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My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond

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7M views 13K replies 477 participants last post by  teaklight12 
#1 ·
Beginning this Blog

I recently was referred to this site by Steve Good, who has a wonderful, comprehensive scroll saw forum and blog page. Although I have been doing woodworking for almost fifteen years, I have finally reached a point in my life where I am able to make it the main focus of my activities. Since my life revolves around my woodworking and business, I believe that this blog will reflect that very clearly, although it will also be somewhat personal. But I think that woodworking is very personal anyway.

It has been a long journey to get to this point. There have been many good times and some not-so-good ones, but I appreciate every single step because I think that if even one thing was different, I would not be where I am today or who I am inside. It isn't only the positive events in our lives that make us what we are. Many times it is the negative things that mold and shape us and teach us to look at things in a certain way. I try to remember that when things are tough and move ahead.

I have learned that there is only one thing we can be certain of in life: change. Whether things are good or bad, we need to hold on and appreciate the moment, as we can be certain that things will be different before long. This helps us to not only appreciate the good days and things we have now, but also hang on when things are not so good, as we know that they will be different soon. I like this philosophy.

I liked reading about the new contest offered by this site in the newsletter. Fluidity. It is a perfect theme for projects because our existence itself is fluid. I am anxious to see what interpretations are going to be, as I am sure everyone else is. It will be an adventure for all of us for sure.

So why am I starting this blog? The other day I received a call from a customer who had a question for me. He kept saying how surprised he was that I answered my own phone. I have worked as a Contributing Editor for Creative Woodworks and Crafts Magazine for the past 13+ years and I guess in the scroll saw community, many people have heard of me. It seemed so odd to me that he would think I would have a secretary or staff. We kind of laughed about it, but it really got me thinking about his interpretation of my life. We all tend to form opinions of others from very limited information. We see the outside of a person as they are presented to us and many times are very quick to categorize that person in our minds. I do it myself.

But in my years of talking with and dealing with many people from many different places, I have come to realize that people are like icebergs. We only see the tip of them and below the surface is a vast, complex side of them that is the basis of their actions and thinking.

Everyone has a story. Everyone has traveled a journey. No two people have traveled identical paths. Thus, we are all unique in our thoughts, actions and creative processes. I enjoy hearing others stories. I think that listening to others and hearing their experiences helps us to understand each other. With that understanding, we learn.

I have used the phrase "Knowledge Is Power" in my signature since I have been on the web. Once someone told me that they thought it was quite arrogant of me to say that. He thought that I was implying that I knew more than anyone else and he found that offensive. I told him he couldn't be more wrong. My interpretation of the phrase is that our QUEST for knowledge EMPOWERS us to make better decisions about things in our lives. We are never finished learning. I learn every single day from my friends, colleagues, fellow woodworkers and students. We never know when we will learn something new. Sometimes you can learn from even a seemingly insignificant event. I feel the key is that we need to be open to learning.

Everyone has a story.

So I will close today with those thoughts. I don't know how often I will post here, but I hope to make it a habit. I don't know if anyone will even read this, but somehow it doesn't matter. Writing is a key in self-awareness. By writing things down we categorize our actions and it helps (me anyway) to keep my life organized. Organization leads to peace as far as I am concerned.

I am quite overwhelmed with the scope of the site here. I am still getting my footings and lurking around. I think for the first several days or maybe even weeks I will be more of a passive observer while I find my comfortable position among the others here. I want to upload the new things I am working on here. Like everyone else, I am anxious to see the response they get. I love seeing others projects and could spend my days just looking.

Although it is quite intimidating, the forum looks like it is full of friendly, knowledgeable and wonderfully creative people.

I think I am going to like it here.
 
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#10,679 ·
More on DecoArt One Step Crackle Medium

I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I am about this product. Even though it has been around for a while (I have had some in my arsenal of paints and mediums for years!) I had never taken the time to play around with it and try it out. I have used crackle finishes many times before, but usually I am looking for a more 'rustic' or 'country' look and my go to product was DecoArt Weathered Wood. I love that product, and I had even made a video showing how I applied it, as it was not only effective, but it was fun (and SATISFYING!) to see the paint cracking right before your eyes. (Here is the link to my video if you are interested in seeing this process done: Video on Applying Weathered Wood Crackle Medium)

But I don't always want a weathered and blistered type of crackle. That type of finish would suit the new ornament set that I was working on. This set was to be a bit more 'elegant' and I wanted them to look like fine, aged porcelain.

Enter "One Step Crackle" medium:

Brown Bottle Liquid Fluid Plant


Who would have thought that a product that also crackles could bring such a different results?

When I saw my friend's project on Facebook, she had applied this crackle medium just to the lettering of her pretty bread box. The effect it gave was beautiful. While the background of the box was still a lovely, clean barn red color, the tan lettering was finely cracked, resembling a sticker that perhaps had cracked over time. The cracks were very tiny and subtle and made the piece very interesting. It didn't have the overall 'ratty' look that the Weathered Wood would give it, but it rather looked like the piece was well cared for, but definitely aged. It was awesome.

It got me thinking about the ornaments that I was planning to paint. I wanted them to be simple to paint, but still have some interest. In my mind, I had settled on a black and white theme with gold trim because I thought it would look classic and elegant. However, I didn't want these ornaments to appear too stark, as I was in danger of doing with using the white background. I had considered using a background with more tan or even beige tones, but if I did that, I would lose the striking contrast and risk the pieces of looking muddy instead of crisp and clear. When I saw the very subtle effect of using this One Step Crackle medium, I knew that it would add the subtle interest that I wanted without overpowering the design. It would be a perfect solution.

It did take me several tries to achieve the look I wanted. As with any new product we work with - there is always a learning curve. Unlike the Weathered Wood product that is applied over a (usually darker) base coat and then the (usually lighter) top coat is what bonds to the medium and cracks, the One Step Crackle is applied over the base color (which is the 'finish color' - in my case the WHITE) and it sits and cracks on top of the base color and dries CLEAR. You then apply a wash or glaze of contrasting color and quickly wipe it back, removing it from the surface of the cracks and allowing the contrasting color to settle into the cracks, showing your very subtle cracking pattern. I tried several methods of both applying the crackle medium as well as what I used to wipe over it and I finally settled on a beautiful result that was perfect for these elegant ornaments. I used a light gold Metallic Lustre acrylic wax and the gold shimmer filled the cracks beautifully and gave the appearance of aged porcelain or even marble.

Food Ingredient Cuisine Dish Plant


It was AWESOME! Now I was really excited! You saw the result of the tree in yesterday's post and today I will show you the rest of the set finished. Here are the six ornaments included in the new pattern:

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


I think they look pretty darn nice:

White Yellow Creative arts Art Dishware


Because of the very fine crackle, they almost look like marble or stone:

Wood Font Metal Fashion accessory Pattern


I think that both the painters who follow my blogs and the woodworkers alike will agree that this is something that they could both apply to many projects. I only used 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood for these pieces and they look like they are made of stone or porcelain. Think of the boxes, frames and other things that you could use this method with! The painting is very simple - and the only shading involved is the loose float shading of the metallic paint around the edges. The black painting is slightly 'picky' - you need to have a good lining brush to do it - but I like to think of it as a 'skill builder' which will help improve your line work and basic painting skills. The layer of black Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint over the design also helps hide a multitude of errors. As you can see in my own pieces, even though I was in no way "perfect" in what I painted, the designs look crisp, clear and balanced and beautiful.

I am really pleased with the outcome of these.

I am working up the pattern for them in the next few days and they should be available on my site by the update early next week. I will also be selling the wood pieces for this project for those of you who don't cut wood. The basic shapes are fun and I bet you can think of multiple ways to use them.

I hope you found these past couple of blogs informative. Crackle mediums can be very confusing and sometimes difficult to understand. However, with a bit of understanding and a little practice they are simple to use and can give you a wide range of beautiful possibilities.

White Body jewelry Petal Font Creative arts


I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Happy Friday to you!
 

Attachments

#10,680 ·
More on DecoArt One Step Crackle Medium

I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I am about this product. Even though it has been around for a while (I have had some in my arsenal of paints and mediums for years!) I had never taken the time to play around with it and try it out. I have used crackle finishes many times before, but usually I am looking for a more 'rustic' or 'country' look and my go to product was DecoArt Weathered Wood. I love that product, and I had even made a video showing how I applied it, as it was not only effective, but it was fun (and SATISFYING!) to see the paint cracking right before your eyes. (Here is the link to my video if you are interested in seeing this process done: Video on Applying Weathered Wood Crackle Medium)

But I don't always want a weathered and blistered type of crackle. That type of finish would suit the new ornament set that I was working on. This set was to be a bit more 'elegant' and I wanted them to look like fine, aged porcelain.

Enter "One Step Crackle" medium:

Brown Bottle Liquid Fluid Plant


Who would have thought that a product that also crackles could bring such a different results?

When I saw my friend's project on Facebook, she had applied this crackle medium just to the lettering of her pretty bread box. The effect it gave was beautiful. While the background of the box was still a lovely, clean barn red color, the tan lettering was finely cracked, resembling a sticker that perhaps had cracked over time. The cracks were very tiny and subtle and made the piece very interesting. It didn't have the overall 'ratty' look that the Weathered Wood would give it, but it rather looked like the piece was well cared for, but definitely aged. It was awesome.

It got me thinking about the ornaments that I was planning to paint. I wanted them to be simple to paint, but still have some interest. In my mind, I had settled on a black and white theme with gold trim because I thought it would look classic and elegant. However, I didn't want these ornaments to appear too stark, as I was in danger of doing with using the white background. I had considered using a background with more tan or even beige tones, but if I did that, I would lose the striking contrast and risk the pieces of looking muddy instead of crisp and clear. When I saw the very subtle effect of using this One Step Crackle medium, I knew that it would add the subtle interest that I wanted without overpowering the design. It would be a perfect solution.

It did take me several tries to achieve the look I wanted. As with any new product we work with - there is always a learning curve. Unlike the Weathered Wood product that is applied over a (usually darker) base coat and then the (usually lighter) top coat is what bonds to the medium and cracks, the One Step Crackle is applied over the base color (which is the 'finish color' - in my case the WHITE) and it sits and cracks on top of the base color and dries CLEAR. You then apply a wash or glaze of contrasting color and quickly wipe it back, removing it from the surface of the cracks and allowing the contrasting color to settle into the cracks, showing your very subtle cracking pattern. I tried several methods of both applying the crackle medium as well as what I used to wipe over it and I finally settled on a beautiful result that was perfect for these elegant ornaments. I used a light gold Metallic Lustre acrylic wax and the gold shimmer filled the cracks beautifully and gave the appearance of aged porcelain or even marble.

Food Ingredient Cuisine Dish Plant


It was AWESOME! Now I was really excited! You saw the result of the tree in yesterday's post and today I will show you the rest of the set finished. Here are the six ornaments included in the new pattern:

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


I think they look pretty darn nice:

White Yellow Creative arts Art Dishware


Because of the very fine crackle, they almost look like marble or stone:

Wood Font Metal Fashion accessory Pattern


I think that both the painters who follow my blogs and the woodworkers alike will agree that this is something that they could both apply to many projects. I only used 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood for these pieces and they look like they are made of stone or porcelain. Think of the boxes, frames and other things that you could use this method with! The painting is very simple - and the only shading involved is the loose float shading of the metallic paint around the edges. The black painting is slightly 'picky' - you need to have a good lining brush to do it - but I like to think of it as a 'skill builder' which will help improve your line work and basic painting skills. The layer of black Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint over the design also helps hide a multitude of errors. As you can see in my own pieces, even though I was in no way "perfect" in what I painted, the designs look crisp, clear and balanced and beautiful.

I am really pleased with the outcome of these.

I am working up the pattern for them in the next few days and they should be available on my site by the update early next week. I will also be selling the wood pieces for this project for those of you who don't cut wood. The basic shapes are fun and I bet you can think of multiple ways to use them.

I hope you found these past couple of blogs informative. Crackle mediums can be very confusing and sometimes difficult to understand. However, with a bit of understanding and a little practice they are simple to use and can give you a wide range of beautiful possibilities.

White Body jewelry Petal Font Creative arts


I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Happy Friday to you!
You sure know how to bring your projects to life. Very cool Sheila
 

Attachments

#10,686 ·
Thinking Wider - Versions

It is probably no secret to any of you that not only do I create scroll saw patterns and projects for a living, but I also create painting patterns. I have always felt that the two fields were closely related, as when I first began painting I very quickly found a need to learn to cut my own wood so I could have a good supply of things to paint. I have always been one to learn to do things for myself. Perhaps it was because I was impatient or because I was always changing the painting patterns that I purchased and therefore had a need to have some custom wood cut. Or maybe it was because at this the in my life when I was just learning to paint, I had a best friend who was very much like me and had a wonderfully supportive father who believed in encouraging one to do things for oneself and be self-sufficient. Cari's dad was a wonderful teacher and he and Cari were the ones that really introduced me to the scroll saw. I truly loved it, and I felt the process of scroll sawing was very close to that of sewing - which I also had done since childhood - so I suppose it came naturally to me.

Back then (nearly 20 years ago!) it was far easier to be a woodworking pattern designer than a painting pattern designer. I had very limited means, and the world was nowhere near as 'technologically advanced' as today. Painting patterns needed many color photos to help teach the process whereas woodworking patterns only needed line work. Not only was printing the actual patterns far more expensive because they needed to be in color, but without things like digital cameras and PDF files and programs such as Photoshop, the process was not only more costly, but far more difficult.

As a result, I focused on woodworking patterns and wound up choosing that way to make my living. While I always love scroll sawing and woodworking, I still had a deep love of adding color and painting wood as well.

Several years ago, I decided to once again try to make painting a part of my business. Great advances were made in many aspects that I just spoke of, and in addition there were many new products on the market that I feel appeal to both painters and woodworkers alike. I am finding that it isn't so much the 'either' 'or' mindset that used to be present many years ago, and that many woodworkers are enjoying painting and painters are enjoying woodworking as well. This makes me pretty happy.

Last week I finished up my painted version of a fun Halloween plaque that I call "Nevermore". It is based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem "The Raven" and I really enjoyed creating it. It will be featured in the August issue of Interactive Artist Online Magazine and will be my debut project with them. I was very pleased at the response I received from it, and I will be offering the wood pieces as kits to those who paint and don't cut wood.

Bird Rectangle Branch Twig Wood


I like the plaque very much as well. In fact I liked it so much, I offered to do a scroll saw version of it for my project for the November version of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, which will ship at the end of September. I think it will translate well into an all woodworking project.

So I spent yesterday re-drawing the pattern to work as a wood plaque. This wasn't difficult, but took a bit of time for me to do so. The tangle of branches, which were easy to paint in two dimensions now had to be a bit 'straightened out' so that they would successfully be done in three. There was some 'tweaking' of the lettering (NOT TWERKING!) so that the average scroller could be successful in cutting them and a couple of other things that just had to be ironed out. Re-drawing things took most of the day, but I am really pretty happy with the results and I think that I will be able to successfully replicate the plaque using just wood. At least I think I can.

So today I will be spending the day cutting. I am pretty excited about how it looks in my head and I hope that it comes out as nice as the painted version did. I am going to cut it using a variety of hard wood and plywood and I may actually tint some of the plywood to make it look a little better. I think the scrollers will forgive me for that. Of course they can use all hard wood if they have it on hand.

Thinking in different media is like thinking in different languages. Some projects translate very well from a painted project to a woodworking project and vice-versa. Others (where subtle shading is necessary) have a harder time doing so and things don't look quite 'right' when trying to present something in both ways.

Another example is the ornaments that I just completed yesterday. While they looked beautiful done in hardwood, with the design cut out:

Font Jewellery Metal Pattern Fashion accessory


They looked equally beautiful painted:

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


It is all a matter of personal preference.

Is this cheating on my part? Maybe just a little. But since I have been so involved in both painting and woodworking, it is very difficult for me to think of a particular project in only ONE way. So much of what I do easily translates from wood to painting and back again. I just love being able to offer both versions. While they are quite similar, the processes are like comparing the proverbial 'apples' to 'oranges'. I think that it is all good and I hope that it encourages both painters and woodworkers to think of things using a bit wider scope.

So today is another day at the saw. It is a hazy, yet calm morning here on the river. While it hasn't been what we would call a 'hot' summer, it is still very pleasant - as the weather has seemed much more autumn-like than anything. And autumn is my favorite season, so if we have two of them, that is fine with me.

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday and a great weekend.
 

Attachments

#10,687 ·
Thinking Wider - Versions

It is probably no secret to any of you that not only do I create scroll saw patterns and projects for a living, but I also create painting patterns. I have always felt that the two fields were closely related, as when I first began painting I very quickly found a need to learn to cut my own wood so I could have a good supply of things to paint. I have always been one to learn to do things for myself. Perhaps it was because I was impatient or because I was always changing the painting patterns that I purchased and therefore had a need to have some custom wood cut. Or maybe it was because at this the in my life when I was just learning to paint, I had a best friend who was very much like me and had a wonderfully supportive father who believed in encouraging one to do things for oneself and be self-sufficient. Cari's dad was a wonderful teacher and he and Cari were the ones that really introduced me to the scroll saw. I truly loved it, and I felt the process of scroll sawing was very close to that of sewing - which I also had done since childhood - so I suppose it came naturally to me.

