Wrapping up 2018

      I know it's been a while since we've posted anything on this blog. For me this is a new experience, for my wife this is an old way of life. So you will have to forgive me for not always being on the ball. The other thing I struggle with is do people really read this or is this just something to fill space in the internet? Life has been very busy with work, different changes have been going on and this mentally takes a toll on me. So for the winter, projects have taken a pause. But I can't sit still, so I started another project, and that was to organize the garage.


     This was a very fun project that still isn't done, but I'm calling it my winter project. It will be great once I'm done with it because it will be a lot more efficient.
      As I'm sitting here writing this on a Saturday night, finally on the down hill side of cold, listening to the Beatles, and trying to stay warm inside because it's frigid outside. I can't help but have this reoccurring thought of cleaning the garage. How often do we do this with our life? Do we stop to clean our life and reorganize or do we get caught up with the busyness of life and just allow ourselves to get cluttered up and run at half speed? I'm not talking physical here because that's the latest craze. I'm talking mentally and spiritually. Do we hold on to hurt relationships or hurt feelings. Or do we let ourselves get bogged down with things of the world like trying to fit in with the right group or just plain being accepted? I feel like it's important to slow down and sort through our "life" and get rid of the things we don't need or the things that we just plain don't use. I know that if we point our lives in a direction going for God that He will provide us with everything we need. So let me leave you with this thought, not as a new years resolution but a betterment of life. Do you need to clean out your heart and give your complete focus to Christ? Let Him guide and lead your steps through this crazy thing we call life.                       

Road Map to Love

Last summer, while hunting pinterest for wedding ideas, I came across the idea to use an old atlas for a guest book. 

I like old things, and Shawn likes maps, so it seemed like a good fit.

But finding an atlas at a thrift or antique store didn't end up being as easy as I thought it would be. Plus, we were having a small (ish) wedding, and wouldn't need a whole atlas for everyone to write on.

Then I found this- a vintage roadmap of the midwest! It was perfect, it had my hometown, Shawn's home town, and the place where we spent most of our time while we were dating, a camp in Nebraska where I was working.

It's funny to think we lived less then 3 hours apart our entire lives, but God didn't bring us together until 2 years ago. (Has it been that long already?)

Let's turn this post over to Shawn, who did pretty much all the work for the next part. 

~

This was a special project to do because of what it meant. So in doing these frame projects, my brain is always going with how to make frames that you don't see everyday, and how to direct your focus to what's framed.

      Since the map is light colored, I wanted a light wood on the outside.  Maple was the perfect wood for this, since it's light and it also has a good grain pattern. Well, the day I went to pick it out I stumbled upon some figured maple.Figured maple is so called because of the wavy lines in the grain, that have sort of an iridescent look about them. It can also be called curly maple. I had some quarter sawn oak so you put the combination together and you get this frame.  Since it is a big frame, we used plexiglass, instead of glass, to try to keep some weight out of it. 

I'm not sure who wrote this, but it's kinda funny :)

Busy as a.....wooly bear?

      Tis the season for wooly bear caterpillars to start stampeding across roads and through yards in search of a warm safe place to spend the winter. They're on a mission, and they don't like to be stopped and admired, but fuzzy caterpillars are hard for me to resist.

Shawn: "Isn't there a way to predict how harsh the winter will be by a wooly bear's stripes?"

Me:"Yes, the wider the brown stripe, the longer the winter is supposed to be." (it's actually if the black stripes are wider, so it's said)

Shawn: "Well I saw an all white one, what does that mean?"

Me: "It's going to blizzard all winter."   😂

     What does this have to do with our project big, you ask? Well, Shawn and I, mostly Shawn, spend this weekend driving back and forth to camp, on a mission to get some projects started now that the summer camping season is over.
    There were quite a few things that needed to be power washed, and then either sealed or repainted. Hopefully we can help get a lot done now, before winter, and before the busy spring season starts again for camp.

 
      Shawn did most of the power washing. I helped a little, did some odds and ends things around camp, and played with wooly bears.

