My son used some money he had saved along with money received as Christmas gifts to buy himself a Nexus 7 tablet. Just before Christmas I had a chance to retrieve some wood from the scrap wood bin at work. The two events together gave me the idea to build a quick project (My total project count for 2013 matches my total project count for 2012). This is by no means fine woodworking, but it was fun. Out of two small scraps of 1/2” plywood I cut strips and glued into a block. I cut the block to the shape seen in the pictures (which holds the tablet at a 30 degree angle), sanded, and then applied a few coats of shellac. I piece of felt dresses up the bottom a little.

OK, it isn’t exactly my first project, but it is the first project I have posted here. I made a snowman balancing wine bottle holder last year for my sister, but that was just painted.

So, this is a birthday present for my mom. She collects mouse figurines and things so I thought a mouse shaped wine bottle holder would be cool. It took a little work to figure out what angle to use at the bottom and what dimensions to use because the mouse has those big ears above the hole that affect the balance of the thing. I have limited tools, so I stuck with BORG red oak finished with Minwax English Chestnut stain and Bullseye Amber Shellac.