Back then (nearly 20 years ago!) it was far easier to be a woodworking pattern designer than a painting pattern designer. I had very limited means, and the world was nowhere near as 'technologically advanced' as today. Painting patterns needed many color photos to help teach the process whereas woodworking patterns only needed line work. Not only was printing the actual patterns far more expensive because they needed to be in color, but without things like digital cameras and PDF files and programs such as Photoshop, the process was not only more costly, but far more difficult.

As a result, I focused on woodworking patterns and wound up choosing that way to make my living. While I always love scroll sawing and woodworking, I still had a deep love of adding color and painting wood as well.

Several years ago, I decided to once again try to make painting a part of my business. Great advances were made in many aspects that I just spoke of, and in addition there were many new products on the market that I feel appeal to both painters and woodworkers alike. I am finding that it isn't so much the 'either' 'or' mindset that used to be present many years ago, and that many woodworkers are enjoying painting and painters are enjoying woodworking as well. This makes me pretty happy.

Last week I finished up my painted version of a fun Halloween plaque that I call "Nevermore". It is based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem "The Raven" and I really enjoyed creating it. It will be featured in the August issue of Interactive Artist Online Magazine and will be my debut project with them. I was very pleased at the response I received from it, and I will be offering the wood pieces as kits to those who paint and don't cut wood.

Bird Rectangle Branch Twig Wood


I like the plaque very much as well. In fact I liked it so much, I offered to do a scroll saw version of it for my project for the November version of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, which will ship at the end of September. I think it will translate well into an all woodworking project.

So I spent yesterday re-drawing the pattern to work as a wood plaque. This wasn't difficult, but took a bit of time for me to do so. The tangle of branches, which were easy to paint in two dimensions now had to be a bit 'straightened out' so that they would successfully be done in three. There was some 'tweaking' of the lettering (NOT TWERKING!) so that the average scroller could be successful in cutting them and a couple of other things that just had to be ironed out. Re-drawing things took most of the day, but I am really pretty happy with the results and I think that I will be able to successfully replicate the plaque using just wood. At least I think I can.

So today I will be spending the day cutting. I am pretty excited about how it looks in my head and I hope that it comes out as nice as the painted version did. I am going to cut it using a variety of hard wood and plywood and I may actually tint some of the plywood to make it look a little better. I think the scrollers will forgive me for that. Of course they can use all hard wood if they have it on hand.

Thinking in different media is like thinking in different languages. Some projects translate very well from a painted project to a woodworking project and vice-versa. Others (where subtle shading is necessary) have a harder time doing so and things don't look quite 'right' when trying to present something in both ways.

Another example is the ornaments that I just completed yesterday. While they looked beautiful done in hardwood, with the design cut out:

Font Jewellery Metal Pattern Fashion accessory


They looked equally beautiful painted:

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


It is all a matter of personal preference.

Is this cheating on my part? Maybe just a little. But since I have been so involved in both painting and woodworking, it is very difficult for me to think of a particular project in only ONE way. So much of what I do easily translates from wood to painting and back again. I just love being able to offer both versions. While they are quite similar, the processes are like comparing the proverbial 'apples' to 'oranges'. I think that it is all good and I hope that it encourages both painters and woodworkers to think of things using a bit wider scope.

So today is another day at the saw. It is a hazy, yet calm morning here on the river. While it hasn't been what we would call a 'hot' summer, it is still very pleasant - as the weather has seemed much more autumn-like than anything. And autumn is my favorite season, so if we have two of them, that is fine with me.

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday and a great weekend.
The "Nevermore" absolutely magnificent!!!! It really speaks to the element of the super natural of Edgar Allen Poe. You MUST receive the credit and merit for an award of excellence. As I've related before I'm no artist by any means but appreciate the works of those that are. I enjoy the dated ornaments as well. Thanks
 

Attachments

#10,694 ·
Progress on the "Nevermore" Scroll Saw Project

I made good progress on my scrolled version of the "Nevermore" plaque although it did not come without its challenges. It was nothing that I couldn't overcome, but it took some real thought to sort some of the process out in my mind and make it work how I intended. But after spending the day laying things out and finally getting the chance to cut the pieces at the scroll saw, I am fairly happy with the results. Below is a photograph of where it sits as I write this morning:

Bird Vertebrate Black Branch Beak


So far, so good.

Originally I had intended to do the wood piece using all hard wood except the backing piece, which is 1/8" Baltic birch plywood. However, in creating the branches, I realized that in order to have the grain in the proper direction, the wood to cut them would need to be over 10" wide. At the 1/8" thickness that was required, it would have been hard (if not impossible) to find pieces that would be thin enough and not twist and warp. If they weren't warped initially, then certainly they would do so over time, and while it shouldn't seem to matter whether tree branches are slightly twisted or not, it would in all likelihood ruin the plaque once glued together. I thought better of it and decided to go with the plywood.

I did however use hard wood for the lettering, the moon and the raven itself. I chose some pretty maple for the header and footer pieces as well, and I plan on leaving them their natural color. So the only things that will require some acrylic stain would be the back board (which I intend to stain a soft, orange(ish) color and the branches, which will (of course!) be dark brown. No harm in that at all.

Cutting the pieces was not difficult, but certainly took a little bit of concentration. The lettering itself was cut from a thin piece of walnut that I had on hand:

Font Wood Pattern Rectangle Art


I decided to join the letters on the bottom, as cutting them separately would be not only tedious to cut, but also make it difficult to glue them in place easily. The challenge here was to keep the letters looking 'creepy', and while I had to thicken them up quite a bit, I think that overall they still look pointed and somewhat menacing. I used some birch behind the letters when cutting to help stabilize them during the process, and this worked wonderfully.

My next challenge was the raven itself. I was fortunate to have some beautiful black ebony on hand that was just about 1/8" thick. Ebony is quite expensive here in Canada, and my original board was about a foot long by 4 inches wide and about 3/4" thick and cost me about $38. I realize that everyone may not be able to acquire ebony, and when I write the instructions for the pattern, I will include instructions to stain the raven as well. I am sure that I could have also used walnut for the piece, but with the ebony sitting there looking at me, I just couldn't resist. It's alluring beauty just called to me.

While it may only look like a silhouette in the larger photo, you can see in the photo below that I used a 'veining' technique to cut in the details using the scroll saw. (I purposely over-brightened the photo so you could see the actual cutting.)

Bird Beak Feather Raven Wing


I don't know if the veining lines will show up when it is finished with spray lacquer, but when looking at the real piece, I believe it will be noticeable. I am considering applying a single red crystal rhinestone for his eye, but I haven't decided yet. We will have to see how it works out.

The moon is cut from yellow heart. While it looks very light now, once lacquered, it will look much more yellow and have a 'shimmery' effect. Once again - I thought this would be perfect.

One of the biggest challenges that I found was the placement sequence of the branches. When painting the original piece, I had intended the branches to be haphazardly twisted together. But that would be impossible to do in a wood picture. Simple physics allows us to only work with one level at a time, and thinking things through and deciding which level the branches would reside took some major thinking on my part. But in the end, it all worked out well and so far it promises to be a nice piece.

Bird Sleeve Feather Wing Beak


Today will be a fun day. Now that the pieces are all cut, I will be doing the final sanding and finishing and assembly of the plaque. Watching it come to life this way is always a big thrill, and I hope to have it ready to ship out by tomorrow or Tuesday.

I really enjoy this process. While it is not the easiest project that I created, it is not the most difficult either. Part of the fun for me is to make something that appears to be a difficult project be something that is not so much so. As with most things - breaking things into small steps makes them much easier.

I hope you are enjoying seeing this project come to life. It is fun for me to share it with you. I also hope it makes you look at other things a bit differently and takes the fear out of trying a new or different process. For that is how we learn.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday.
 

Attachments

#10,695 ·
Progress on the "Nevermore" Scroll Saw Project

I made good progress on my scrolled version of the "Nevermore" plaque although it did not come without its challenges. It was nothing that I couldn't overcome, but it took some real thought to sort some of the process out in my mind and make it work how I intended. But after spending the day laying things out and finally getting the chance to cut the pieces at the scroll saw, I am fairly happy with the results. Below is a photograph of where it sits as I write this morning:

Bird Vertebrate Black Branch Beak


So far, so good.

Originally I had intended to do the wood piece using all hard wood except the backing piece, which is 1/8" Baltic birch plywood. However, in creating the branches, I realized that in order to have the grain in the proper direction, the wood to cut them would need to be over 10" wide. At the 1/8" thickness that was required, it would have been hard (if not impossible) to find pieces that would be thin enough and not twist and warp. If they weren't warped initially, then certainly they would do so over time, and while it shouldn't seem to matter whether tree branches are slightly twisted or not, it would in all likelihood ruin the plaque once glued together. I thought better of it and decided to go with the plywood.

I did however use hard wood for the lettering, the moon and the raven itself. I chose some pretty maple for the header and footer pieces as well, and I plan on leaving them their natural color. So the only things that will require some acrylic stain would be the back board (which I intend to stain a soft, orange(ish) color and the branches, which will (of course!) be dark brown. No harm in that at all.

Cutting the pieces was not difficult, but certainly took a little bit of concentration. The lettering itself was cut from a thin piece of walnut that I had on hand:

Font Wood Pattern Rectangle Art


I decided to join the letters on the bottom, as cutting them separately would be not only tedious to cut, but also make it difficult to glue them in place easily. The challenge here was to keep the letters looking 'creepy', and while I had to thicken them up quite a bit, I think that overall they still look pointed and somewhat menacing. I used some birch behind the letters when cutting to help stabilize them during the process, and this worked wonderfully.

My next challenge was the raven itself. I was fortunate to have some beautiful black ebony on hand that was just about 1/8" thick. Ebony is quite expensive here in Canada, and my original board was about a foot long by 4 inches wide and about 3/4" thick and cost me about $38. I realize that everyone may not be able to acquire ebony, and when I write the instructions for the pattern, I will include instructions to stain the raven as well. I am sure that I could have also used walnut for the piece, but with the ebony sitting there looking at me, I just couldn't resist. It's alluring beauty just called to me.

While it may only look like a silhouette in the larger photo, you can see in the photo below that I used a 'veining' technique to cut in the details using the scroll saw. (I purposely over-brightened the photo so you could see the actual cutting.)

Bird Beak Feather Raven Wing


I don't know if the veining lines will show up when it is finished with spray lacquer, but when looking at the real piece, I believe it will be noticeable. I am considering applying a single red crystal rhinestone for his eye, but I haven't decided yet. We will have to see how it works out.

The moon is cut from yellow heart. While it looks very light now, once lacquered, it will look much more yellow and have a 'shimmery' effect. Once again - I thought this would be perfect.

One of the biggest challenges that I found was the placement sequence of the branches. When painting the original piece, I had intended the branches to be haphazardly twisted together. But that would be impossible to do in a wood picture. Simple physics allows us to only work with one level at a time, and thinking things through and deciding which level the branches would reside took some major thinking on my part. But in the end, it all worked out well and so far it promises to be a nice piece.

Bird Sleeve Feather Wing Beak


Today will be a fun day. Now that the pieces are all cut, I will be doing the final sanding and finishing and assembly of the plaque. Watching it come to life this way is always a big thrill, and I hope to have it ready to ship out by tomorrow or Tuesday.

I really enjoy this process. While it is not the easiest project that I created, it is not the most difficult either. Part of the fun for me is to make something that appears to be a difficult project be something that is not so much so. As with most things - breaking things into small steps makes them much easier.

I hope you are enjoying seeing this project come to life. It is fun for me to share it with you. I also hope it makes you look at other things a bit differently and takes the fear out of trying a new or different process. For that is how we learn.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday.
Your talent never ceases to amaze me. Carry on Sheila.
 

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#10,702 ·
More Progress and New Plaques

Another busy weekend has come and gone. The speed that time passes continues to amaze me. I must be busy.

It is cool here this morning, with just a bit of rain. After the past few days which were rather warm and sticky, I am happy for the change. Although our weather here in Nova Scotia seems very mild in when I hear about how hot it has been in other places. I feel very fortunate.

I made some progress on my "Nevermore" plaque yesterday. I didn't quite complete it, but it will be done today. I did get the pieces sanded and worked on staining the background and tree branches to make it a little more colorful. I also applied the first two coats of lacquer on it, but I feel it needs at least one more. I use spray so that I am able to get some finish onto the sides of the fret cutout and sometimes it takes several coats. After all the work that went into the project, I want to be careful and patient, as I don't want to muck it up now. If all goes well, I will be shipping it out tomorrow.

Below is the final results. (Things still need to be glued into place.)

Bird Rectangle Textile Wood Font


The lighting isn't optimal today, but you at least get the idea. My only trepidation regarding the piece is that the raven may in itself be a tad too dark. While dark things typically don't photograph well (especially in the light I had to work with this morning) I can honestly say that in order to see the feather lines that were scrolled into the piece, you really have to look. While a raven silhouette would be very suitable, as he would naturally be back lit by the moonlight and it would be difficult to see details anyway, I am not sure if this is desirable or not. I am still on the fence about it.

It is troubling for me when things like this pop up. While I was thrilled that I had the beautiful piece of ebony to use for him, I now am second guessing my choice as I wonder if he wouldn't be better in a lighter wood that would be washed with black acrylic in the same way I washed the branches with the brown.

Fortunately, I cut duplicates of the raven. I stacked an 1/8" piece of birch plywood under him for stability and just in case the ebony wouldn't hold up to the cutting process that I did. So right now I have the birch raven in my hand and I think before everything is glued up I will stain and finish it and place it there just to see. I am even considering sending it to the magazine without the bird glued into place. I can give them both pieces and let them decide. I just don't know.

Other than that, everything worked out fine. I think that will be the plan today as well as writing the instructions for the Damask ornaments that I finished last week as well as this project. We are planning a site update for tomorrow and Keith has already completed his new projects that he wants included. He created these wonderful Four Seasons Welcome Plaques that I think came out just beautiful:

Plant Wood Rectangle Font Tree


The patterns for these will be sold both individually as well as in the set you see above. They are on the main page of our site.

I will be able to post the painted versions of my Damask ornaments for the update. I am also selling the wood blanks for that project, as well as the wood pieces for the Nevermore project for the painters. I will be posting them sometime later on today.

Again it will be a busy couple of days and a busy week in general. We are thinking of taking the latter part of the week to take a small break and travel to Prince Edward Island which is north of us. We have never been there and it is supposed to be really nice. They are calling for rain however, so we don't know if we will go or wait a couple of days. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying the summer. Last night we had some friends over for a nice dinner and it was a nice change to have some good company. It is nice to take time to enjoy the simple things in life and we are happy that we did.

Have a wonderful Monday!
 

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#10,703 ·
More Progress and New Plaques

Another busy weekend has come and gone. The speed that time passes continues to amaze me. I must be busy.

It is cool here this morning, with just a bit of rain. After the past few days which were rather warm and sticky, I am happy for the change. Although our weather here in Nova Scotia seems very mild in when I hear about how hot it has been in other places. I feel very fortunate.

I made some progress on my "Nevermore" plaque yesterday. I didn't quite complete it, but it will be done today. I did get the pieces sanded and worked on staining the background and tree branches to make it a little more colorful. I also applied the first two coats of lacquer on it, but I feel it needs at least one more. I use spray so that I am able to get some finish onto the sides of the fret cutout and sometimes it takes several coats. After all the work that went into the project, I want to be careful and patient, as I don't want to muck it up now. If all goes well, I will be shipping it out tomorrow.

Below is the final results. (Things still need to be glued into place.)

Bird Rectangle Textile Wood Font


The lighting isn't optimal today, but you at least get the idea. My only trepidation regarding the piece is that the raven may in itself be a tad too dark. While dark things typically don't photograph well (especially in the light I had to work with this morning) I can honestly say that in order to see the feather lines that were scrolled into the piece, you really have to look. While a raven silhouette would be very suitable, as he would naturally be back lit by the moonlight and it would be difficult to see details anyway, I am not sure if this is desirable or not. I am still on the fence about it.

It is troubling for me when things like this pop up. While I was thrilled that I had the beautiful piece of ebony to use for him, I now am second guessing my choice as I wonder if he wouldn't be better in a lighter wood that would be washed with black acrylic in the same way I washed the branches with the brown.

Fortunately, I cut duplicates of the raven. I stacked an 1/8" piece of birch plywood under him for stability and just in case the ebony wouldn't hold up to the cutting process that I did. So right now I have the birch raven in my hand and I think before everything is glued up I will stain and finish it and place it there just to see. I am even considering sending it to the magazine without the bird glued into place. I can give them both pieces and let them decide. I just don't know.

Other than that, everything worked out fine. I think that will be the plan today as well as writing the instructions for the Damask ornaments that I finished last week as well as this project. We are planning a site update for tomorrow and Keith has already completed his new projects that he wants included. He created these wonderful Four Seasons Welcome Plaques that I think came out just beautiful:

Plant Wood Rectangle Font Tree


The patterns for these will be sold both individually as well as in the set you see above. They are on the main page of our site.

I will be able to post the painted versions of my Damask ornaments for the update. I am also selling the wood blanks for that project, as well as the wood pieces for the Nevermore project for the painters. I will be posting them sometime later on today.

