostly unknown condition. SM is the result of anxiety and children with it appear very, very shy to the point of not being able to speak at all in public. Laura could only speak to other children and her parents from age 3 until 10. She had some school counselling and help to overcome the mutism.

Many doctors do not have any knowledge of Selective Mutism, so if you know a child that shows the symptoms of appearing shy but completely shutting down in public, please contact me as I run a Selective Mutism Support Group and I can help you get the child on the right track.

Laura appears in school plays and wants to be an actress, she's come a long way and we are very proud of her.
Happy Birthday, Laura!

Love, mum xoxo

Today Celebrating our 7th Anniversary

2011-10-30T14:28:00.001-04:00

I don't often post about things other than my woodworking, but today is a special day, and so is tomorrow, so I'm posting family topics two days in a row.

I "followed my heart" out of a bad situation in 1997 and eventually met the love of my life, Eric.

Eric and I got married 7 years ago today. In attendance were my three children, a wedding officiant and a photographer. It was the most wonderful day, everything was perfect!

Of course the children are now looking different than they did that day 7 years ago, so I treasure the photos of them (Daniel, Laura & Bryan)

Don't forget to always...
follow your heart

Projects for a Very Special Wedding

2011-10-20T13:58:00.010-04:00

My husband's nephew, Justin announced his engagement last year. I offered my services to make anything related to woodworking to his beautiful bride-to-be, Rebecca.

After considering things and doing some searches online, Rebecca decided she wanted some signs as well as cake stands and flower stands.

Rebecca wanted three signs, which I made from pine. She was going for a country look and "crackled" paint. I glued three or four boards edge to edge to make each sign. I stained the boards with my rusty water technique so that the white paint would have something a bit darker to show through the cracks than the light coloured pine would.

I put quite a thick layer of crackle medium all over the signs and then I painted with white outdoor house paint over that and crossed my fingers that the crackles would look nice. You really can't redo it, and the paint must go on in one coat without going back over it.

One sign was to have their names and wedding date, the second was a copy of something she found online saying "Happily Ever After Starts Here," and the third was for a seating plan. The first two signs were 20" high x 32" long and the third was 22" high x 32" long.

I planned and printed out the lettering on my computer to the correct size and then using carbon paper, traced the letters and corner swirls onto the boards. I hand painted everything with black craft paint.

Here is a close up of the Justin & Rebecca sign:

and a close up of the Happily Ever After...

Here are the finished signs at my home a few weeks before the wedding:

Rebecca wanted a Seating Plan sign with the same font and corner decorations and a space for her to attach lists of each table with the names of who would be seated there:

As for the other decor, Rebecca decided on log slices that would sit in the middle of each table with a mason jar full of flowers on it. My husband, Eric's, chain saw died so we ended up buying a new chain saw and Eric cut about 25 slices off a large log we got with our winter firewood order.

Here are some of them stacked in my workshop:

One last thing she wanted was two cake stands made out of logs, which I don't have a photo of before the wedding, but will show those with the wedding photos. They are log slices glued to a length of log for the base.

Last Saturday Justin and Rebecca were married in a beautiful ceremony and I was so proud to see my signs as part of the decor. The bride thanked me in her speech and I was so touched I got teary eyed!

The sign with the couples names was at the reception in the foyer:

The Happily Ever After sign was in the church entranceway and also at the reception afterwards.
Unfortunately I didn't get a close up of the Seating Plan, which you can see here on the right. Rebecca did a great job with the way she attached the names to the board, so pretty with different black edged papers.

This isn't the greatest photo but shows the log slices under the flower jars as well as a mini-sign in front of the bride and groom:

Here are the cake stands, Rebecca made the cakes as well as the cupcakes:

and here's the beautiful bride and her mother cutting one of the cakes:

Sending best wishes for a happy and healthy life together to the newlyweds, Justin & Rebecca!

It was a pleasure to be able to contribute to your lovely wedding.

Showing this post at the following blogs:

Savvy Southern Style

Blue Cricket Design

No Minimalist Here

Remodelaholic

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Dittle Dattle

Old Crate Side with Horse Image

2011-10-16T22:55:00.006-04:00

Here's what I made the other day with some scraps. It's supposed to look like the side of an old crate.

I used three pine boards for the base and two thinner ones for the side slats. The side slats are nailed on with tacks. I purposely did not predrill, and that created some cracks where the tacks went in.

