Be Still

I need to be reminded each day to put my worries and trust in God. I decided a sign would really help with that. This way every time I see it I will be reminded. I settled on be still and know that I am God. I like this passage because it lets me know that I don't have to have everything figured out. If I trust that God will see us through, then I don't need to worry. I can just be still. 

I had some sign blanks that I made up out of pallet wood lying around so I chose a smaller one. Of course this is another thing I made with the intent to sell but I figured this was more important and I still have a larger sign blank that I can sell. I had already stained it so it was ready to be painted. It would have been fairly easy to print the words out and then use carbon paper to copy it on to the board.  There were two problems with that though, first I don't have much ink left in the printer and second the board was larger than a sheet of paper and I don't have a program to print it at the right size. So I brought the board over to my laptop, searched for a printable of the quote, and copied it on to the board with pencil. This doesn't leave you with as perfect a look as the previous method I mentioned but it's what I had to do. Then I used a small paint brush to paint over the pencil. It's actually easier to write with the paintbrush because as you turn and such the brush is forced to make a pleasing curve. I actually recommend you just use your pencil lines as a reference and let the brush do it's thing. After it has dried you can erase any pencil marks you see and it's ready to hang. It probably won't bother most people but I wish the words were just slightly moved to the left. Of course it's ironic that it bothers me because wanting everything perfect was one of the reasons to make the sign in the first place.

My dad is better than your dad

My dad has worked at his job for twenty years now. A job that he has to drive about 45 min to get to each day. His work decided twenty years gets you a nice gift. He got to choose what he wanted and he picked a combo drill and driver kit. It came in and he wanted to give it to me. I said no of course, he deserved it. I mean twenty years, come on!  He said he already had some, so I said why don't you just give me the old ones then. He said he couldn't do that because they were a gift from us kids. I was stuck at an impasse. He told my mom that if I could lift the bag they were mine. Of course I could lift it. So that's how I ended up with these beautiful babies. 

Up until now I had one drill. I chose a corded drill that was fairly inexpensive at the time because I had always had bad luck with batteries. They go out when you need them, they don't hold a charge that sort of thing but I've come to love them for their portability and especially on these ones, balance. The drill I have now is a power horse but has no adjustable torque, so it pretty much strips most the screws I use unless I try to be very careful.  I also only had one drill, so I continuously had to change back and forth between the drill bit and the screw bit, which actually wears on my hands. Now, especially when using pocket holes, I can drill with one and use the impact driver to screw in the screw. No changing back and forth. This will really cut down my construction time and I won't have stripped screws all the time, which is the fastest way to get me cursing in the shop. 

I'd also like to mention that I've always stolen his tools if I could lift them. I have several of his tools on long loan in my shop at this moment, and even though I treat them with respect now, I used to mess them up. Like the time I took his hammer and chisels to split rocks in the backyard to see what was inside. And other times when I took them even after he told me not to, then left them outside to rust.

So thanks Dad, you're the best!

p.s. my mom is also better than your mom.

Christmas package

My brother just got the package our family sent him for Christmas, so I can post those gifts now. He moved to New York to attend seminary so it's our first year without him. I made a few things for them and my nephew. My nephew is at the perfect age for wood gifts. It seems most ideas are for toddler boys. So I made him two things. First is a kangaroo that hops down a ramp if you set it at the right angle. I found this idea on you tube. Here's the video hopping kangaroo toy.  And here's the pattern to make your own kangaroo pattern.

Here it is in action before I dyed it red.

I also made him a truck and used more of the eucalyptus from my childhood home's backyard. It's the brown wood sides of the truck.

My husband discover the truck could haul the kangaroo.

I also made my brother and his wife some reading assistants. I got the idea and templates from one of the woodworking sites I frequent called The Carmicheal Workshop reader's assistant. He has some great content and videos to check out. The picture is before finish sanding and shellac.

More Christmas Gifts

I've been plucking away at gifts lately. Everything else is pretty much on hold till I finish them all. Every year I make my godson (my nephew) a nativity. I don't know how long I'll continue this because eventually they'll end up with a ton of nativities, but it's fun to find one that's age appropriate. Last year it was a felt nativity because he was two. This year my other nephew was interested in having his own nativity so I made two. I got some peg people at the store and saw a similar idea on pinterest for inspiration. This one is my older nephews nativity (he's almost six) that he painted himself. He wanted to take it home right away of course, so it's without some of the extras of my godson's nativity. He knows which person is which but I don't. Except Flash who very few people know was actually at the birth of Jesus. He's right up front on the right.

After seeing the roof part was a bit taller than it needed to be I trimmed my godson's to make it shorter. I added rafia to the roof and the manger. I also added a sheep and donkey. Sweet little eight pound six ounce baby Jesus will probably be removed from the nativity until Christmas Eve, and I still have to spray a finish on these, but miracle of miracles in this drought, it's been raining all day.

Last but not least, and really not last, because I also have gifts I still can't show, is my son's toolbox. I got him some of the kids tools from Lowes. They have them with their kids projects of which I also got a toy car to assemble. I like these tools because they are real metal tools but kid sized. This is my effort to get him interested in what I do and out in the shop working with me. He does show some interest until I fire up a loud tool, so we shall see.