Again it will be a busy couple of days and a busy week in general. We are thinking of taking the latter part of the week to take a small break and travel to Prince Edward Island which is north of us. We have never been there and it is supposed to be really nice. They are calling for rain however, so we don't know if we will go or wait a couple of days. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying the summer. Last night we had some friends over for a nice dinner and it was a nice change to have some good company. It is nice to take time to enjoy the simple things in life and we are happy that we did.

Have a wonderful Monday!
I like the raven as he is. I can see the veining in him ok. I think the final result has turned out beautifully. Keith's Welcome signs are wonderful - I'm impressed that he has added some colour :)
You'll love PEI! We centred ourselves in Charlottetown within walking distance of the waterfront and did our trips around the Island from there - one day touring the Eastside of the Island, another the Westside taking in the Anne of Green Gables Park. By the way, there is also an Anne of Green Gable Village with tourist trap items and rides etc. The Park is much more authentic and interesting (in my opinion :)). We took the ferry across to the Island and came back by the bridge. Enjoy!
 

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#10,706 ·
Fifty Shades of Black

OK. Only two. But you are here reading so I got your attention.

Today will I will show you the final photos of the scroll sawn version of my "Nevermore" plaque. I finished it up yesterday, and it is heading out to New Jersey this morning to be published in the November issue of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, which will come out in September. That will give those of you who want to make it plenty of time.

I am pleased with how it came out, but I still couldn't quite decide on whether the ebony raven was better than making a birch one and using stain on it. So (as usual) I decided to offer BOTH and let my editors figure out which one would look best. I think they are going to show both as well, and it will depend on how things photograph.

Black things are very tricky to photograph. Even with excellent lighting, it is very difficult to get the proper detail. This is especially true when the black item is placed in a multi-colored background, as with this plaque. Add to it the shadows of the dimensional branches and it really can be tough. I did manage to get some nice lighting this morning just as the sun was coming up. It was a time when it was light enough out for my camera to capture the pieces, yet not so bright as to cast additional shadows. I think it is the best I will do with the equipment that I have.

First I wanted to show you the two ravens side by side:

Bird Beak Feather Wing Art


As you can see, I added some 3mm red rhinestones for the eye. I think this made a huge difference in the wooden version and I really liked the result. If ever there was a time to add a rhinestone, this would have been it.

I took photos of the plaque with the ebony as well as the stained birch raven and I can't really decide which I like better.

The ebony bird looked more like a silhouette in the photo, although in person, you could see the details - albeit they are very subtle:

Bird Wood Rectangle Feather Art


The stained birch raven also looked good, with the lighter shade of black allowing the wood grain to show through - looking like the feather pattern:

Rectangle Wood Art Font Painting


It really was hard for me to choose. I suppose it will be a matter of personal choice as well as the availability of materials.

I suppose with the high cost of the ebony, the stained birch is a very nice alternative. That is why I wanted to present both versions. I don't think it is really worth it to chase all over looking for a suitable piece of wood if you don't have to do so. That is just my thoughts on it.

I have a very busy day today, as I am writing the instructions for this project as well as for the painted Damask Ornaments that I showed you all last week. We are planning to get the site updated either tonight or tomorrow and then we want to take a couple of days to escape to Prince Edward Island for a small vacation for a couple of days. We are watching the weather and hoping that it will be nice.

Thank you all who have been commenting on this project and sending me notes on it. It really makes me feel good when I see so much interesting in something that I created. I hope everyone enjoys making it as well.

After a dreary, humid and rainy day yesterday, it seems much cooler and a bit my sunny today. The trees, flowers and plants are all happy and so am I.

I wish you all a wonderful Tuesday. Have fun and enjoy your day!
 

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#10,707 ·
Fifty Shades of Black

OK. Only two. But you are here reading so I got your attention.

Today will I will show you the final photos of the scroll sawn version of my "Nevermore" plaque. I finished it up yesterday, and it is heading out to New Jersey this morning to be published in the November issue of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, which will come out in September. That will give those of you who want to make it plenty of time.

I am pleased with how it came out, but I still couldn't quite decide on whether the ebony raven was better than making a birch one and using stain on it. So (as usual) I decided to offer BOTH and let my editors figure out which one would look best. I think they are going to show both as well, and it will depend on how things photograph.

Black things are very tricky to photograph. Even with excellent lighting, it is very difficult to get the proper detail. This is especially true when the black item is placed in a multi-colored background, as with this plaque. Add to it the shadows of the dimensional branches and it really can be tough. I did manage to get some nice lighting this morning just as the sun was coming up. It was a time when it was light enough out for my camera to capture the pieces, yet not so bright as to cast additional shadows. I think it is the best I will do with the equipment that I have.

First I wanted to show you the two ravens side by side:

Bird Beak Feather Wing Art


As you can see, I added some 3mm red rhinestones for the eye. I think this made a huge difference in the wooden version and I really liked the result. If ever there was a time to add a rhinestone, this would have been it.

I took photos of the plaque with the ebony as well as the stained birch raven and I can't really decide which I like better.

The ebony bird looked more like a silhouette in the photo, although in person, you could see the details - albeit they are very subtle:

Bird Wood Rectangle Feather Art


The stained birch raven also looked good, with the lighter shade of black allowing the wood grain to show through - looking like the feather pattern:

Rectangle Wood Art Font Painting


It really was hard for me to choose. I suppose it will be a matter of personal choice as well as the availability of materials.

I suppose with the high cost of the ebony, the stained birch is a very nice alternative. That is why I wanted to present both versions. I don't think it is really worth it to chase all over looking for a suitable piece of wood if you don't have to do so. That is just my thoughts on it.

I have a very busy day today, as I am writing the instructions for this project as well as for the painted Damask Ornaments that I showed you all last week. We are planning to get the site updated either tonight or tomorrow and then we want to take a couple of days to escape to Prince Edward Island for a small vacation for a couple of days. We are watching the weather and hoping that it will be nice.

Thank you all who have been commenting on this project and sending me notes on it. It really makes me feel good when I see so much interesting in something that I created. I hope everyone enjoys making it as well.

After a dreary, humid and rainy day yesterday, it seems much cooler and a bit my sunny today. The trees, flowers and plants are all happy and so am I.

I wish you all a wonderful Tuesday. Have fun and enjoy your day!
They both look fantastic and either would make this project look great.

I would personally use walnut for the raven, simply because it's a dark wood, doesn't need stain and I don't have any ebony. :)

This is going to be a big hit when the magazine hits the stands!

Cheers!

-bob
 

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#10,715 ·
On The Road for a Couple of Days and another Site Update

Today's post will be somewhat quick! I wanted to let you all know that I won't be posting much for the next several days. Keith and I decided to take some time to explore beautiful Nova Scotia as well as Prince Edward Island. We haven't been away since October and last summer we missed taking our annual exploration trip so we felt like now was the best time to go. I pretty much met all of my deadlines and while there is still stuff that I want to do, there will ALWAYS be things to do so I figured if I didn't go now, we may miss the chance.

While we are on the road, we will be checking and mailing out the PDF orders every night. Naturally, we will not be mailing out cut wood pieces or paper patterns. Those that are ordered between now and then should be sent out by next Tuesday or so, depending on when we get back. I want you all to be aware of this because there are some new wood products on the site and I know I am going to have lots of first-time customers and I don't you to think that I typically sit on orders for several days. Usually they are out the door within about 24 hours from ordering.

We updated the site to include some of our new items. Keith's Welcome Plaque set is now available (SLDK386)

Plant Wood Rectangle Font Tree


I also have posted the pattern for my new painted Traditional Damask Ornament pattern (SLDP224)

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


I am also selling the wood blanks for the ornaments here - SLDPK224.

In the next day or so, my "Nevermore" Painting Project Instructions will be available at Interactive Artist Online Magazine.

Bird Rectangle Branch Twig Wood


I am selling the wood pieces for that on my site as well right here: SLDPK223.

Those are the new things for now. We have lots of new things coming out all the time though, as you know. We will try to send PDF orders out each evening and appreciate your patience while we are gone. We know you are used to getting your patterns 'almost instantly'.

I hope you all have a great week. I won't be blogging while on the road because we may not have access to the computer. But I hope to talk to you again when I get back and have lots of pictures filled with fun and inspiration.

Thank you as well for your friendships and encouragement. Happy Wednesday to you!
 

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#10,716 ·
On The Road for a Couple of Days and another Site Update

Today's post will be somewhat quick! I wanted to let you all know that I won't be posting much for the next several days. Keith and I decided to take some time to explore beautiful Nova Scotia as well as Prince Edward Island. We haven't been away since October and last summer we missed taking our annual exploration trip so we felt like now was the best time to go. I pretty much met all of my deadlines and while there is still stuff that I want to do, there will ALWAYS be things to do so I figured if I didn't go now, we may miss the chance.

While we are on the road, we will be checking and mailing out the PDF orders every night. Naturally, we will not be mailing out cut wood pieces or paper patterns. Those that are ordered between now and then should be sent out by next Tuesday or so, depending on when we get back. I want you all to be aware of this because there are some new wood products on the site and I know I am going to have lots of first-time customers and I don't you to think that I typically sit on orders for several days. Usually they are out the door within about 24 hours from ordering.

We updated the site to include some of our new items. Keith's Welcome Plaque set is now available (SLDK386)

Plant Wood Rectangle Font Tree


I also have posted the pattern for my new painted Traditional Damask Ornament pattern (SLDP224)

Creative arts Art Body jewelry Font Pattern


I am also selling the wood blanks for the ornaments here - SLDPK224.

In the next day or so, my "Nevermore" Painting Project Instructions will be available at Interactive Artist Online Magazine.

Bird Rectangle Branch Twig Wood


I am selling the wood pieces for that on my site as well right here: SLDPK223.

Those are the new things for now. We have lots of new things coming out all the time though, as you know. We will try to send PDF orders out each evening and appreciate your patience while we are gone. We know you are used to getting your patterns 'almost instantly'.

I hope you all have a great week. I won't be blogging while on the road because we may not have access to the computer. But I hope to talk to you again when I get back and have lots of pictures filled with fun and inspiration.

Thank you as well for your friendships and encouragement. Happy Wednesday to you!
Enjoy the ride, both of you. Take it easy. Drive safe. Have a gr8 time.
 

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#10,721 ·
Back from Holiday - Back to Work

After nearly a week long getaway to beautiful Prince Edward Island, we have returned home feeling refreshed and more excited than ever about our work. What an incredible time we had! This has been probably one of the longest times I spent away from writing here on my blog since I began it over four years ago. I know I needed the break, but I truly missed the daily correspondence with you - my wonderfully creative readers. It made me realize just how much I enjoy chatting with you all both on the forums and through private messages.

I must admit though, that I was a bad 'tourist' in that I didn't take many photos of our journey. There was so many beautiful things to see and I wanted to see them first-hand - not from behind a camera lens. I did take some photos, but my camera is currently not accessible so you will all need to wait to see the few photos that I have. To be honest, I haven't even had a chance to look at them yet, and I hope some are suitable for sharing.

As with any time away, I returned to hundreds of emails to attend to. Not all of them need responses, but the email box is very full and I ask that you all be patient with giving me time to catch up. I will be doing that in the next few days.

Apparently there are some holidays here in Canada that I was unaware of today. As a result, none of our post offices or banks are open, which means that nothing can be mailed out today. I have many orders to go out and will get everything posted by tomorrow (Tuesday) and sent on its way. Everyone who I have talked to have been very understanding though so I am not worrying about it. It is a joy to work with such lovely customers!

I have so many things to share that it would be impossible for me to post them all in one or even two entries here. I realize many of you read while having your morning coffee and I think if I talked about the last several days at once, you would be here at least until afternoon tea. Besides - there are so many things on my own plate today that I need to get moving as soon as I am done posting here. It is all good though and I feel happy and thrilled about everything in general. I think we both really needed the break, but we are both so inspired by so many things we saw and experienced on the trip that it was an incredible boost for both Keith and myself.

The cats were thrilled to see us return. I suppose the only down side of leaving in the first place is that I need to leave the cats behind. People say they don't notice, but I beg to differ. Richard was visibly excited and came to me immediately as I walked in the door. When I picked him up, he purred and purred and kept pushing his head against my chest and 'kneading' my arm with his paws. I haven't had a greeting like that from a cat in a long while!

Coco was also very affectionate. She took her turn when Rich left and came on my lap in her gentle way and also purred her heart out.

Pancakes was the one who was rather angry at us for leaving. While he did eventually come over and sit on my lap, when I talked to him, he kind of 'grumbled' back. He was definitely out of sorts and a bit cross with us. This behavior continued throughout the day and only last night did he seem to be a bit more forgiving. He has forgiven us, but let us know that he wasn't happy with us abandoning him in the first place.

So all is well and good. I have a wonderfully busy day ahead and plan to spend the day catching up and once again sending out our bi-monthly newsletter with the site updates. I should have that sent by the end of the day.

I did want to announce something to all of my painting followers who loved the "Nevermore" painting plaque that I created a couple of weeks ago. I had many inquiries to when the pattern would be available and I am happy to say that it is now up on the Interactive Artists Online site. For those of you who aren't aware of Interactive Artists Online magazine, it is really a wonderful publication. You can follow this link to their home page and see what they are all about:

https://interactiveartistmagazine.org/

They have so much to offer, like videos, written lessons and articles. They publish new content every other month and it is available to you for the entire length of your subscription. My "Nevermore" plaque instructions are available under the Written Lessons tab at the top. You need to have a subscription to access the detailed painting instructions and line work, but right now they have a really great offer to try them out. Here are the details:

Font History Art Artifact Rectangle


This is a really incredible offer. Many of you had inquired about purchasing the pattern for the Nevermore plaque. I will not be selling the pattern myself until early next year, and when I do, it will probably cost about $9.00, as it is very detailed and includes nearly 30 step-by-step color photos. For just over the cost of two patterns, you can get a subscription to IAM for a full YEAR! That will include over 60 patterns and lessons, as well as access to instructional videos and articles. Not to mention networking and resources and all kinds of wonderful information. It honestly is a wonderful deal. This would be a great time to give IAM a try!

I also want you all to be aware that I am selling the pre-cut sign board pieces for this project. The wood kit is now available on my website here:

SLDPK223 - "Nevermore" plaque wood kit

I already have several ordered and I am sending them out tomorrow.

I am going to wrap things up for today's post. As I said - there is much to share but I need to keep moving. I'll be talking about everything in the days to come.

It is raining here this morning. Soft and quiet and nice. It appears we planned our trip at just the right time.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have an incredible week ahead.

Happy Monday!
 

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#10,722 ·
Back from Holiday - Back to Work

After nearly a week long getaway to beautiful Prince Edward Island, we have returned home feeling refreshed and more excited than ever about our work. What an incredible time we had! This has been probably one of the longest times I spent away from writing here on my blog since I began it over four years ago. I know I needed the break, but I truly missed the daily correspondence with you - my wonderfully creative readers. It made me realize just how much I enjoy chatting with you all both on the forums and through private messages.

I must admit though, that I was a bad 'tourist' in that I didn't take many photos of our journey. There was so many beautiful things to see and I wanted to see them first-hand - not from behind a camera lens. I did take some photos, but my camera is currently not accessible so you will all need to wait to see the few photos that I have. To be honest, I haven't even had a chance to look at them yet, and I hope some are suitable for sharing.

As with any time away, I returned to hundreds of emails to attend to. Not all of them need responses, but the email box is very full and I ask that you all be patient with giving me time to catch up. I will be doing that in the next few days.

Apparently there are some holidays here in Canada that I was unaware of today. As a result, none of our post offices or banks are open, which means that nothing can be mailed out today. I have many orders to go out and will get everything posted by tomorrow (Tuesday) and sent on its way. Everyone who I have talked to have been very understanding though so I am not worrying about it. It is a joy to work with such lovely customers!

I have so many things to share that it would be impossible for me to post them all in one or even two entries here. I realize many of you read while having your morning coffee and I think if I talked about the last several days at once, you would be here at least until afternoon tea. Besides - there are so many things on my own plate today that I need to get moving as soon as I am done posting here. It is all good though and I feel happy and thrilled about everything in general. I think we both really needed the break, but we are both so inspired by so many things we saw and experienced on the trip that it was an incredible boost for both Keith and myself.

The cats were thrilled to see us return. I suppose the only down side of leaving in the first place is that I need to leave the cats behind. People say they don't notice, but I beg to differ. Richard was visibly excited and came to me immediately as I walked in the door. When I picked him up, he purred and purred and kept pushing his head against my chest and 'kneading' my arm with his paws. I haven't had a greeting like that from a cat in a long while!

Coco was also very affectionate. She took her turn when Rich left and came on my lap in her gentle way and also purred her heart out.

Pancakes was the one who was rather angry at us for leaving. While he did eventually come over and sit on my lap, when I talked to him, he kind of 'grumbled' back. He was definitely out of sorts and a bit cross with us. This behavior continued throughout the day and only last night did he seem to be a bit more forgiving. He has forgiven us, but let us know that he wasn't happy with us abandoning him in the first place.

So all is well and good. I have a wonderfully busy day ahead and plan to spend the day catching up and once again sending out our bi-monthly newsletter with the site updates. I should have that sent by the end of the day.