The graphic came from The Graphics Fairy where Karen shares hundreds of free images. It had a white background on which I dabbed on some rusty water with a paint brush. The image was cut where the boards meet and then put on with Mod Podge glue.

I drilled two holes in the top for my twisted twine hanger which I showed how to make in a previous post here

Showing this at the following blogs:

The Graphics Fairy

Dittle Dattle

Coastal Charm

Making Thicker Twine - Tips #2

2011-10-12T13:49:00.008-04:00

Do you ever find that you need some twine thicker than what you already have?

I make my own twine thicker (try saying that 3 times) and it's easy to do, here's how:

Here's my regular type twine, much too thin to use for hanging any thing

Figure out how long you need your FINISHED length to be.

Multiply by two and add a few inches for your cutting length and cut three or more pieces of twine to that determined length.

(example I needed about 16 inches so I went with 3 pieces at 36" cut length)

Unfortunately my photo of the next step was blurred, so I'll just explain it.

Hold the three twine pieces together and firmly with one hand holding each end and as far apart as you can keep them so that the twine is tight. Twist the twine tightly (if you are right-handed twist between your right thumb and index finger) and keep twisting and twisting until you don't think you can twist any more.

By eye, figure out approximately where the middle is of your twisted twine. Keeping the whole thing taut, put that either around a nail, or a door knob or anything that can hold the middle for a few seconds. Don't let go or the twist will come undone. Your twine will then be doubled with the middle over the door knob and the twisted cut ends all in your hand.

Carefully take the end off the door knob and holding the cut ends only let the thing twist itself together. It will just do that on it's own.

You can neaten it up a bit, but it will remain all twisted upon itself and won't come undone.

The next photo shows the difference between the original twine and the thicker twine:

You get a nice thick twine that can be used for a handle, a sign hanger, or whatever!
Here's a sneak peak of what I used it for, you can see the completed project here

I've used it before on the tops of my wood buoys you can see here

Hopefully this helps someone else make some twine!

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Whiteboard Frames for Vicky's Bakery

2011-09-28T09:28:00.007-04:00

As I've said before, I've been appearing at the local Farmer's Market. (Perhaps "appearing" isn't the correct word... it makes it sound like I'm performing there.)

Anyway, a great baker there named Vicky needed some new signs for her display.

I used pine and made a frame similar to the blackboard frames I made here. Each frame piece has a groove cut into the inner edges that fits the whiteboard. You can buy whiteboard at most DIY type building stores.

She needed the signs to stand, so I put a cross piece on the back with a small hinge to another "leg" piece.

This probably shows it better:

A small chain keeps the leg from going out too far. I painted "Vicky's Bakery" and a small drawing of a rolling pin, canister, pastry and pie:

I made two signs, one is used for bread (this is Vicky's mom sitting behind it and delicious bread in front)

The second sign is the same width but longer (this is Vicky and her brother with her boxes of pies for sale)

When she sells out of a particular type of pie or bread, she wipes that one off her list. Vicky often sells out or leaves the market with very few products left.

Any weight gain I get over the next few weeks will be blamed on Vicky, her pies are delicious, last week I brought home an apple AND a blueberry... YUMMY!

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Products for Delaney Bay Cheese Market

2011-09-21T13:42:00.008-04:00

There's a new place in town... a Cheese Shop!

Every variety of cheese you could imagine as well as some unique products are in this cute little store that sits on the edge of Trout Lake. The owner, Lonnie Reed has agreed to take some of my wooden items to sell.

I made two cheese boards, one is solid maple and 21 1/2" long x 5 3/4" wide and 1" thick, with a hole cut out either for a handle or to hang it by (or both!) Here's how it looked before a finish was put on it:

And here it is while it's being coated with mineral oil, which just really brings out the grain:

The other board is maple and cherry, striped, and is 8 1/2" 5 3/4" long x 1" thick. Again, this shows the board without any coating:

And here it is with the mineral oil:

and a closeup:

I also made a sign for Lonnie to put inside her shop (a tutorial on how I design and paint my signs is here)

...and a sign to hang outside. This says OPEN on one side and CLOSED on the other and hangs on hooks from the deck railing. She wanted something visible from the road so I made a sign with very clear black letters on a white background.

Hopefully if you are in the North Bay, Ontario region you stop by when you see the OPEN sign!

