Spoonflower 2 for 1 Fat Quarter Sale, spoons and other things

There are only 2 days left of Spoonflower's 2 for 1 fat quarter sale, and my dishtowel calender IS available now. I ordered my sample calendar in linen-cotton canvas and a fat quarter of that is 18x27 inches. It's opaque and heavy, and because of their printing methods has enough of an edge to just turn that over and hem it. The top will have a couple repeats of the border strip and can be turned into a casing for a dowel hanger. I'm deciding if I just want to turn and hem the edges or use a black bias tape to bind the edges.  I'll get a photo later of the fabric to post. We ordered a fat quarter of a Doctor Who print for TG and fat quarters of some of my designs which I plan to use for jewelry projects.


We watched a video together last night on spoon carving. I'll be reviewing it soon, it was fun watching it with my husband and son, and talking to them about spoon designs. They are of course more enthused about working with axes, adzes and knives than about spoons. I'm pretty happy to think that they will be making me spoons for my kitchen soon.

Yesterday was also my eye exam and the medication is working. My optic nerves are getting back to normal now. Yay!

It's really cold here! We went out this weekend for some local Halloween events. TG was a fantastic Sherlock Holmes. I forgot my camera, but Michael brought his so there will be pictures later. One of the things about her costume that was just great is that she couldn't find a double breasted overcoat at a thrift store she liked, so she used the military surplus one from her Wygie costume a few years ago and converted the mock double breast into a double breast by adding hand stitched button holes in red and shifting buttons. Her scarf was knitted by her, and we ordered a deerstalker hat from England as the purchased item to go with her costume. Dad of course trick or treated at the events we went to. 64 year old man or not, the man is not giving up a chance for candy! It was lots of fun.

Book Review- PlyDesign

PlyDesign: 73 Distinctive DIY Projects in Plywood (and Other Sheet Goods) is a collection of projects by different designers the use plywood sheets and other sheet goods for construction. For the DIY enthusiast who enjoys wood working, there are a lot of good reasons to get this book. The projects are good mix of perfect beginner's projects and more advanced projects. For the woodworker who is comfortable and experienced, there are a lot of projects that can be put together reasonably quickly.

If you're considering getting into woodworking and have access to power tools and someone who is willing to show you how to use them, this book has wonderful, contemporary designs for very functional furniture items made out of very affordable plywood. A lot of the designs only take one sheet of plywood. The instructions are clearly written with easy to understand plans for cutting.

It starts with an introduction to plywood, the different types, and where the best places to buy it are. It also includes tips on hauling and storing the sheets which are generally 4x8 feet and tips for making clean cuts.

Then you get into the projects.  My favorite kinds of projects are good knock down items. Things that can be dissembled easily and reassembled. There is a set of slot and tab end tables that use careful, clever cutting to make 2 out of one sheet of plywood to make a table that's over 3 feet across and stands about 30 inches high. The size, cost and ease of knockdown and putting them up make them perfect tables for all sorts of things.

Stacked candleholders are an example of a project that can be made using hand tools. They are attractive and can be made in different sizes using scraps of plywood. It's a great project for children who are just learning to saw and use a brace.

For a bigger challenge, the Bamboo Ply Wall Unit uses the most sheets and pricier bamboo plywood, but the end result is a gorgeous item of furniture that's very functional.

This collection of projects has a lot of very handy designs, especially for parents who prefer the look of wood to the plastic that so much children's furniture is made in. There are tables, chairs, shelves and a very stylish lamp for more adult decorating projects.

Published by Storey Publishing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, my reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.

Wolf and Dragon Boxes

For the most part, since I started making printable boxes in the late 90s, I've used my own art. One of the exceptions was using the art of Dee Dreslough, her terms of use are very open.She does fantasy art, including a lot of black and white designs that she gives permission to color in. You can find her art at Dreslough.com. For the most part, her work is optimized for browsers in the late 90s, early 00s so it's very quick to load 2 color gifs. I used her drawings for the boxes below.

I couldn't print an example of this box because I can't find my extra printer cartridge (please tell me I'm not the only person who puts things away someplace safe until I need them then forgets where I put them?) but it's the same style box as this one. Ink heavy, but a more masculine style. My son likes this one. Both boxes use the same bottom, and print them at exactly 300 dpi. Some people have had problems with this template because they print the lid too large. I hope that resizing the canvas to 8x8 inches helps that. Click on the images for the full sized versions.

Wood burn effect boxes

My son wood burned a box for his grandfather for Father's Day. This is the pattern he used. Feel free to use it for craft applications or just for coloring!

I played around with a wood burning effect, and these are the two printable boxes I made. Click on the images for the full sized 100 ppi versions.

Well, this last week has been a little overwhelming. I'm getting to my email now. It started with my husband's b-day on Saturday. He prefers no celebration at all. That's not an option but we do keep it very low key, and I make him one of his favorites for dinner. This year it was chicken and dumplings with 2 kinds of dumplings, the first kind, his favorite, is a basic egg noodle recipe which I roll in walnut sized balls then flatten with my hand to about 3/8th of an inch thick to make flat round thick noodle dumplings. The second kind is the more traditional sort. Big fluffy dumplings using your choice of biscuit recipe basically. For those, I used baking soda and baking powder, combining leavening almost gets rid of the baking powder flavor. I also put in a tablespoon of vinegar with the buttermilk. That much acid wound up making the fluffiest dumplings I've ever made (it actually looked really disgusting boiling and fluffing up in the pot). Flour for both was a whole wheat pastry flour. Lots of veggies in the soup as well. Mike was a very happy man. Dad was happy because we got chocolate cake and let him take most of it home. 

Well.. actually it started Friday with Mike taking me to the mid fair feast. But that's a whole 'nother post I need to get pictures for.

Sunday we had errands to run, picking up some hair sticks from the blacksmith (photos with the post about the fair feast when I write it) and to pick up damaged inner tubes from the bicycle shop. The teens and I are making jewelry and other things with them. Look for a tutorial soon. The bicycle shop has been nice enough to be saving them for me for a while and wound up giving me 37 inner tubes. That's a LOT of free black rubber for bracelets and such!

So this week we've done wood burning, cleaned cut sections of bicycle inner tubes, it's been raining off and on all week. Tuesday it pretty much did in my arthritis and so I spent the day reading and trying to distract myself. Wednesday went to pick up snaps for the bracelets. Tomorrow, going to pick up more. I don't like the snaps I got even a little bit.  Today was working with those very bad snaps and getting frustrated and making pretty wood burn effect boxes. Tonight we are going to watch a show we picked up on DVD a couple weeks ago and I'll finish my crocheted clock face which I had to frog because I messed it up the first time.

I really seriously need to start following some of Rachel's excellent organizational tips. She gets so much done and never seems to feel as though time is running her over like a steamroller.

There are some new reviews up on MyCraftReview.com

Faux Wood Ankh Box

Well, I finished Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid. You can read my review here if you're interested. I decided to do at least 2 more Egyptian inspired boxes. This is the first one using one of my favorite templates. It's the slanted sides box that I've used in the past for stained glass effects.

This time I was trying for a faux wood effect inlaid with lapis lazuli and malachite.

I hope you enjoy it. Click on the images for the full sized 100 ppi files to print and assemble. This box really does need to be pre-folded before gluing or taping it together, but it makes a fairly generous sized box that's just really one of my favorites.