I did want to announce something to all of my painting followers who loved the "Nevermore" painting plaque that I created a couple of weeks ago. I had many inquiries to when the pattern would be available and I am happy to say that it is now up on the Interactive Artists Online site. For those of you who aren't aware of Interactive Artists Online magazine, it is really a wonderful publication. You can follow this link to their home page and see what they are all about:

https://interactiveartistmagazine.org/

They have so much to offer, like videos, written lessons and articles. They publish new content every other month and it is available to you for the entire length of your subscription. My "Nevermore" plaque instructions are available under the Written Lessons tab at the top. You need to have a subscription to access the detailed painting instructions and line work, but right now they have a really great offer to try them out. Here are the details:

Font History Art Artifact Rectangle


This is a really incredible offer. Many of you had inquired about purchasing the pattern for the Nevermore plaque. I will not be selling the pattern myself until early next year, and when I do, it will probably cost about $9.00, as it is very detailed and includes nearly 30 step-by-step color photos. For just over the cost of two patterns, you can get a subscription to IAM for a full YEAR! That will include over 60 patterns and lessons, as well as access to instructional videos and articles. Not to mention networking and resources and all kinds of wonderful information. It honestly is a wonderful deal. This would be a great time to give IAM a try!

I also want you all to be aware that I am selling the pre-cut sign board pieces for this project. The wood kit is now available on my website here:

SLDPK223 - "Nevermore" plaque wood kit

I already have several ordered and I am sending them out tomorrow.

I am going to wrap things up for today's post. As I said - there is much to share but I need to keep moving. I'll be talking about everything in the days to come.

It is raining here this morning. Soft and quiet and nice. It appears we planned our trip at just the right time.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have an incredible week ahead.

Happy Monday!
Welcome back. You said it well about everything. Cats do mourn while we're gone.
 

Attachments

#10,729 ·
Still Catching Up

The day was so busy yesterday, and I am still catching up on orders and things today. While it is fun to take a break, I always worry about the pile of work that will await me when I return home. I suppose it is a good sign though, and our little business is doing OK. I am very grateful and happy for that, as it took us a long time to get here and we still have a long way to go.

Today I want to highlight some beautiful painting items that I received from a woman in one of my painting groups on Facebook. I belong to several, and often throughout the year they hold "exchanges" where members paint something for another and we get to share in someone elses' talent. I LOVE doing the exchanges, as I love sampling (and owning!) things that were made by my friends. As someone who creates thing myself, I certainly appreciate the time and talent that is put into another hand-made piece. I think in some ways people who craft are the ones that appreciate each other the best.

I received my Summer 2014 exchange the day I was leaving on vacation. My partner was Cheryl Jones from California and she not only designs, but also sells a limited amount of finished items. her Facebook page is Under the Lemon Tree if you would like to visit it and see her other work. Her designs are just adorable!

Here is a photo of all that I received from Cheryl:

Rectangle Wood Art Toy Present


As you can see, it wasn't just one thing, but several darling goodies! The main piece was this adorable plaque that is her own design. It is an adorable beach scene which included a beach-themed snowman (complete with starfish buttons!)

Paint Cloud Art Happy Sky


and a cut little bear eating watermelon and drinking a tall, cool drink:

Vertebrate Textile Art Creative arts Painting


I loved all the little details, like real seashells on the corners of the picture:

Shankha Cuisine Shell Natural material Wood


Everything about it was just adorable! Cheryl also sent me a little bag of "California sand" complete with shells and a cute domino which was also painted with a bear:

Wood Present Sweetness Plastic wrap Fashion accessory


And on the upper corner of the picture, there was this cute tag:

Font Wood Happy Fashion accessory Hardwood


All in all, it was a wonderful package! What a thoughtful group of items! I felt like it was Christmas!

I plan to be involved in more exchanges. Around Christmas, I participate in several ornament exchanges, and I really love my 'collection' from other woodworkers and painters. It is so much fun!

Today I will be working on my wood cutting orders. I have several to go out and it looks like I will be spending most of my time at the scroll saw. Those of you who read know that it something that I love to do, so I look forward to a great day!

I wanted to thank Cheryl here for taking the time to create such a nice package of gifts for me. I truly appreciate it and every time I see them I will think of her fondly as well as our awesome group.

I also wanted to thank everyone who was so patient while we were away. It is hard for us to get away sometimes, but it is much easier when we know that our customers are understanding and happy that we take some time for ourselves sometimes. I think it makes us do our job better in the long run.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
 

Attachments

#10,730 ·
Still Catching Up

The day was so busy yesterday, and I am still catching up on orders and things today. While it is fun to take a break, I always worry about the pile of work that will await me when I return home. I suppose it is a good sign though, and our little business is doing OK. I am very grateful and happy for that, as it took us a long time to get here and we still have a long way to go.

Today I want to highlight some beautiful painting items that I received from a woman in one of my painting groups on Facebook. I belong to several, and often throughout the year they hold "exchanges" where members paint something for another and we get to share in someone elses' talent. I LOVE doing the exchanges, as I love sampling (and owning!) things that were made by my friends. As someone who creates thing myself, I certainly appreciate the time and talent that is put into another hand-made piece. I think in some ways people who craft are the ones that appreciate each other the best.

I received my Summer 2014 exchange the day I was leaving on vacation. My partner was Cheryl Jones from California and she not only designs, but also sells a limited amount of finished items. her Facebook page is Under the Lemon Tree if you would like to visit it and see her other work. Her designs are just adorable!

Here is a photo of all that I received from Cheryl:

Rectangle Wood Art Toy Present


As you can see, it wasn't just one thing, but several darling goodies! The main piece was this adorable plaque that is her own design. It is an adorable beach scene which included a beach-themed snowman (complete with starfish buttons!)

Paint Cloud Art Happy Sky


and a cut little bear eating watermelon and drinking a tall, cool drink:

Vertebrate Textile Art Creative arts Painting


I loved all the little details, like real seashells on the corners of the picture:

Shankha Cuisine Shell Natural material Wood


Everything about it was just adorable! Cheryl also sent me a little bag of "California sand" complete with shells and a cute domino which was also painted with a bear:

Wood Present Sweetness Plastic wrap Fashion accessory


And on the upper corner of the picture, there was this cute tag:

Font Wood Happy Fashion accessory Hardwood


All in all, it was a wonderful package! What a thoughtful group of items! I felt like it was Christmas!

I plan to be involved in more exchanges. Around Christmas, I participate in several ornament exchanges, and I really love my 'collection' from other woodworkers and painters. It is so much fun!

Today I will be working on my wood cutting orders. I have several to go out and it looks like I will be spending most of my time at the scroll saw. Those of you who read know that it something that I love to do, so I look forward to a great day!

I wanted to thank Cheryl here for taking the time to create such a nice package of gifts for me. I truly appreciate it and every time I see them I will think of her fondly as well as our awesome group.

I also wanted to thank everyone who was so patient while we were away. It is hard for us to get away sometimes, but it is much easier when we know that our customers are understanding and happy that we take some time for ourselves sometimes. I think it makes us do our job better in the long run.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Nice to get away, nicer to be back home Sheila

Jamie
 

Attachments

#10,734 ·
Meeting Some Friends

It is hard to believe that it is Thursday already. I honestly don't know what happened to this past week. It is difficult for me to understand how quickly time can pass, and just when I think it couldn't move any quicker, it seem to accelerate to an even greater speed.

I can finally say that I am pretty much caught up with things. While we only were gone for four days, it seems to have taken the next several days to get caught up again. I think it shows me just how busy I can be on a daily basis.

I had several wood orders to cut and get into the mail. I really like doing that part of the business so I am pleased that is going well. It seems there is just enough work in that area to give me some time to feel like a 'woodworker' and not be overwhelmed. Since Keith and I had been cutting the wholesale wood pieces for Artist's Club the past couple of years, most any size order seems manageable. It is a nice change of pace. I currently haven't submitted any projects to them, but I plan to do so in the future so that perhaps next summer we will have some work in that area. This year I felt we needed to concentrate on our own business here and I am glad we did that. It really is a game of checks and balances when running our business. It isn't always apparent which path is the correct one to take, and sometimes we just have to try something new. But to me, that is part of the excitement.

It always feels good though as I walk out of the post office and the orders are all on their way. It is a great relief to me to finally be caught up with things and have a clean slate ahead. It is one of those rare days when I am caught up on all fronts - the magazines, the distributors, my own website and personal orders. For that brief moment, the world is my oyster and I alone decide which step to take next. What a great feeling.

Everything seemed to fall into place. Just as I was finished with my orders and obligations, we were fortunate enough to have a nice visit from some friends. I 'met' Erwin over four years ago through the Lumberjocks.com website when I began this blog. Erwin lives in Florida with his wife Edith and is a wonderful wood turner. Our friendship began by him commenting on my posts there and over the years we became friends on Facebook as well. I was also able to 'meet' Edith on Facebook and I enjoy seeing her wonderful photography that she frequently posts there.

They have both been on the road since April, travelling all through the United States and Canada in their nice camper and taking in the sights of both countries from the perspective of back roads and less-traveled paths. What a wonderful experience they are having! I think many of us would envy them and wish we could do the same.

I had been watching their progress via Facebook and saw that they were heading our way here to Nova Scotia. Actually, they were in Prince Edward Islands last week the same time that we were. But since Keith and I were only there a short while, it was difficult to schedule a time to get together, so we decided to wait until they came down here. It turned out that yesterday was the day that they would be in our area and it was the perfect time to take a break and finally meet them in person.

We made reservations at our favorite little restaurant by the ocean, although the fog was so thick you couldn't even see the water. But that didn't matter, as we had such a lovely visit and from the moment we did meet in person, we felt we had been friends for years. After a lunch of rappie pie (and shrimp for Edith) we brought them to our little place to see our 'workshop' and meet the kitties. It was wonderful to finally meet them in person and we had a wonderful visit.

They generously gave us two beautiful rosewood bowls that Erwin had turned:

Natural material Wood Plant Bivalve Circle


Aren't they beautiful?

It was such a wonderful day all around! I truly love the friendships that I have made through my posting here and on Facebook. I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world that I truly consider my friends. Finally meeting them in person is such a wonderful experience.

My only regret was that I didn't take any of my own photos. I was so caught up in things that I completely forgot to do so. I am 'borrowing' a picture from Erwin's Facebook page of them and I hope they don't mind. Edith took some photos of us so maybe I can get some copies of them for myself later on.

Smile Glasses Window Vision care Dress shirt


What lovely people they are!

Today I think I am going to spend the day sorting and posting receipts. While I have several other things that I would like to do, I find that I neglect that part of the job most and then at tax time it is kind of a burden for me to get things done. Since I have this lull in my schedule, I think it will be the responsible thing to get things all posted and filed and caught up while I have nothing really pressing. I have so many new ideas for designs and I am anxious to begin them soon. This way I will be able to do so with a clear head and good feeling.

Today is another foggy day here in Nova Scotia. While most mornings start off like this, it is so thick that I can barely see across the road to the river. Usually it burns off an hour or two after daylight, but it looks as if it may be foggy for the remainder of the day again. It has been an odd summer in the sense that it hasn't really been 'hot' here with the exception of a couple of days. I am not complaining about that, as I enjoy the cooler weather. However, even though it is August, we still need jackets at night and the mornings have a definite crispness. Autumn is certainly not far behind.

I wish you all a wonderful day today. I hope you enjoy each day's beauty - no matter where you live - and do something creative to feed your soul.

Happy Thursday!

"Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless." - Elizabeth Gilbert
 

Attachments

#10,735 ·
Meeting Some Friends

It is hard to believe that it is Thursday already. I honestly don't know what happened to this past week. It is difficult for me to understand how quickly time can pass, and just when I think it couldn't move any quicker, it seem to accelerate to an even greater speed.

I can finally say that I am pretty much caught up with things. While we only were gone for four days, it seems to have taken the next several days to get caught up again. I think it shows me just how busy I can be on a daily basis.

I had several wood orders to cut and get into the mail. I really like doing that part of the business so I am pleased that is going well. It seems there is just enough work in that area to give me some time to feel like a 'woodworker' and not be overwhelmed. Since Keith and I had been cutting the wholesale wood pieces for Artist's Club the past couple of years, most any size order seems manageable. It is a nice change of pace. I currently haven't submitted any projects to them, but I plan to do so in the future so that perhaps next summer we will have some work in that area. This year I felt we needed to concentrate on our own business here and I am glad we did that. It really is a game of checks and balances when running our business. It isn't always apparent which path is the correct one to take, and sometimes we just have to try something new. But to me, that is part of the excitement.

It always feels good though as I walk out of the post office and the orders are all on their way. It is a great relief to me to finally be caught up with things and have a clean slate ahead. It is one of those rare days when I am caught up on all fronts - the magazines, the distributors, my own website and personal orders. For that brief moment, the world is my oyster and I alone decide which step to take next. What a great feeling.

Everything seemed to fall into place. Just as I was finished with my orders and obligations, we were fortunate enough to have a nice visit from some friends. I 'met' Erwin over four years ago through the Lumberjocks.com website when I began this blog. Erwin lives in Florida with his wife Edith and is a wonderful wood turner. Our friendship began by him commenting on my posts there and over the years we became friends on Facebook as well. I was also able to 'meet' Edith on Facebook and I enjoy seeing her wonderful photography that she frequently posts there.

They have both been on the road since April, travelling all through the United States and Canada in their nice camper and taking in the sights of both countries from the perspective of back roads and less-traveled paths. What a wonderful experience they are having! I think many of us would envy them and wish we could do the same.

I had been watching their progress via Facebook and saw that they were heading our way here to Nova Scotia. Actually, they were in Prince Edward Islands last week the same time that we were. But since Keith and I were only there a short while, it was difficult to schedule a time to get together, so we decided to wait until they came down here. It turned out that yesterday was the day that they would be in our area and it was the perfect time to take a break and finally meet them in person.

We made reservations at our favorite little restaurant by the ocean, although the fog was so thick you couldn't even see the water. But that didn't matter, as we had such a lovely visit and from the moment we did meet in person, we felt we had been friends for years. After a lunch of rappie pie (and shrimp for Edith) we brought them to our little place to see our 'workshop' and meet the kitties. It was wonderful to finally meet them in person and we had a wonderful visit.

They generously gave us two beautiful rosewood bowls that Erwin had turned:

Natural material Wood Plant Bivalve Circle


Aren't they beautiful?

It was such a wonderful day all around! I truly love the friendships that I have made through my posting here and on Facebook. I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world that I truly consider my friends. Finally meeting them in person is such a wonderful experience.

My only regret was that I didn't take any of my own photos. I was so caught up in things that I completely forgot to do so. I am 'borrowing' a picture from Erwin's Facebook page of them and I hope they don't mind. Edith took some photos of us so maybe I can get some copies of them for myself later on.

Smile Glasses Window Vision care Dress shirt


What lovely people they are!

Today I think I am going to spend the day sorting and posting receipts. While I have several other things that I would like to do, I find that I neglect that part of the job most and then at tax time it is kind of a burden for me to get things done. Since I have this lull in my schedule, I think it will be the responsible thing to get things all posted and filed and caught up while I have nothing really pressing. I have so many new ideas for designs and I am anxious to begin them soon. This way I will be able to do so with a clear head and good feeling.

Today is another foggy day here in Nova Scotia. While most mornings start off like this, it is so thick that I can barely see across the road to the river. Usually it burns off an hour or two after daylight, but it looks as if it may be foggy for the remainder of the day again. It has been an odd summer in the sense that it hasn't really been 'hot' here with the exception of a couple of days. I am not complaining about that, as I enjoy the cooler weather. However, even though it is August, we still need jackets at night and the mornings have a definite crispness. Autumn is certainly not far behind.

I wish you all a wonderful day today. I hope you enjoy each day's beauty - no matter where you live - and do something creative to feed your soul.

Happy Thursday!

"Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless." - Elizabeth Gilbert
Ah rappie pie! Great memories of visiting that restaurant last year! it's great meeting people in person that are befriended on line. Another beautiful day here in BC. The heat wave is still strong for at least another week.
 

Attachments

#10,739 ·
A Different Kind of Project

Yesterday I had mentioned that I was going to spend the day getting caught up on some paperwork. I did spend a couple of hours in the morning doing that, but as so often happens, later on in the day I got somewhat distracted and wound up spending the day doing an entirely different type of project. Such is life . . .

I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Keith was in the process of building a new speaker/amplifier system for our home. While we already had a really awesome system that he built before we met, he had wanted to raise things to an even higher level. One of his passions is electronics and sound systems, and he had spent the winter not only researching how to build new components, but had also built a pretty sophisticated amplifier. Here is a photo of what our "old" system looked like:

Wood Audio equipment Flooring Hardwood Home appliance


Many of you may remember that we have a very small place here. This is our main living area and as you can see on the edges of the photograph, we each have our own computers on the ends of our couch, where we each sit and work. Both computers are networked together as well as to the big screen in the middle, and we can 'drag' our desktop to the large screen if necessary. Since we don't have traditional TV, we watch everything (movies, shows on delay, etc.) through our computers, as well as listen to our music that way.