Best of luck with your store, Lonnie and thank you for the orders!

Linking to parties at the following blogs:

My Repurposed Life's Catch as Catch Can

Can't find time for Blogging

2011-09-18T13:12:00.000-04:00

I just can't seem to find the time to be a blogger! I have loads of photos in my camera, and lots of projects to share, but spending time in the shop working on orders has used up most of my time.

So, I'll just post a photo of my husband and my two beautiful dogs and try and blog again soon.

Barn Board Bench

2011-09-08T18:52:00.008-04:00

I made a bench out of old barn board.

You basically need five pieces. I didn't have wide enough wood so I glued together two 6' pieces side-by-side which gave me about an 11 1/2" width and then I cut that into three pieces for the top and legs.

The height of the legs is 18", so I cut two and then cut out the V shape.

The top piece is about 3' long.

The side pieces are scraps of 3 1/2" wide boards that I put a 45 degree cut on each end as you can see from the photo.

Everything was nailed together, and then the cut edges were covered with my not-so-secret recipe which I will share in a day or two when I organize the photos.

This is an old looking, very solid bench that is easy to make and similar to my bench I posted here, except it has the two side pieces instead of a middle piece.

Linking to:

Sew Woodsy's What's Up Wednesdays

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

It's So Very Cheri's Party Time

Dittle Dattle's Amaze Me Monday

Molly Susan Strong's Market Monday

Tavern Blackboard

2011-09-02T10:09:00.001-04:00

Another blackboard!

I made the pine frame and hand painted the wine glass, mug and TAVERN lettering.

The word "Specials" is painted in white so it's permanent.

(quite a few people at the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago got a laugh over the chalked in offer)

The outside measurements of the frame are 22 1/2" x 13 1/2"

Some Sales

2011-08-29T17:04:00.000-04:00

I've been away from my blog for a few weeks. My husband suffered a heart attack and, of course, being with him was top priority. He had two stents and is recovering remarkably well.

Please regularly check the level of cholesterol of yourself and your loved ones.

Here are a few special order signs I've sold recently.

The first one was all hand painted with an added hummingbird, a regular visitor to Betty's garden:

Closeup of Garden sign

Garden sign for a special lady from her daughter

This one is also all hand painted with an extra sign hanging below on chains:

Sign for a couple to put outside their house trailer

These signs are hand guided with a router, so the letters are carved out and then they are painted inside the grooves:

Signs in memory of two nuns who recently passed away

Pallet Blackboard Tutorial

2011-08-05T11:21:00.005-04:00

I use a lot of pallet wood for things I make. Often the edges are quite worn away and the piece doesn't leave enough flat space for many of my projects. But what to do with the worn edge pieces?

My thoughts were to rip the pieces down the middle and make frames.

My frame will be around a blackboard, since I am making a few to sell at the Farmer's Market.

So... first get two pieces of pallet wood long enough to be the sides of your frame (always go at least a few inches longer on each end so there's room for error and in case there is some bad tear out or knots you are trying to avoid). Of course you could use one long piece, but what I had were shorter cutoffs with, as I said, worn edges.

Find the middle of your wood so that you can cut down the middle and have pieces of equal widths.

Rip your wood down the middle after figuring out the half way point. Each piece you rip will give you two pieces which can go opposite each other at the top and bottom or each side.

*The blade cover has been flipped back out of the way for this and the next photo only to show the rip, always use the safety devices that come with your power tools*

Don't forget to take your rabbit push stick (instructions to make your own HERE) along for the ride!

You will need four pieces and the length depends on the size of blackboard you are wanting to make. My pieces were about 22" to start.

After ripping, measure the thickness of your blackboard material. I'm using 1/4" thick hardboard which I paint with one coat of black paint and then two coats of blackboard paint BEFORE gluing into my project.

You need to put a groove in your four frame pieces that is just a tiny bit wider than the thickness of your blackboard. I use my table saw and dado blades. If you don't have dado blades you can use your regular blade and run the frame pieces over it as many times as it takes to get a wider groove. (For those who don't know, dado blades are stacked blades that can be configured to make different widths of cuts on the table saw. Many regular saw blades are 1/8" wide, but adding dado blades together you can make the 1/4" you need so that it takes one pass over the wider blade)

You always need to test to make sure your width is correct as well as the depth of the groove. I use a depth that allows the black board to fit in snugly at about 3/8". You want the groove centered on the frames inside edges.