     We make a good team. 😜 

New View

     After two busy weekends of visiting family and the county fair, this past weekend we were able to finish up another project!
   

 The frame is Birch on the top and bottom, and Cedar on the sides.

It's a little hard to see the picture through the reflection of the glass in the frame, but here's the original. Shawn took it last Thanksgiving while we were in the Black Hills visiting family.

With windows on mainly one side of our apartment, it's nice having a pretty view on the opposite side. While we know this is a temporary home, it's what God has provided us with for now, so it's fun to try and make the most of it and keep adding personal touches. It's been a lesson in patience and contentment, and being grateful for the freedom that comes with renting an apartment, and not having a house and yard to take care of yet. 

It's easy to think things would be better if we had something else, but it's important to have the right view of where God has us.

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." 

1 Timothy 6:6-8

So much to do, so little time...

    We haven't had any new projects to post about lately because there's so many in the works and none of them are quite finished yet. But they're getting there. :) Here's a sneak peak at a really cool project, part of our biggest one yet.

It's also somebody's birthday today....

Fun fact: Besides woodworking, Shawn has a lot of other hobbies, including flying stunt kites.

Happy Birthday Shawn! 

xoxoxox

💙

Split Rock

One of the places we went on our honeymoon was Split Rock lighthouse, along the brisk shore of Lake Superior. Shawn snapped some neat photos of it, and as a thank you gift for helping with our wedding, Shawn made this frame for a dear family member who has a special fondness for this place. 

Well, we wanted a picture of it too, but ours is just a little big bigger. :) 

We had it printed as an engineer print, and Shawn made some narrow strips of walnut that he pin nailed to the top and bottom of the print.

We used a leather shoelace to hang it, and I think it looks pretty cool!

Project life

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, life has been very busy with work and such. Here is a couple pictures of putting some finish on some projects. One thing that you will find out about me is I'm not a big stain guy, I prefer the true beauty to stand out! As I sit here and ponder, how much in life to we try to cover up to fit into a crowd? So let me ask you this, are you trying to fit into a crowd or are you being who you are and being content with that?

Life's entries

      For a surprise Christmas gift this year, Shawn got the idea to make me a journal. Ever since I graduated high school, I've been pretty diligent at keeping one. I don't write everyday, but I've filled 6 so far, and it's pretty neat to be able to look back over all the changes and adventures of these past years. 

       Shawn kept it a secret until Christmas, but he didn't have it finished yet, so I got to see the last stages of him putting it together. He made it with walnut, which is one of my favorite kinds of wood, and it has some pretty amazing grain pattern and curl in it.

       While we're on the subject of beautiful walnut wood, here's another little project Shawn did for our apartment- a napkin holder. 

The tool box

        So for the past Christmas instead of buying presents we had the idea to build projects for the families.  I came up with this one project, it is a tool box to store r/c truck parts.
       Here is a picture before its finished and before it has any finish on it.  I built it out of cherry and walnut, the color really popped and pulled the grain pattern out when I put some finish on it.  It was a pleasure and a great learning experience building this.  I look at it as long as I'm striving to be learning, and doing everything to my best, then it's a good project.

Our Purpose

      Our reason for starting this blog is to keep family and friends updated with our crazy project life. From early on in our marriage we have been very busy with different projects for our home. I feel like we are both very tired of this throw away world we live in. We desire to build handcrafted pieces that will out last our lifetime. I think it would be very neat to create a whole house of furniture that could be passed down for generations to come.
        This night stand is our first project was a surprise for my wife. We had a bedroom set but there was a bump in the wall that created a problem for her night stand. So this is an easy fix just build a new nightstand for this time of our life.

The little things...

Sometimes you just need to take a break from pulling staples and tell your amazing husband that you love him. :)

Teamwork

What do you get when you cross an upholsterer with a woodworker?

A team that can build their own amazing custom furniture! 

We're learning anyway. :)

So, we had this chair that Shawn's parents gave us. I knew I wanted to recover it, but we also got the idea to make a matching ottoman.