The large cabinet contained our printer, scanner and office supplies as well as extra computer equipment. Part of the re-do of the sound system was to rid the room of the cabinet, as it interfered with the acoustics of the room. However, that meant that we would lose all of that precious storage space that we so desperately needed. So what Keith did was reorganize our closets. The main one that needed work was the first closet in the kitchen next to the scroll saw. we keep our wood and shop vac there, but we saw there was a great deal of wasted space. So what Keith did was turn the closet from this:

Shelf Wood Shelving Gas Hardwood


To this . . .

Furniture Shelf Wood Shelving Cabinetry


Which gave us all the additional room as you see here for to store what was in the large cabinet.

So out it went.

Over the next few weeks, he continued to build the new speakers. While they seemed to be taller than the speakers in the first photo, they are built so that the large sub-woofers (the cubes that the smaller speakers are sitting on in the first pictures) would not be necessary. While we are leaving the subs there for now, once Keith builds the new stand for the TV and speakers, they will be gone.

The speakers were finished a couple of weeks ago and sound amazing. While I wasn't sure if it was necessary to 'upgrade' our old system, I can certainly hear the difference with the new components.

I realize that by the looks of it you must assume we blast our music, but that really isn't the case. While we are probably able to push the volume to extreme levels (we haven't even really tried yet) the goal here was to get better tone and clarity. All I can say is they sound "amazing."

But we wanted them to look nice as well as sound nice. The material used to create the boxes was 1" birch plywood. This was of a very high grade and cost nearly $100 per sheet. As you can imagine, Keith needed to be very exact in his design and implementation of creating the boxes. Mistakes would be very costly.

He did much of the building of the speaker boxes in his parent's basement. There was more room there and more of the larger tools that he needed. He had brought them home here a couple of weeks ago to test them, and they sounded pretty darn good. But they were unfinished and we didn't want them get dirty or damaged before we did finish them. So earlier this week we decided to finish them off.

What we decided on was a nice natural stained/painted black mix. Our 'theme' in our home is that of geometric black/browns/ and somewhat of a 'steampunk' theme. We both like that genre and little by little we are adding pieces to reflect that. Keith wanted to have the center front, top and bottom stained brown, allowing the natural grain of the wood to show through. For the black, we wanted a semi-satin, hard finish that would hold up well to dust and time. He liked the finish that I got when I used DecoArt's Multi-Surface Satin paint on my paint bottle holder and we decided to try it on the speakers.

Liquid Product Fluid Font Material property


We both love DecoArt products and have always found them to be very high quality. For the two speakers, we used less than two 8oz bottles. One thing great about the Multi-Surface Satin was that it needs no primer or finish coat. It is all in one product.

After Keith stained the center portions of the speakers and used two coats of DecoArt Matte Acrylic Spray to seal them, we taped off the edges.

Automotive tire Wood Wall Material property Tower


I carefully painted THREE coats of the Multi-Surface Satin paint, allowing each coat to dry completely. Keith (being a man) said he would have never been so patient as I was in applying the paint. He would in all probability tried to do it in one or at the most two coats and I think it would have made a mess. I really think that people need to understand that the first base coat is very important to get right. It didn't look great, as it didn't cover the brown stain areas completely, but it is NOT supposed to do that in one coat! I stressed how THIN coats were best to layer on these pieces for full and even coverage. Besides - we didn't want a ridge or lip at the edge of the black when the tape was removed. As you can see here in the photo, the edge was clean and there was no ridge or build up of paint at all. (I assure you that ALL the edges came out just as nice!)

Rectangle Wood Textile Flooring Floor


PATIENCE is the key here! Making sure your tape is pressed firmly at that edge and then when applying paint, do so minimally near the taped edge. Don't allow it to get too thick there. You can also see how beautiful the birch stain really is.

Once the edges were completed, it was time to do the sides and back.

Rectangle Wood Flooring Composite material Wood stain


This was easy, but again required time and patience. While the Multi-Surface Satin dried quickly, it was imperative to make sure each coat was dry before applying the next. Otherwise it would life the previous coat, making a mess. (No - that DID NOT happen! We waited and used fans to help each coat dry faster!)

I used a roller to apply the paint to the sides and back. I applied three coats, sanding with 600 grit paper after the first to make the surface completely smooth. All three coats were applied rather thin, which gave the paint an ultra smooth look. The results were a beautifully smooth finish, which still showed a hint of the grain through it. We both liked that effect a lot:

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Gas Wood stain


The results are just beautiful. The speakers look wonderfully professional, and they sound amazing. I had a hard time getting a final photo because by the time they were completed last night, it was naturally dark. (We finished up after 10pm)

This morning there is a great deal of back light from the window, but you can see the beautiful results that we achieved.

Wood Audio equipment Fixture Sound box Gas


We are both thrilled!

Once again, DecoArt products preformed wonderfully. The Multi-Surface Satin line comes in a huge array of colors, and like all of DecoArt's products, there is no odor and they clean up with water. Since I painted my paint rack over a year ago, it has held up to daily bumping around and use and still looks just beautiful. I think that if you like a semi-satin finish, this paint is a very good choice. Touch ups will be easy, too, as any scratches or marks can be lightly sanded and painted over again. The fact that the paint didn't need a separate finish eliminated that step as well.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this transformation and learning about this product. Since I mostly do smaller items for decorative painting, I don't often get the opportunity to share stuff like this with you. But I really think that I will be using this paint for other things as well.

Today I will try again to do some paper work. I don't think I have to do it all in a day, so I will push the pile as much as I can. I have some UFO's to work on as well (Unfinished Objects) and I would like to complete them.

Friday is here already and we have a beautiful day here on the river. The fog seems to have left us and it is a crisp and clear morning. It looks to be a wonderful day!

Happy Friday to you all! I hope you have a great weekend!
 

Attachments

#10,740 ·
A Different Kind of Project

Yesterday I had mentioned that I was going to spend the day getting caught up on some paperwork. I did spend a couple of hours in the morning doing that, but as so often happens, later on in the day I got somewhat distracted and wound up spending the day doing an entirely different type of project. Such is life . . .

I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Keith was in the process of building a new speaker/amplifier system for our home. While we already had a really awesome system that he built before we met, he had wanted to raise things to an even higher level. One of his passions is electronics and sound systems, and he had spent the winter not only researching how to build new components, but had also built a pretty sophisticated amplifier. Here is a photo of what our "old" system looked like:

Wood Audio equipment Flooring Hardwood Home appliance


Many of you may remember that we have a very small place here. This is our main living area and as you can see on the edges of the photograph, we each have our own computers on the ends of our couch, where we each sit and work. Both computers are networked together as well as to the big screen in the middle, and we can 'drag' our desktop to the large screen if necessary. Since we don't have traditional TV, we watch everything (movies, shows on delay, etc.) through our computers, as well as listen to our music that way.

The large cabinet contained our printer, scanner and office supplies as well as extra computer equipment. Part of the re-do of the sound system was to rid the room of the cabinet, as it interfered with the acoustics of the room. However, that meant that we would lose all of that precious storage space that we so desperately needed. So what Keith did was reorganize our closets. The main one that needed work was the first closet in the kitchen next to the scroll saw. we keep our wood and shop vac there, but we saw there was a great deal of wasted space. So what Keith did was turn the closet from this:

Shelf Wood Shelving Gas Hardwood


To this . . .

Furniture Shelf Wood Shelving Cabinetry


Which gave us all the additional room as you see here for to store what was in the large cabinet.

So out it went.

Over the next few weeks, he continued to build the new speakers. While they seemed to be taller than the speakers in the first photo, they are built so that the large sub-woofers (the cubes that the smaller speakers are sitting on in the first pictures) would not be necessary. While we are leaving the subs there for now, once Keith builds the new stand for the TV and speakers, they will be gone.

The speakers were finished a couple of weeks ago and sound amazing. While I wasn't sure if it was necessary to 'upgrade' our old system, I can certainly hear the difference with the new components.

I realize that by the looks of it you must assume we blast our music, but that really isn't the case. While we are probably able to push the volume to extreme levels (we haven't even really tried yet) the goal here was to get better tone and clarity. All I can say is they sound "amazing."

But we wanted them to look nice as well as sound nice. The material used to create the boxes was 1" birch plywood. This was of a very high grade and cost nearly $100 per sheet. As you can imagine, Keith needed to be very exact in his design and implementation of creating the boxes. Mistakes would be very costly.

He did much of the building of the speaker boxes in his parent's basement. There was more room there and more of the larger tools that he needed. He had brought them home here a couple of weeks ago to test them, and they sounded pretty darn good. But they were unfinished and we didn't want them get dirty or damaged before we did finish them. So earlier this week we decided to finish them off.

What we decided on was a nice natural stained/painted black mix. Our 'theme' in our home is that of geometric black/browns/ and somewhat of a 'steampunk' theme. We both like that genre and little by little we are adding pieces to reflect that. Keith wanted to have the center front, top and bottom stained brown, allowing the natural grain of the wood to show through. For the black, we wanted a semi-satin, hard finish that would hold up well to dust and time. He liked the finish that I got when I used DecoArt's Multi-Surface Satin paint on my paint bottle holder and we decided to try it on the speakers.

Liquid Product Fluid Font Material property


We both love DecoArt products and have always found them to be very high quality. For the two speakers, we used less than two 8oz bottles. One thing great about the Multi-Surface Satin was that it needs no primer or finish coat. It is all in one product.

After Keith stained the center portions of the speakers and used two coats of DecoArt Matte Acrylic Spray to seal them, we taped off the edges.

Automotive tire Wood Wall Material property Tower


I carefully painted THREE coats of the Multi-Surface Satin paint, allowing each coat to dry completely. Keith (being a man) said he would have never been so patient as I was in applying the paint. He would in all probability tried to do it in one or at the most two coats and I think it would have made a mess. I really think that people need to understand that the first base coat is very important to get right. It didn't look great, as it didn't cover the brown stain areas completely, but it is NOT supposed to do that in one coat! I stressed how THIN coats were best to layer on these pieces for full and even coverage. Besides - we didn't want a ridge or lip at the edge of the black when the tape was removed. As you can see here in the photo, the edge was clean and there was no ridge or build up of paint at all. (I assure you that ALL the edges came out just as nice!)

Rectangle Wood Textile Flooring Floor


PATIENCE is the key here! Making sure your tape is pressed firmly at that edge and then when applying paint, do so minimally near the taped edge. Don't allow it to get too thick there. You can also see how beautiful the birch stain really is.

Once the edges were completed, it was time to do the sides and back.

Rectangle Wood Flooring Composite material Wood stain


This was easy, but again required time and patience. While the Multi-Surface Satin dried quickly, it was imperative to make sure each coat was dry before applying the next. Otherwise it would life the previous coat, making a mess. (No - that DID NOT happen! We waited and used fans to help each coat dry faster!)

I used a roller to apply the paint to the sides and back. I applied three coats, sanding with 600 grit paper after the first to make the surface completely smooth. All three coats were applied rather thin, which gave the paint an ultra smooth look. The results were a beautifully smooth finish, which still showed a hint of the grain through it. We both liked that effect a lot:

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Gas Wood stain


The results are just beautiful. The speakers look wonderfully professional, and they sound amazing. I had a hard time getting a final photo because by the time they were completed last night, it was naturally dark. (We finished up after 10pm)

This morning there is a great deal of back light from the window, but you can see the beautiful results that we achieved.

Wood Audio equipment Fixture Sound box Gas


We are both thrilled!

Once again, DecoArt products preformed wonderfully. The Multi-Surface Satin line comes in a huge array of colors, and like all of DecoArt's products, there is no odor and they clean up with water. Since I painted my paint rack over a year ago, it has held up to daily bumping around and use and still looks just beautiful. I think that if you like a semi-satin finish, this paint is a very good choice. Touch ups will be easy, too, as any scratches or marks can be lightly sanded and painted over again. The fact that the paint didn't need a separate finish eliminated that step as well.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this transformation and learning about this product. Since I mostly do smaller items for decorative painting, I don't often get the opportunity to share stuff like this with you. But I really think that I will be using this paint for other things as well.

Today I will try again to do some paper work. I don't think I have to do it all in a day, so I will push the pile as much as I can. I have some UFO's to work on as well (Unfinished Objects) and I would like to complete them.

Friday is here already and we have a beautiful day here on the river. The fog seems to have left us and it is a crisp and clear morning. It looks to be a wonderful day!

Happy Friday to you all! I hope you have a great weekend!
Keith is a guy of many talents! I love the way the grain is still showing through the finish. Beautifully done! I believe music is so important and it's great to have a system that gives the best sound. Enjoy!
 

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#10,743 ·
A Perfect World - Panel 12

I honestly don't know what is with me these days. Last week we were away for five days, and it has taken me almost a full week to catch up with things. I am finally nearing the 'bottom' of my email box and getting everything answered and caught up. Soon I will be able to move forward onto new designs.

I have some ideas as to what I want to do next, but they aren't quite 'there' yet. By that, I mean that I am not quite clear in the direction that I am heading with them and therefore a bit stuck. I know that is part of the process, and I want to give things the time they need to be completely developed (or at least enough to begin drawing them!) but I also know that forcing things along will just be a waste of time, as that never really turns out well for me.

So in the mean time, I do other things . . .

The paperwork I mentioned earlier this week still needs to be posted to my computer. There is still a bit of organizing for me to do around my home here. And then there are the "UFO's" - (the "unfinished objects") that are partially painted and need to be finished up so I can either donate them or give them away. There are always so many.

Looking back on the past week I see I DID accomplish quite a bit. I finished several mail orders for wood surfaces which took me at least a day to cut, sand and pack. We had a beautiful day visiting friends, I sent out a newsletter and updated the web site, and we painted Keith's speakers. I certainly wasn't idle. That on top of the hundreds of emails that awaited me on my return and the laundry and other daily chores that are typically awaiting upon returning from a trip away.

As I sit here writing, I wonder why I feel the need to justify myself when I know there hasn't been a waking moment when I wasn't 'doing something' in the past week. Or several weeks for that matter. Sometimes we can really be hard on ourselves.

Last night I came to the decision that I may 'just coast' for a couple of days. While I usually like to map out my days ahead of time, I am going to give myself the weekend to just see what I can get done and do only what I want to do at the time. Nothing is really pressing at this time, and the loose ends of what I want to accomplish are many. I think I am going to allow myself to pluck on whatever string fancies me at the time and see where it takes me. Perhaps without the self-imposed pressure that I tend to apply to myself, I will actually get something accomplished. Or at least feel that I am doing so.

It sounds good to me. ;)

As you can imagine, being occupied with all that I have been lately hasn't left me with much energy at the end of the day to do my embroidery. When I began the piece in March, I told myself that I would only work on it when I felt good and it wouldn't be another "pressure" that I add to the list of things that I want to do. That would defeat the entire purpose of it and I feel would mar the final results. I want to associate it with being relaxed and having fun and not put a time limit to complete it onto myself. (Although secretly, I gave myself a year!)

After dinner last evening, I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of the night working on it and I realized that it was time to post the progress and completion of another panel - panel 12. So following are the photos for you to see:

Panel 12 is a very colorful section. it was very fun and not difficult at all to do. It began with some cute little English Dasies:

Flower Petal Plant Textile Purple


Also included were several bright colors of Freesias. I found them a lot of fun to create. There were buds and full flowers, and while the pattern called for some button stitching along the edges of some of the petals, I liked them loose and left them 'as is'. They do require some stamens in the center, but I am finding that the stamens that I added previously in other flowers and used as antenna for the butterflies and such are becoming loose from the constant handling of the piece during embroidery. I have decided to apply them to the piece closer to when I am completely finished.

Flower Petal Textile Creative arts Pink


There was also a lovely little honeybee that was sampling the freesia. I mentioned many times that this piece is a 'teaching piece' and I can attest that creating the bee was very easy this time. After doing bee wings and dragonfly wings and moth wings, it is becoming second nature to me to create these types of pieces and I barely had to think about doing them. I suppose repetition is a great teacher after all!

Flower Leaf Petal Textile Creative arts


The overall panel is very vibrant and colorful. It is one of my favorites so far.

Plant Leaf Textile Creative arts Art


On to panel 13!

I thought I would take a shot of the entire piece so that you can see just how little I have left to do. Five more panels and then the trellis and final detailing! And here it is only AUGUST!

Plant Flower Pollinator Leaf Rectangle


As you can see, I already am working on panel #13. I am getting rather excited, as the finish line is in sight. Although I can honestly say that this has not become tedious in the least. Each section is new and exciting and as I finish each one, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. My only problem is that I feel that I am better now than when I started and I have to fight the urge not to rip out and re-do some of the earlier steps. (I promise I will NOT! There will be other pieces in the future to do and I want this piece to represent my advancement and learning process - mistakes and all.

I don't know where the weekend will take me. I just think that I need some time to find a focus before I can go full steam ahead. I know many of you also go through these 'unsettled' times and the reason I share with you is because I have so many people who ask me how I keep my energy level so high. I believe the answer to that is because I am diverse enough in what I do to always have SOMETHING that will keep me going in a good direction. By listening to your heart and allowing yourself to have lulls, I feel that when the direction is clear and the drive does return, you are then able to move ahead with full force and accomplish a great deal in a small window of time.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy Saturday to you all!
 

Attachments

#10,744 ·
A Perfect World - Panel 12

I honestly don't know what is with me these days. Last week we were away for five days, and it has taken me almost a full week to catch up with things. I am finally nearing the 'bottom' of my email box and getting everything answered and caught up. Soon I will be able to move forward onto new designs.

I have some ideas as to what I want to do next, but they aren't quite 'there' yet. By that, I mean that I am not quite clear in the direction that I am heading with them and therefore a bit stuck. I know that is part of the process, and I want to give things the time they need to be completely developed (or at least enough to begin drawing them!) but I also know that forcing things along will just be a waste of time, as that never really turns out well for me.

So in the mean time, I do other things . . .

The paperwork I mentioned earlier this week still needs to be posted to my computer. There is still a bit of organizing for me to do around my home here. And then there are the "UFO's" - (the "unfinished objects") that are partially painted and need to be finished up so I can either donate them or give them away. There are always so many.

Looking back on the past week I see I DID accomplish quite a bit. I finished several mail orders for wood surfaces which took me at least a day to cut, sand and pack. We had a beautiful day visiting friends, I sent out a newsletter and updated the web site, and we painted Keith's speakers. I certainly wasn't idle. That on top of the hundreds of emails that awaited me on my return and the laundry and other daily chores that are typically awaiting upon returning from a trip away.

As I sit here writing, I wonder why I feel the need to justify myself when I know there hasn't been a waking moment when I wasn't 'doing something' in the past week. Or several weeks for that matter. Sometimes we can really be hard on ourselves.

Last night I came to the decision that I may 'just coast' for a couple of days. While I usually like to map out my days ahead of time, I am going to give myself the weekend to just see what I can get done and do only what I want to do at the time. Nothing is really pressing at this time, and the loose ends of what I want to accomplish are many. I think I am going to allow myself to pluck on whatever string fancies me at the time and see where it takes me. Perhaps without the self-imposed pressure that I tend to apply to myself, I will actually get something accomplished. Or at least feel that I am doing so.

It sounds good to me. ;)

As you can imagine, being occupied with all that I have been lately hasn't left me with much energy at the end of the day to do my embroidery. When I began the piece in March, I told myself that I would only work on it when I felt good and it wouldn't be another "pressure" that I add to the list of things that I want to do. That would defeat the entire purpose of it and I feel would mar the final results. I want to associate it with being relaxed and having fun and not put a time limit to complete it onto myself. (Although secretly, I gave myself a year!)

After dinner last evening, I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of the night working on it and I realized that it was time to post the progress and completion of another panel - panel 12. So following are the photos for you to see:

Panel 12 is a very colorful section. it was very fun and not difficult at all to do. It began with some cute little English Dasies:

Flower Petal Plant Textile Purple


Also included were several bright colors of Freesias. I found them a lot of fun to create. There were buds and full flowers, and while the pattern called for some button stitching along the edges of some of the petals, I liked them loose and left them 'as is'. They do require some stamens in the center, but I am finding that the stamens that I added previously in other flowers and used as antenna for the butterflies and such are becoming loose from the constant handling of the piece during embroidery. I have decided to apply them to the piece closer to when I am completely finished.

Flower Petal Textile Creative arts Pink


There was also a lovely little honeybee that was sampling the freesia. I mentioned many times that this piece is a 'teaching piece' and I can attest that creating the bee was very easy this time. After doing bee wings and dragonfly wings and moth wings, it is becoming second nature to me to create these types of pieces and I barely had to think about doing them. I suppose repetition is a great teacher after all!

Flower Leaf Petal Textile Creative arts


The overall panel is very vibrant and colorful. It is one of my favorites so far.

Plant Leaf Textile Creative arts Art


On to panel 13!

I thought I would take a shot of the entire piece so that you can see just how little I have left to do. Five more panels and then the trellis and final detailing! And here it is only AUGUST!

Plant Flower Pollinator Leaf Rectangle


As you can see, I already am working on panel #13. I am getting rather excited, as the finish line is in sight. Although I can honestly say that this has not become tedious in the least. Each section is new and exciting and as I finish each one, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. My only problem is that I feel that I am better now than when I started and I have to fight the urge not to rip out and re-do some of the earlier steps. (I promise I will NOT! There will be other pieces in the future to do and I want this piece to represent my advancement and learning process - mistakes and all.

I don't know where the weekend will take me. I just think that I need some time to find a focus before I can go full steam ahead. I know many of you also go through these 'unsettled' times and the reason I share with you is because I have so many people who ask me how I keep my energy level so high. I believe the answer to that is because I am diverse enough in what I do to always have SOMETHING that will keep me going in a good direction. By listening to your heart and allowing yourself to have lulls, I feel that when the direction is clear and the drive does return, you are then able to move ahead with full force and accomplish a great deal in a small window of time.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy Saturday to you all!
Sheila, could your need to 'justify' yourself stem from not having set work hours? One of the dangers of a home based business is that you are 'always' at work and subconciously, or perhaps conciously, feeling that you should be producing something, anything, because you are at work. It may be particularily difficult for you to 'go home' at the end of the day because your hobby and relaxation that you love is what you do as work. They say that work will expand to fill the hours available to do it…letting work consume all of your time is to start down the road to burnout and coming to begrudge the time spent at work.

I don't know you or your situation except from what you post here so I may be completely out of line, please don't take this as critisism as I greatly admire your work and am very grateful for the incentive and inspiration you've given me and my kids in beginning scrollsawing. I fully credit your postings in my wanting to start SSing myself and to getting my kids hooked also!
 

Attachments

#10,753 ·
Thank You All American Crafts

Writing today's blog post is something that I have not been looking forward to doing. I like my posts here to be positive and up beat, and it is difficult for me to feel that way after receiving the news that I heard over the weekend. However, since word got out, I have been receiving many notes and emails and I feel that the best way to answer them all is to post about things here, so I will do my best to do so and share the information that I have on the matter and also some thoughts on the situation so everyone can better understand what has happened.

On Saturday afternoon, I received notice from my editor of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine Debbie McGowan that not only has the magazine been discontinued, but the publishing company of All American Crafts has filed bankruptcy and as of the close of work (last) Friday, closed its doors. As you can imagine, many people were in shock, including the editors, staff and contributors and designers. Many of us knew there were problems with the company, as the tell tale signs were evident, but most of us hoped that there would be some way for the magazines to pull out of the situation and continue to function. Evidently, there was not.

This is very disheartening for so many people involved. Not only the staff and contributing designers such as ourselves, but also the wonderful subscribers who enjoyed the creative inspiration that each issue provided. All American Crafts published not only Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, but also many other issues such as "Paintworks", "Create and Decorate", "Wood Turning Designs", as well as several quilting, scrap booking and beading magazines. All of them will no longer exist.

Right now, I am receiving many questions regarding what will happen next. I can assure you that I have little information other than what I already stated. I am assuming that we will just no longer receive issues to our subscriptions (yes - I subscribe to several of them as well, as I tried to support the company I worked with) and that will be that. Many people have inquired as to whether they would receive refunds, and I am making an educated guess that they will not. That is what bankruptcy is - legal protection against outstanding debts. I know this may anger many people - especially those who recently subscribed, but I am certain that if there were any way to fulfill the obligations, the people at All American would have done so. As a designer who contributed to several of the magazines over the last several years, I want you all to be aware that we too have things in the works that need to be sorted out. It is as disappointing to us as it is to you as subscribers, and we all are taking a loss as well. This is one of those situations where 'no one wins.'

With that said, I want to say a few things about the group at All American Crafts.

I began working with the company seventeen years ago when I met them at a trade show in Chicago. At the time, I had just began working with Scroller, Ltd., when they were owned by Scott Kochendorfer and Roy King. Some of the Scroller projects had been published in Creative Woodworks and Crafts and one of our collaborated projects made the cover of the magazine (April 1997) and had done very well. I was fortunate enough to say that it carved me a place with the editors back then and as a result of its success, they picked up projects from me not only for Creative Woodworks magazine, but also for Paintworks and Craftworks magazine. They were a huge help in getting my name 'out there' in the crafting world in several venues.

Not only were they helpful professionally, but as people, they were wonderful to work with. All American Crafts is not a huge corporation. It is a small, family-owned company that was founded by Jerry and Maddie Cohen. Their three sons also work there, and as Jerry experienced health problems and lessened his involvement with the company, his sons took over. Most of the editors and employees have been with them for many years or since the beginning. This gave a very close and 'family' feel to the company.

I can only speak for myself, but I always had the feeling that I was part of that family, from the first day that I met everyone. Not only did the editors treat me as a friend and colleague, but so did Jerry and his sons. In the early years I was associated with them, attending trade shows was much more lucrative and we all got together several times a year at these functions to promote our magazines as well as crafting in general. In these past seventeen years, I got to know the family very well and I always admired their kindness, desire and dedication to their business and their customers. They always tried to do the best for all involved and offer as much as they could to make their customers happy.

Robert Becker was the Editor of Creative Woodworks and Crafts for many years and I owe him a great deal for teaching me good business practices. His dedication to customer service always stood out and he was known for his win/win/win arrangements which benefited the customer, the designers as well as the magazine. He taught me that customer service was paramount and came before all else, as he realized that without customers, there would be no business. When he retired and Debbie McGowan took over as Editor, she continued to support that standard of excellence. She had worked as Robert's assistant for many years and I also had worked with her directly. This made the transition easy and I always admired her attention to detail and excellence in doing her job. I was proud to be part of the group and represent the company.

While it is difficult for myself and also the subscribers to see the company folding, I can't imagine what the family is going through. I know they spent years of their lives building their business and I am sure it was a gut-wrenching decision for them to finally close the doors. The difficulties were mounting, as costs for printing and shipping keep increasing and more and more magazines are going to a digital format. The publishing industry as a whole is suffering greatly, as more and more people and designers self-publish and advertise online. I believe it was just a matter of time and a sign of progress. I don't know why All American didn't offer their magazines in digital format so I can't comment on that question. I am sure they had a reason.

As for myself, I am heart sick about these developments. For the past seventeen years, I have been a contributing editor to Creative Woodworks and Crafts. While I never counted, I feel I can safely say that I probably had over 150 projects published with them and it has been a great boost not only to my credibility as a designer, but for my business as well. As I mentioned, I have also been published in their other magazines with both my painting and even my sewing patterns. I feel I owe them a great deal.

I have had several people ask if I will be OK with the magazine going under. Fortunately, I feel that my company is diverse enough to withstand this, but as with any designers, it is never an easy path. There is only one scroll sawing magazine left (Scrollsaw Woodworking and Crafts published by Fox Chapel) and one painting magazine that I know of (The Decorative Painter published by The Society of Decorative Painting). The resources are becoming more and more limited as you can see.

What I feel is important for you all to do is to support these publications as well as the individual designers. Many of the designers have their own web sites and publish their own patterns. I have listings of links to many designers on my site, and I invite those that I don't have listed to submit them to me for inclusion. I also ask that people don't share patterns with groups or friends and purchase their own patterns when they make their projects. If designers are not supported by the public, there will be no way for them to be able to continue to design. I will tell you that from experience. There are also a great deal of "free" patterns available for you to use legally. These are great for many things, but I find that buying patterns from designers usually provides me with a better level of pattern. Everyone likes different things though so I think it is good to shop around and see what you like and what suits your way of learning, be it when doing woodwork or painting. It is a small price to pay to keep people in business so that you have a wide variety of patterns to choose from. It also helps keep the industry alive. Too often I hear complaints that there is no place to order patterns or supplies, but if people aren't willing to support others, then there is no way that these small business can survive. No one would keep going to a job if they were not getting paid. Designers are no different.

Finally, I want to give a word of thanks to the people at All American Crafts and especially the Cohen family. My heart goes out to you all and I hope that you are able to land on your feet when all of this has settled. From the day I met you all, you treated me with kindness and respect and made me feel like part of your family. I admire both your business ethics as well as how you treated your customers and designers. You all were a wonderful role model for me in both my personal life as well as my business life. These last seventeen years of working with you has been a pleasure, and I wish you all the best in whatever you do next. Thank you for believing in me.

I am still digesting what has happened. It will be odd for me to no longer say that I am a Contributing Editor, as I have done so for such a long time that it will feel as if part of me is missing. But as always, I feel that things do happen for a reason and Keith and I will seek out new avenues to share and market our designs and in the end, things will happen just as they should. While I am sad about what has happened, I will embrace these circumstances and find some good in them. Change is never really comfortable, but without it we are not able to advance. I hope you all will join me in my continued journey.

I wish you all a good Monday.

 
#10,754 ·
Wow Sheila. Some sad news there. I do wish you and Keith the best. I know the old saying of "it takes money to make money" is very true. I could hope you & Keith could start your own magazine. I really do wish you both the best of luck. Both of your talents are well recognized in my opinion.
 
#10,784 ·
Circling the Wagons

I was glad to finally be able to go to bed last night. There are times when the best part of some days are when they are over. As difficult as it was for me though, I realize that others had it much harder. I found no comfort in that thought, but it did keep me from settling into feeling sorry for myself or worrying about what will come next. After all - how could I allow myself that indulgence while there were still so many options available? I simply didn't.

They say that people show their true character in times of trouble. (Who are "they" anyway?) I find that to be true. It is easy to be fun and pleasant when things are going well. But when travelling the rocky roads - that is when the facade is lowered and we get a glimpse of one's true self.

When my best friend Cari and I would have troubles come our way, it seemed those were the times we laughed the hardest. Maybe that is why we were such good friends - we were a lot alike and always tried to focus on the good side and funny side of things, even when they weren't going exactly as planned. One thing we always felt was that there are ALWAYS options. True - some options may be less palatable than others, but they are always there. Neither Cari nor I were what you would call 'passive' people, so when things weren't looking so good in a particular situation, we would (sometimes blindly) pick another option and head out with full force. It didn't always prove to be the best one, but more times than not it was certainly better than where we were and definitely better than remaining stagnant and whining about whatever situation we were in. It was great to have a partner for that as well - one who was just as adventurous as I am, as no matter what the outcome, we had someone to share it with. Misery loves company they say, but so does the victor. As it is much more fun to have someone share that dance in the end zone with you after you had the big score.

I miss my friend Cari. But I feel she will always be with me. And I am happy that we had the many years as friends that we had together. No sisters could have been closer.

But back to today . . .

I am fortunate to have my wonderful partner Keith. While we usually use the analogy of me being the 'pink cloud' optimist and he being the 'dark cloud' realist, there are days when my cloud isn't so pink and he becomes the ray of sunshine beaming from our little company. This role reversal often shocks me because it doesn't happen very frequently, as I am the one who usually finds the grain of hope buried in the salt pile. It's a good check and balance though because of the shock value that it holds. The mere role reversal in itself makes me stop and take notice, and that usually is enough to make me aware that I need to change my attitude. Mission accomplished. No wallowing allowed.

So I spent the day yesterday answering a million questions (kind of an exaggeration, but I am sure there were ALMOST a million!) and by mid-day we decided to take off to Yarmouth for a couple of hours to pick up some needed supplies and just to 'regroup'. After all, it was a bright and sunny day and we had two convertibles sitting in the driveway. What better time for a drive along the ocean?

It did help, as we circled the wagons and came up with some ideas as to how we would fill the gap that would be left in our work. Not only did we come up with one or two ideas, but between us we had several new avenues to pursue that were not only feasible, but could also be downright awesome.

By the time we returned home, we had several new options to explore. I must admit though, that the day did take its toll on me. During those last few kilometers of driving through the countryside with the sun in my face and the wind in my hair I actually nearly fell asleep! I think I was just exhausted.

I returned to another round of questions and messages, and spent the remainder of the day clearing them out. Keith did some cutting and the laundry (what a guy!) and I cleared out my mail box and talked with some friends and that was about all I could handle. Some days are just like that. I found the best thing to do at times like this is to nurture yourself just a little and allow things to 'be'. We spent the evening listening to some great mellow music on the new speakers and doing 'nothing in particular'. Good for us.

Today I woke up with a sense of purpose. I know exactly what I am going to design next, and I am going to get started on it soon. The many ideas we discussed yesterday are floating around in my head and I know (I just KNOW) that things will be alright. I am even EXCITED about what the future holds for us.

I want to really thank my friends for your positive thoughts and wishes. As I read through all the supportive thoughts and messages yesterday, I couldn't help but think how fortunate I am to be surrounded by such awesome people. So many of you came through with your kind support yesterday. Not only for Keith and I, but for our friends at All American. It made my heart happy to see that so many of you saw beyond the small losses that you may have incurred by the events of yesterday and focused on the greater loss for us all, as well as the families and employees of AAC. I was really proud of you and it lifted me and encouraged me to do even better. You are awesome!

Have a beautiful Tuesday!



SLDK326 - Dream, Cherish, Live Plaque Pattern by Keith Fenton
 
#10,789 ·
Some Final Thoughts on All American Crafts

Good morning to you all. I didn't get as much done as I intended yesterday. I have some ideas that I am working on, but there were simply too many distractions for me to make headway.

I spent most of the day reading and discussing the closing of Creative Woodworks and Crafts and all of the All American Crafts publications. (Paintworks, Paint-It, Wood Turning Designs, Carving, Create and Decorate, etc.) While I mentioned in my post yesterday that I wanted to just move forward, I realized that doing so was not as easy as I would have thought. There were again many questions, messages, emails from readers and customers who were just hearing news of the closings, and as someone who has had a long term relationship with the family and publishing company, I felt obliged to answer them.