Don't cut these to length just yet, keep them longer than you need.

Your top and bottom pieces have to be cut to length exactly the full width of your blackboard.

After that is done you can use a wider dado blade set up to make a tongue on the top and bottom pieces that will fit into the groove of the side pieces.I push mine along with the mitre gauge.

What you are doing is taking away the wood from the top and bottom and leaving a tongue in the middle (the opposite of making a groove). Make some test cuts so that the tongue is a perfect fit.

Fit all your all your pieces around the blackboard and then you can cut the side pieces to the proper length. This will be longer than the height of the blackboard because it holds the bottom and top pieces inside it's groove as well as the blackboard.

I knew my frame would be painted turquoise so I first painted the inner edges where it will meet the blackboard. This is easier to do before gluing because you avoid getting paint on the blackboard or having to mask it off.

Glue up the pieces and use clamps to hold it until it dries (only about an hour).

After it's dried, remove the clamps and paint the rest.

My finished frame is 18" long x 14 1/2" wide.

Showing this at the following blog parties:

No Minimalist Here

Menu Blackboard

2011-08-02T15:41:00.004-04:00

As I've said in some previous posts, I've been making some small items to sell at the local Farmer's Market. The last three Saturdays I have been there and sold a few things. No one has bought any of my furniture yet, but I have given out quite a few business cards which hopefully get my name out in the community.

A few months ago I bought a photo frame for the glass, which I thought I would use to go into one of my own rustic type frames. I forgot to take a photo of the original, because I wasn't thinking of using the frame at all, since I make everything like that myself. The frame had a top opening for a photo and below it a mirror which I thought was a good deal for only $2 because I would have both the mirror and the glass to use.

As I looked at the frame I figured why not use that, so here's what I made out of it:

The original frame was black which I covered with a quick coat of white and then distressed quite a bit.

I cut a piece of hardboard to fit in the top photo section and painted it black. Then I printed off the "Menu" typography from The Graphics Fairy and transferred it on by colouring over the back with a white pencil. The Menu font is hand painted using white and silver craft paint.

I removed the mirror in the bottom section and it was also fitted with hardboard. I first painted it black and after that dried I put two coats of blackboard paint over it.

The finished size is 14 1/2" x 7 1/2"

Bragging at
The Graphics Fairy , Sew Woodsy , Savvy Southern Style, My Repurposed Life and Funky Junk Interiors

Framed Boxes

2011-07-22T10:04:00.002-04:00

I've been working on a few things that have Graphics Fairy designs on them.

I had some extra framing material left over from the putter display I made last month from pallet wood. I used it to frame two images. They are a little like the bottom of a box, so I'll call them a framed box.

One is a strawberry image, the other an old label for animal powder (whatever that is!)

Each of these is 7 3/8" x 4 1/4", with the image glued on and coated with Mod Podge. For sale through my website or at the local North Bay Farmer's Market where I am an occasional vendor.

Showing these at :

The Graphics Fairy

Business Sign and Farmer's Market

2011-07-20T10:04:00.000-04:00

I've been busy getting prepared for selling at the local city Farmer's Market.

This means making an inventory list, pricing items and packing the van.

I also made a new sign that will sit in my booth as well as hang outside on my property when I'm home.

The sign is all hand painted and made out of pressure-treated plywood with a pressure treated frame. The frame was made by ripping up 2 x 4s and grooving them the width of the plywood and mitring the corners.

I'm not sure why the photos aren't clear, I think it's my camera :(

I appeared at the Farmer's Market last Saturday and will be at the upcoming Saturday as well. I'm an occasional vendor, so if I get the call during the week, I can decide to go or not.

Another Rodeo sign

2011-07-08T13:23:00.000-04:00

Anyone who is a fan of country music will most likely understand the wording on this sign:

Now on to other things...

Gearing up for the Rodeo

2011-07-07T14:05:00.001-04:00

The rodeo is coming to town for the first time in conjunction with our yearly Fall Fair in September. I'm going to have a booth there to sell my wares, so I thought some Rodeo related signs would be a good idea.

This is the first one I've made, it's on pine, 10" x 18" and designed and hand painted by myself.

Last summer my husband and I went to the Rodeo in Cody, Wyoming and had a fabulous time. I just love it out there in cowboy country!

Showing off at the following link parties: