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New NS Map Design
A few months ago, we started expanding our wooden NS map offerings. You may remember these:
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Painting a Wooden Buoy
One of Jims saw milling buddies makes wooden buoys and on a visit last year he brought one for me. Not long after, I decided it needed some paint, so out came the paint brushes and here it was after my first round of painting.
Painted buoy. It was fine. It still looked kinda new and I wasn’t sure how it would take stain so thats how it stayed.
Unable to leave things alone, I decided to revisit the buoy. This time I decided to paint the whole thing. Before I could get to the fun stuff, I had to put a coat of white on.
Ready for color. Then I traced each side of the buoy onto white paper so I could map out what I wanted to paint. I planned on a continuous scene that would wrap all the way around. Talking to Jim, he mentioned how much he loved puffins. So…puffins it is.
Master plan. I wasn’t sure if I could pull this off but what’s the worst that could happen. Its only paint.
Once I was satisfied with the pattern, I got out a piece of tracing paper and traced the pattern onto the buoy.
Tracing the pattern. 
Here goes… It took a few days to paint. I’m not sure where it will end up but here it is…
Front And a close up…
So cute. Wrapping around to the second side…
Side 2 On to the third side…
Side 3 Close up of the boat.
Sailing anyone? The fourth side is just water and sky with a few birds.
Birds in the sky. So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.
Hanging buoy. Later.
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Roadside House Numbers Sign
We were contacted by a customer wanting a sign with her house numbers. Not just a square sign but a round wood slice with the bark still intact. This is what we started with.
Sugar Maple Cookie Wood Slice 1 inch sanded and treated -
DIY Monogramed Placemats
Over the holidays we had pretty Christmas placemats on the table and once they were put away the table looked a little bare. So the only practical thing to do was to make some. Now, I have never made placemats, but that never stopped me before. I have made table runners from drop cloths (CanadianTire.ca Bennett Canvas Drop Sheets #049-4818-8) so same steps apply, just a different size. I only have a few pieces of drop cloth left over from when I made drapes with painted stripes, and did a quick measurement to make sure there was enough. Eureka!
Looks like enough -
Being a Secretive Santa
The week before Christmas we were asked by our neighbors to check on Jacob and Frank three different days. You know, to let them out to go potty and even try and get Jacob to burn off some energy. These are the same dogs we dog sit for now and again. We love any chance we get to see them. Jim calls Jacob my boyfriend cause I think I’m in love. That is especially funny since I am afraid of 99% of dogs. We have another neighbor that I wish I could visit but Jim visits alone because you guessed it…they have a dog.
Frank and Jacob -
‘Vintage’ Sled Centerpiece
The title of this post is actually a little misleading. You see, I plan to make my own ‘vintage’ sled and use it in a Christmas centerpiece. You know, a fake ‘vintage’ sled. Here is how it went down. We started with ‘old’ wood.
Measuring for the sled -
Making a Christmas Sign
Earlier in the year I joked that I was quitting Pinterest. It was a joke people, I didn’t actually follow through with it. And I’m glad I didn’t because then I wouldn’t have made this awesome sign. The one I was eyeing was square with a frame and had been aged and sanded. It was nice but we wanted something a little more unique. Enter Jim. His suggestion was one of the ovals we had cut from hemlock last year. Here is the finished sign, then I will show you how I did it.
Christmas sign -
Christmas Must Be Coming…
Usually around this time of year there are a flurry of orders for wood maps. So far this year is no exception. We keep some stock on hand but of course if it is painted black the customer asks for navy. That is just the nature of the beast. We got smart and got a little ahead of things by cutting out the items but not painting or assembling them…just yet. Frames will be added later too.
Cut but not finished -
We Bought A Truck That DUMPS!
The last few years, on countless occasions, one of us has said, “It would be so much easier if we could just dump this.” We considered buying a trailer that dumped, but already having two trailers for different uses, we thought three would be overkill. Then we mulled over the idea of converting our current truck by buying an insert that dumped. Didn’t really want to do that since it is our only vehicle. Like a dog with a bone, Jim searched online and finally came across this truck for sale.
New to us one tonne dump truck -
Making Beach Art Using Wood
We decided to use up some of our scrap wood to make a piece of art for the living room. I saw something similar on Pinterest and followed the link to Etsy. Yikes. I think they were asking around $400. I knew we could put our own spin on it and decided to give it a go. The first step was to start cutting strips of wood into varying widths and thicknesses on the table saw.
This could take a while