It did however turn out to consume just about my entire day. Once again, by the end of the evening I felt drained and saddened. I vowed to have a good night sleep and then start over again today fresh and with renewed purpose.

I slept fairly well but I awoke to a comment on this blog in the Lumberjocks.com forum and felt that I should address things once and for all. In doing so, I felt that I not only answered the person who commented, but that I answered once again many of the notes and messages that I had been receiving. So I decided to copy them here in today's post and at least for myself, wrap this subject up so that I may continue ahead and once again be productive. I hope that this is acceptable to you, as I need to focus my thoughts on some positive and creative things - and I have many.

The poster "disappointed" had the following comment on my blog:

I am sorry, but I am not sympathetic nor emphatic (as the previous posters) for All American Crafts. I started decorative painting 18 years ago & subscribed loyally to both PaintWorks & Quick n' Easy Painting. Back then there were so many painting magazines, and they have all slowly gone away. I have been ripped off 3 times with having renewed subscriptions & then the magazine went away.

I had just recently re-subscribed to both PaintWorks & Paint-It-Today for 2 year-renewals. Of course, they took my money, same as another sleazy publisher did, then closed their doors.

I could care less about what they are going through. They are thieves, knowing what they knew. Unlike you, we weren't privy to "seeing the writing on the wall". Yet those renewal notices kept coming in the mail. I am sorry, it is all just wrong.

These were not unfamiliar issues that I have been hearing. I realize that many of you were in the same situation, as I was myself. I am cutting and pasting my response to him/her and I hope that this will express my thoughts and feelings clearly so I can finally move on and put this issue to rest:

Well, disappointed - you have every right to the way you feel. Since it appears that you set up your account here just to make your point, I will address it fully.

There are others who feel the same as you do. I respect that but I also feel that it is unfortunate because you don't know the Cohens as I do. They are not rejoicing in the failure of their company. They are as devastated as one would be who built something from the ground up and worked for over twenty five years on it to see it succumb to whatever people blame it on. The digital age. Print costs. Mail increases. All of the above.

Most of the employees had been with them from the beginning. There were reasons for that. I believe it was not because the jobs were so high paying, but because they were good, decent people with integrity that worked hard to see painting, woodworking and the craft industry succeed. It is difficult not to notice that most of the long term designers, companies and leaders in the industry feel as I do. We all saw not only from the outside, but from the inside of the business how dedicated they were and how much they have contributed. Not everything in this world (believe it or not) is measured in dollars.

No one wins in a bankruptcy. Not only are the customers (like yourself) not given what they were promised (the magazine issues), but the designers are not paid what is due to them and the employees are now looking for ways to earn a living in a very limited field of the job market. The advertising and exposure for the shops, suppliers and pattern makers is also now reduced to other means. Not everyone has or enjoys the internet. But it is a "way of the times" as I have heard so often these past days. I can assure you - we designers are owed far more than the subscription dollars that you are out. I can only speak for myself, but the amount is substantial. Yet I choose to be compassionate and empathetic because I know the family and I know that they did all they could to fulfill their obligations. I believe that is my advantage over you.

That is what bankruptcy is. A legal means set up for those who cannot fulfill their financial obligations. It is tragic for all involved, as I said.

I suppose in thinking about it, there is no good point to file. In reading both sides of comments for the past several days, I came to the conclusion that no matter when they closed their doors and file, there would be people closer to the end of their subscription and those who just renewed. I also renewed my subscriptions recently for several of the magazines. May it was I think. But with the subscription price being that of two or three decent patterns, I just consider it my loss and move on. There are many involved who have a far greater loss that I. I believe that if they had the money to refund the subscriptions to all the readers, they wouldn't have to go bankrupt in the first place.

Empathy - Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.

I am empathetic to the family and the situation. Perhaps it is because I am privileged to knowing them for the past seventeen years as well as working with them. I have no doubt that they are also angry/sad/upset about the situation and did everything they could to prevent it.

I am also empathetic to the customers and subscribers. Many of them are my own customers. I realize that some (such as yourself) feel taken advantage of and 'duped'. Perhaps that is why I chose to write about my own feelings about things. I want others to see that there are two sides to the story.

As I said - no one wins here. The occurrence was perhaps inevitable in the long run. Our world is ever changing and there is discomfort for most when these changes happen, whether we see them coming or not.

Thank you for voicing your thoughts. I am certain there are others who feel as you do. I hope you will keep on painting and consider some of the other alternatives to the magazines and support your favorite individual designers and suppliers directly, or they too will only be a memory.

I wish you a good day.

Sheila

While the impact of the failure of this company will be felt by myself and so many others for a long time, I really want to put this behind me and move ahead to better things. It is my own nature to read the responses on the various forums and pages and interject when I see fit, but I have done so extensively to this point and now it is time for me to move on. I find that I am allowing it to totally consume me and it is interfering with any chance I have to be creative and design.

I may be 'quiet' on my social media sites for the next several days, as I need to get my bearings and refocus myself on some positive things and creating. There are only so many times you can ride the merry-go-round until it becomes redundant and sometimes sickening. I think I have reached that limit.

As mentioned above, I do emphasize with both sides of the situation. As a designer and a customer, I am somewhere in the middle. As a friend, I am heartsick. We are all entitled to our views and my own opinion has developed from the perspective that seventeen years of working with the company has offered. I realize that many of you have not had that privileged, and I respect that.

It is time for me to move on.

The final thing that I want to say on this matter is that I encourage you to support your designers and suppliers in whatever creative venue you choose to participate. A common worry is that these crafts are going by the wayside, and the only way we can perpetuate doing what we love to do is by sustaining these people and supporting them. For many designers, every sale counts and it doesn't take much to make it "worth their while" and continue.

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts. I hope that I can continue to create and do what I love for a long time to come.

Have a great Wednesday!
 
#10,790 ·
Sheila, It is sad when any enterprise fails, let alone one that has been worked for and on for so long. It is also sad that there are many out there that can see no further than the nose on their face and think only of there own loss. Any sympathy I have goes to the former and not the latter.

Good points, well made.
 
#10,799 ·
Looking Ahead

As we find ourselves on Friday already, I am once again in awe of how another week has passed so quickly. I can honestly say that this has not been one of my 'favorite' weeks, as there were several things that happened over the past several days that were not very positive.

I missed writing for a couple of days because I found myself in somewhat of a state of 'limbo' and I didn't feel that I accomplished as much as I would have liked. Much had happened over the course of the week and while much of it did not affect me directly, some of it did and it took all of my energy to digest things and keep myself in a positive state.

Sometimes stepping back and watching things unfold without participating is the best way to learn from situations. Observation is a valuable method of studying something and understanding things a bit better. By not actively participating in things, I sometimes feel it is a far better way to asses things and make conclusions regarding things. It also allows me to study and asses the behavior of others as well, and judge their credibility by seeing how they act and react with others, without becoming personally involved. I feel that this allows me to be more objective - especially when I am close to the situation.

As you can imagine, I was feeling rather low this week. The circumstances of one of the main avenues of my business and income had changed drastically and while it was only part of my business, it was also something that greatly affected not only my colleagues, but my friends and customers -all whom I care greatly about. Since I put myself out here in my blog almost every day, I became a sounding board for those who were also affected by the events. I realize that since I make myself accessible to the public on a daily basis, not only do I benefit from this exposure, but I also sometimes pay the price for it. Besides the many questions and inquiries that I received from the several places that I post this blog, there were also countless notes, letters and emails sent to me privately. Many were supportive, but many were not and were filled with anger. I tried to deal with each one of these notes and emails and comments with the same personal care that I always give them, but for the most part I am in the same position as everyone else. I have shared what I know and as someone who also lost a large avenue for my business, I am trying to make the best of what was dealt to me and move on to positive things. I would think that would be natural and expected behavior.

For the most part, people have been kind and understanding. However, some feel the need to vent to me and blame and call names and chastise me for feeling bad for those who not only employed me and helped my business tremendously over the years, but whom I also considered my friends. I don't really understand this behavior at all.

For over four years now, nearly every morning I write here in my blog and share my thoughts and experiences with you. I have always admitted that I began this blog to improve my business and exposure. That is why many people blog in the first place. But I also stated time and time again that one of the residuals of writing here each day is that I have truly made some wonderful friends from all over the world. Places such as Lumberjocks.com, where I began writing in the first place, has very few scroll sawyers and even fewer painters, and I think I can safely say that by posting there, I in all likelihood picked up far more friendships than customers. I list that as an example only because it is probably the venue that I am able to track the best (my own software on my site is not good with tracking such things). This means a lot to me.

I come here in the mornings and spend the first couple hours of my day writing and sharing experiences because I continually receive letter after letter from those who appreciate that I share my personal experiences - good and bad - with them and they say the learn from what I discuss. For every 'comment' I receive on the many public boards that this blog is published, there are usually several more private messages from people with questions, encouragement and gratitude to me for being open and honest with them every day and giving them insight to some of the aspects of small business that they would not otherwise be able to see. They can attest that I answer each one personally and carefully, as if we were having a cup of coffee and discussing things between friends. It doesn't matter to me if they are potential customers or not, or which type of business they are in or if they are even in business at all. I try to help whenever I can. Keith often chides me that we help others who will ultimately compete with us! I smile at this because I feel confident enough in my company, business practices, designs and integrity that I honestly wish them all the best. I believe there is lots of room in this world for many designers, and that the only way our craft will survive is by supporting and promoting others. And I try to do that.

What I don't understand is the people who feel the need to attack and belittle me or my opinions. I fully understand that there will always be others who don't agree with me. As I peruse the web, I certainly see others express their thoughts that I don't particularly agree with. But instead of confronting them and trying to pick an argument with them, I simply click a button on my mouse and move on. After all - whether I agree with their thoughts or not, they have every right to them as I do mine. I certainly don't think that I am always right, but I do believe that I have the right to express my thoughts - especially on my own blog - and not be attacked or called names because of it. Maybe I expect too much.

This happened a couple of months ago when I began posting my blog in another forum. Prior to doing so, I obtained permission from the site owners to do so, as I really don't want to post where I am not wanted. But a new member came in after several weeks and began harassing me and calling me names and I guess you can generalize what they did as 'bullying' both myself and Kieth to the point that I decided it wasn't worth it. I no longer post there and I don't see doing so in the future. The bully crawled back away and hasn't posted since I left, which leads me to beleive his entire goal was to remove me from a site that he had no intention of participating in or improving or adding to in any way. It makes one wonder - why?

I truly try to weigh and consider all the opinions that are posted on my blog. Whether they agree with my own views or not, I treat them with consideration and respect. I don't block people or comments because I honestly feel that everyone has a right to their thoughts and opinions. The only time I did was at the aforementioned incident, as the poster was extremely abusive and the moderators did agree and remove the remarks. Because I try to follow this line of thinking, I usually just leave the post there and move on and not be drawn into an argument. But sometimes that isn't enough for some people. They can't state their side and leave until they engage you in an argument. If you ignore them, they try harder.

What fascinates me even more are those who create a new account just to troll my post and anonymously attack. In a way it flatters me that someone would go through that much time and energy just to try to put me in my place. Yet they won't do so under their own identity. They will use a screen name to mask themselves from the rest of the group. They don't even have the decency or back bone to confront me with their real face. I look at those individuals, not with anger, but with pity, as I realize how empty and sad their lives must be for them to go to all that effort to spread their poison. No wonder they are miserable. I would be miserable as well if I spent my day looking for arguments under the mask of an internet identity. I truly feel very sorry for them when I think how empty and angry their lives are.

Today I begin the 54th year of my life on this planet. Perhaps number-wise I am considered "middle age" (I could only be so lucky as to live to 106!) I look back on the last half-century of life that I have lived and I believe that I have learned a great deal from the many, many mistakes and observations that I have made.

One of my favorite things that I have learned is a phrase that I recite often here in my blog: "We follow where we focus."

No other phrase has served me better.

I choose to focus on the good in people and situations. I like to give the benefit of the doubt. Even if I am wrong about someone, usually there is something there that serves as a positive that I can walk away with. I try to treat people with decency and respect - even if they don't return the sentiment to me. I try to allow for others to express their opinions and while I may sometimes agree to disagree, I still feel they have every right to have them. I don't actively try to hurt or belittle people, as I feel this world is a harsh enough place and those who are unkind and abusive are fighting their own demons, which are much more powerful than I can imagine. And I always try to look for hope. Each new day is another chance to make a difference. Whether it be large or small. If writing here makes even one person smile, or learn something or feel better about something, than it was worth my time, and I will continue to do so.

Is this an idealistic way to live?

Probably so. But it is the way I choose to live and by thinking this way and being this way I find I am my happiest. This is how I am true to myself. And because I am happy, it affords me the great luxury of sharing that happiness with you, my readers and also my friends.

With that I will end this very lengthy post. As always, I appreciate every one of you who reads. Whether you comment or not. Whether you agree with me or not. Whether you are a scroller, painter, small business owner, or just someone looking for reading material with your cup of coffee in the morning. I thank you all for taking the time to allow me into your day. It is time now for me to get back to creating. I can't wait to share what the next year will bring!

Have a wonderful day!

Cat Eye Felidae Carnivore Small to medium-sized cats


(The most adorable birthday card in the world!)
 

Attachments

#10,800 ·
Looking Ahead

As we find ourselves on Friday already, I am once again in awe of how another week has passed so quickly. I can honestly say that this has not been one of my 'favorite' weeks, as there were several things that happened over the past several days that were not very positive.

I missed writing for a couple of days because I found myself in somewhat of a state of 'limbo' and I didn't feel that I accomplished as much as I would have liked. Much had happened over the course of the week and while much of it did not affect me directly, some of it did and it took all of my energy to digest things and keep myself in a positive state.

Sometimes stepping back and watching things unfold without participating is the best way to learn from situations. Observation is a valuable method of studying something and understanding things a bit better. By not actively participating in things, I sometimes feel it is a far better way to asses things and make conclusions regarding things. It also allows me to study and asses the behavior of others as well, and judge their credibility by seeing how they act and react with others, without becoming personally involved. I feel that this allows me to be more objective - especially when I am close to the situation.

As you can imagine, I was feeling rather low this week. The circumstances of one of the main avenues of my business and income had changed drastically and while it was only part of my business, it was also something that greatly affected not only my colleagues, but my friends and customers -all whom I care greatly about. Since I put myself out here in my blog almost every day, I became a sounding board for those who were also affected by the events. I realize that since I make myself accessible to the public on a daily basis, not only do I benefit from this exposure, but I also sometimes pay the price for it. Besides the many questions and inquiries that I received from the several places that I post this blog, there were also countless notes, letters and emails sent to me privately. Many were supportive, but many were not and were filled with anger. I tried to deal with each one of these notes and emails and comments with the same personal care that I always give them, but for the most part I am in the same position as everyone else. I have shared what I know and as someone who also lost a large avenue for my business, I am trying to make the best of what was dealt to me and move on to positive things. I would think that would be natural and expected behavior.

For the most part, people have been kind and understanding. However, some feel the need to vent to me and blame and call names and chastise me for feeling bad for those who not only employed me and helped my business tremendously over the years, but whom I also considered my friends. I don't really understand this behavior at all.

For over four years now, nearly every morning I write here in my blog and share my thoughts and experiences with you. I have always admitted that I began this blog to improve my business and exposure. That is why many people blog in the first place. But I also stated time and time again that one of the residuals of writing here each day is that I have truly made some wonderful friends from all over the world. Places such as Lumberjocks.com, where I began writing in the first place, has very few scroll sawyers and even fewer painters, and I think I can safely say that by posting there, I in all likelihood picked up far more friendships than customers. I list that as an example only because it is probably the venue that I am able to track the best (my own software on my site is not good with tracking such things). This means a lot to me.

I come here in the mornings and spend the first couple hours of my day writing and sharing experiences because I continually receive letter after letter from those who appreciate that I share my personal experiences - good and bad - with them and they say the learn from what I discuss. For every 'comment' I receive on the many public boards that this blog is published, there are usually several more private messages from people with questions, encouragement and gratitude to me for being open and honest with them every day and giving them insight to some of the aspects of small business that they would not otherwise be able to see. They can attest that I answer each one personally and carefully, as if we were having a cup of coffee and discussing things between friends. It doesn't matter to me if they are potential customers or not, or which type of business they are in or if they are even in business at all. I try to help whenever I can. Keith often chides me that we help others who will ultimately compete with us! I smile at this because I feel confident enough in my company, business practices, designs and integrity that I honestly wish them all the best. I believe there is lots of room in this world for many designers, and that the only way our craft will survive is by supporting and promoting others. And I try to do that.

What I don't understand is the people who feel the need to attack and belittle me or my opinions. I fully understand that there will always be others who don't agree with me. As I peruse the web, I certainly see others express their thoughts that I don't particularly agree with. But instead of confronting them and trying to pick an argument with them, I simply click a button on my mouse and move on. After all - whether I agree with their thoughts or not, they have every right to them as I do mine. I certainly don't think that I am always right, but I do believe that I have the right to express my thoughts - especially on my own blog - and not be attacked or called names because of it. Maybe I expect too much.

This happened a couple of months ago when I began posting my blog in another forum. Prior to doing so, I obtained permission from the site owners to do so, as I really don't want to post where I am not wanted. But a new member came in after several weeks and began harassing me and calling me names and I guess you can generalize what they did as 'bullying' both myself and Kieth to the point that I decided it wasn't worth it. I no longer post there and I don't see doing so in the future. The bully crawled back away and hasn't posted since I left, which leads me to beleive his entire goal was to remove me from a site that he had no intention of participating in or improving or adding to in any way. It makes one wonder - why?

I truly try to weigh and consider all the opinions that are posted on my blog. Whether they agree with my own views or not, I treat them with consideration and respect. I don't block people or comments because I honestly feel that everyone has a right to their thoughts and opinions. The only time I did was at the aforementioned incident, as the poster was extremely abusive and the moderators did agree and remove the remarks. Because I try to follow this line of thinking, I usually just leave the post there and move on and not be drawn into an argument. But sometimes that isn't enough for some people. They can't state their side and leave until they engage you in an argument. If you ignore them, they try harder.

What fascinates me even more are those who create a new account just to troll my post and anonymously attack. In a way it flatters me that someone would go through that much time and energy just to try to put me in my place. Yet they won't do so under their own identity. They will use a screen name to mask themselves from the rest of the group. They don't even have the decency or back bone to confront me with their real face. I look at those individuals, not with anger, but with pity, as I realize how empty and sad their lives must be for them to go to all that effort to spread their poison. No wonder they are miserable. I would be miserable as well if I spent my day looking for arguments under the mask of an internet identity. I truly feel very sorry for them when I think how empty and angry their lives are.

Today I begin the 54th year of my life on this planet. Perhaps number-wise I am considered "middle age" (I could only be so lucky as to live to 106!) I look back on the last half-century of life that I have lived and I believe that I have learned a great deal from the many, many mistakes and observations that I have made.

One of my favorite things that I have learned is a phrase that I recite often here in my blog: "We follow where we focus."

No other phrase has served me better.

I choose to focus on the good in people and situations. I like to give the benefit of the doubt. Even if I am wrong about someone, usually there is something there that serves as a positive that I can walk away with. I try to treat people with decency and respect - even if they don't return the sentiment to me. I try to allow for others to express their opinions and while I may sometimes agree to disagree, I still feel they have every right to have them. I don't actively try to hurt or belittle people, as I feel this world is a harsh enough place and those who are unkind and abusive are fighting their own demons, which are much more powerful than I can imagine. And I always try to look for hope. Each new day is another chance to make a difference. Whether it be large or small. If writing here makes even one person smile, or learn something or feel better about something, than it was worth my time, and I will continue to do so.

Is this an idealistic way to live?

Probably so. But it is the way I choose to live and by thinking this way and being this way I find I am my happiest. This is how I am true to myself. And because I am happy, it affords me the great luxury of sharing that happiness with you, my readers and also my friends.

With that I will end this very lengthy post. As always, I appreciate every one of you who reads. Whether you comment or not. Whether you agree with me or not. Whether you are a scroller, painter, small business owner, or just someone looking for reading material with your cup of coffee in the morning. I thank you all for taking the time to allow me into your day. It is time now for me to get back to creating. I can't wait to share what the next year will bring!

Have a wonderful day!

Cat Eye Felidae Carnivore Small to medium-sized cats


(The most adorable birthday card in the world!)
Happy birthday Sheila. Hope you have a great day and weekend.
Rick
 

Attachments

#10,818 ·
New Project Ready to Cut (At Last!)

I can't tell you all how GOOD it feels to be back at work and productive again. With being gone for our little trip and then catching up and then all the things that were going on last week, I felt like I accomplished very little.The ideas are here, it is just a matter of sitting down and concentrating long enough to actually DO them.

I speak with many people who experience the same thing, so I don't feel like it is "only me" that this happens to. I find one of the most difficult things is recognizing the fine line between caring for ones' self by taking some down time every now and then to being outright distracted.

But those days are all behind me now and while part of me may feel a bit guilty for not accomplishing as much as I want, I do realize that some of the down time was necessary to digest what had happened and plan ahead for our future. We can't just expect everything to fall into place. Especially when they are things that have such a far reach in our lives.

I had a wonderful day both yesterday and the day before. On Thursday, Keith's mom came over for the day and brought with her a wonderful birthday dinner. We had marinated steak on the grill and homemade macaroni salad and for dessert, she brought a wonderful ice cream cake! I had always wanted an ice cream cake for my birthday and this was the first time I actually had one. It is funny, but 'at my age' the lists of 'firsts' gets shorter and shorter and I think we really appreciate things more. This 'first' ice cream cake was just yummy and we had a really nice day together. I painted some Halloween ornaments (well - started them anyway) and things were nice and relaxed.

Yesterday was a great day as well. In between drawing and chatting with friends, Keith took me out for a nice birthday lunch. It was a relaxed day that was low key. I find as I get older, that is the kind of days I like best. One of the best things that I received was a little Lego Unikitty - a tiny kitty/unicorn Lego figure. While it may seem silly to you all, I thought it was thoughtful and dear. Keith always teases me about living on my 'pink cloud' because of my optimistic attitude and after the week we just had, it was an appropriate reminder to myself that it is better to look for the good in things than the faults. Those little pieces of plastic represent a lot to me and I was very touched by it.

As I mentioned, I DID get to finish up drawing my next design, and I will be cutting it out today. Here is a little teaser for you all to think about . . .

Jaw Gesture Ear Slope Tail


As you can see, it is something for Christmas. I had many requests for these items and I thought it would be a good start to get me back in the swing of things.

I am going to keep things short today, as I am anxious to get going on my project. It is good to be back in my 'happy place' again and good to feel productive. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I am quite overwhelmed that so many of you did. But it really does remind me that through this blog and through my computer I have met so many dear, dear friends from all over the world.

It is a great place up here on my 'pink cloud.' I am glad I have lots of company!

Purple Pink Cloud Happy Material property


Have a wonderful weekend!
 

Attachments

#10,819 ·
New Project Ready to Cut (At Last!)

I can't tell you all how GOOD it feels to be back at work and productive again. With being gone for our little trip and then catching up and then all the things that were going on last week, I felt like I accomplished very little.The ideas are here, it is just a matter of sitting down and concentrating long enough to actually DO them.

I speak with many people who experience the same thing, so I don't feel like it is "only me" that this happens to. I find one of the most difficult things is recognizing the fine line between caring for ones' self by taking some down time every now and then to being outright distracted.

But those days are all behind me now and while part of me may feel a bit guilty for not accomplishing as much as I want, I do realize that some of the down time was necessary to digest what had happened and plan ahead for our future. We can't just expect everything to fall into place. Especially when they are things that have such a far reach in our lives.

I had a wonderful day both yesterday and the day before. On Thursday, Keith's mom came over for the day and brought with her a wonderful birthday dinner. We had marinated steak on the grill and homemade macaroni salad and for dessert, she brought a wonderful ice cream cake! I had always wanted an ice cream cake for my birthday and this was the first time I actually had one. It is funny, but 'at my age' the lists of 'firsts' gets shorter and shorter and I think we really appreciate things more. This 'first' ice cream cake was just yummy and we had a really nice day together. I painted some Halloween ornaments (well - started them anyway) and things were nice and relaxed.

Yesterday was a great day as well. In between drawing and chatting with friends, Keith took me out for a nice birthday lunch. It was a relaxed day that was low key. I find as I get older, that is the kind of days I like best. One of the best things that I received was a little Lego Unikitty - a tiny kitty/unicorn Lego figure. While it may seem silly to you all, I thought it was thoughtful and dear. Keith always teases me about living on my 'pink cloud' because of my optimistic attitude and after the week we just had, it was an appropriate reminder to myself that it is better to look for the good in things than the faults. Those little pieces of plastic represent a lot to me and I was very touched by it.

As I mentioned, I DID get to finish up drawing my next design, and I will be cutting it out today. Here is a little teaser for you all to think about . . .

Jaw Gesture Ear Slope Tail


As you can see, it is something for Christmas. I had many requests for these items and I thought it would be a good start to get me back in the swing of things.

I am going to keep things short today, as I am anxious to get going on my project. It is good to be back in my 'happy place' again and good to feel productive. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I am quite overwhelmed that so many of you did. But it really does remind me that through this blog and through my computer I have met so many dear, dear friends from all over the world.

It is a great place up here on my 'pink cloud.' I am glad I have lots of company!

Purple Pink Cloud Happy Material property


Have a wonderful weekend!
Looks like your new design is going to be very interesting. Maybe a layered effect? I'm still working on my hummingbird theme! A few life hiccups slowed me down a bit but hopefully I'll be back up to full production in the next week or so and get my Christmas ornaments started. It will creep up fast!
Enjoy the weekend and I'm glad you had a great birthday celebration
 

Attachments

#10,821 ·
Getting Back on the Horse (Or Reindeer, if you will!)

I am happy that last week is behind me. I can honestly say that it wasn't one of my 'favorite' weeks. It only confirmed my own beliefs that negativity and controversy can really take its toll on someone. For the first time since I could remember, I wasn't really excited about my work. I think when things really began to sink in, I realized the full scope of the events of the week and the implications for the future. I found it difficult to find my motivation, even though I still have many ideas that I want to see come to reality.

I am not telling you this to gain your sympathy or pity. I am just being honest because people who I speak to often wonder how I can keep a positive attitude when things don't go exactly as planned. I am often asked about this and people wonder how I stay excited and motivated nearly every single day.

Sometimes it is hard for me as well. There are days when everything seems to pile up and I feel like I am climbing up a muddy mountain carrying a 50 lb. backpack. I get tired, frustrated and discouraged just like the rest of you. But I find that is the time to look inside myself and really asses what was going on and how I reacted about it. Was it crippling me physically? Do I have other options? Can I figure a way around it?

In taking the time to stop and consider these questions, I usually figure out that things aren't always as bad as they seem. Usually it will take a little thought and ingenuity on my part to think through the situation, but after the dust settles and I am able to calm down and look constructively at things, I come up with some viable alternatives. This doesn't happen instantly, as usually it takes some serious thought and consideration, but I find that if I am patient and honest with myself, I wind up with several options in front of me.

I believe there are always options for us for most situations. It is a matter though of if we choose to take the time to look for them and embrace them, as they aren't always right in front of our noses. When something we don't like occurs, I believe we have two choices - seek the other options, or wallow in the misery of misfortune. I choose the former.

Since Keith and I are the creator of our designs, we are the ones in control of them. Hopefully, people who don't receive their magazines anymore will take it upon themselves to seek us out if they want to continue purchasing our patterns. On our side, we just need to ramp up our visibility a bit and be present in as many places as we can. It may mean a couple additional advertising dollars, but we understand that and realize that is part of the process.

What I am actually seeing as I actively look for ways to do this is that there were several different avenues already in place that we have yet to explore. If I wanted to be an optimist (and I do!) I will say that if it wasn't for the events of the past week or so, I would not have taken the time to seek these new avenues out. So I feel fortunate that I was forced to open my eyes to them.

I am going to put the past week behind me. What is done, is done. I have spent the necessary time to mourn the changes and I am ready to move ahead. One thing I found out is that I really don't like being in a 'mood' such as I was these past several days. While I still feel bad about what has happened, it is time to stand up and continue on and show myself what I am made of. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment far more than I enjoy the feeling of misery. I can't see any reason whatsoever as to why I should be miserable. There are still so many options ahead.

I spent Saturday cutting out my next project and doing the preliminary sanding. It felt good to be back at things again, and being productive was just what I needed. The project was one that has been requested many times in the recent years and I thought it would be a good start to get me 'back on the horse.'

A couple of years back, I designed a pattern which I called "Rocking Reindeer". (SLD360) It was very popular and people really loved it.

Vertebrate Elk Wood Lighting Organism


But people asked me many times if I would make reindeer that would stand on a table or mantle wihout the rockers. I finally got a chance to do this now. So here is what I came up with :

Wood Deer Creative arts Working animal Argali


There are two reindeer in the set, and I will be adding more. I think I will have four poses in all, and then I will make a matching sleigh. These reindeer are a bit larger than the Rocking Reindeer (about 9" tall) and are made of hard maple. Since several of the people that requested them said they wanted to make a sleigh scene, I thought with four different poses, they could make two of each and it would make a beautiful set. Naturally they could add another deer for "Roudolph" if they want. I may or may not make an extra pattern for that. We will see.

They were a bit of a challenge because I wanted them to stand properly. For a while there, I was unsure if they would be steady enough, as they were not wide and a bit tall. But upon finishing them, I came up with a "foolproof" way to align the pieces so that they are very stable and since all the pieces are 'pinned' together with dowel rods, alignment is very easy and accurate. You only have to drill and cut accurately to accomplish it.

There was a time over the weekend when I was sanding these pieces and I was a bit worried. I didn't know if things would need to be modified, or if they would stand nicely. There was even a point when I considered scrapping the entire project. But I kept myself moving forward, and as I said, I believe I have come up with a quick and easy way to make these work. I am relieved about that and the extra thinking may have been just what I needed to get myself moving forward again.

So I am back. And after seeing these finished deer (they will be decorated nicely for presentation photos) I feel that I am through the worst of the ripples of last week. It is a new day and a new week and if things go well, we will be updating the site again with out new stuff in the next couple of days. Time marches on.

Thank you to all the many people who have sent me your messages of support. Whether it be here on the blog or in private messages and emails, it has certainly meant a lot for both Keith and myself. We will hang in here as long as we can.

Drinkware Serveware Font Wood Event


I wish you all a great Monday and a wonderfully creative week ahead!
 

Attachments

#10,822 ·
Getting Back on the Horse (Or Reindeer, if you will!)

I am happy that last week is behind me. I can honestly say that it wasn't one of my 'favorite' weeks. It only confirmed my own beliefs that negativity and controversy can really take its toll on someone. For the first time since I could remember, I wasn't really excited about my work. I think when things really began to sink in, I realized the full scope of the events of the week and the implications for the future. I found it difficult to find my motivation, even though I still have many ideas that I want to see come to reality.

I am not telling you this to gain your sympathy or pity. I am just being honest because people who I speak to often wonder how I can keep a positive attitude when things don't go exactly as planned. I am often asked about this and people wonder how I stay excited and motivated nearly every single day.

Sometimes it is hard for me as well. There are days when everything seems to pile up and I feel like I am climbing up a muddy mountain carrying a 50 lb. backpack. I get tired, frustrated and discouraged just like the rest of you. But I find that is the time to look inside myself and really asses what was going on and how I reacted about it. Was it crippling me physically? Do I have other options? Can I figure a way around it?

In taking the time to stop and consider these questions, I usually figure out that things aren't always as bad as they seem. Usually it will take a little thought and ingenuity on my part to think through the situation, but after the dust settles and I am able to calm down and look constructively at things, I come up with some viable alternatives. This doesn't happen instantly, as usually it takes some serious thought and consideration, but I find that if I am patient and honest with myself, I wind up with several options in front of me.

I believe there are always options for us for most situations. It is a matter though of if we choose to take the time to look for them and embrace them, as they aren't always right in front of our noses. When something we don't like occurs, I believe we have two choices - seek the other options, or wallow in the misery of misfortune. I choose the former.

Since Keith and I are the creator of our designs, we are the ones in control of them. Hopefully, people who don't receive their magazines anymore will take it upon themselves to seek us out if they want to continue purchasing our patterns. On our side, we just need to ramp up our visibility a bit and be present in as many places as we can. It may mean a couple additional advertising dollars, but we understand that and realize that is part of the process.

What I am actually seeing as I actively look for ways to do this is that there were several different avenues already in place that we have yet to explore. If I wanted to be an optimist (and I do!) I will say that if it wasn't for the events of the past week or so, I would not have taken the time to seek these new avenues out. So I feel fortunate that I was forced to open my eyes to them.

I am going to put the past week behind me. What is done, is done. I have spent the necessary time to mourn the changes and I am ready to move ahead. One thing I found out is that I really don't like being in a 'mood' such as I was these past several days. While I still feel bad about what has happened, it is time to stand up and continue on and show myself what I am made of. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment far more than I enjoy the feeling of misery. I can't see any reason whatsoever as to why I should be miserable. There are still so many options ahead.

I spent Saturday cutting out my next project and doing the preliminary sanding. It felt good to be back at things again, and being productive was just what I needed. The project was one that has been requested many times in the recent years and I thought it would be a good start to get me 'back on the horse.'

A couple of years back, I designed a pattern which I called "Rocking Reindeer". (SLD360) It was very popular and people really loved it.

Vertebrate Elk Wood Lighting Organism


But people asked me many times if I would make reindeer that would stand on a table or mantle wihout the rockers. I finally got a chance to do this now. So here is what I came up with :

Wood Deer Creative arts Working animal Argali


There are two reindeer in the set, and I will be adding more. I think I will have four poses in all, and then I will make a matching sleigh. These reindeer are a bit larger than the Rocking Reindeer (about 9" tall) and are made of hard maple. Since several of the people that requested them said they wanted to make a sleigh scene, I thought with four different poses, they could make two of each and it would make a beautiful set. Naturally they could add another deer for "Roudolph" if they want. I may or may not make an extra pattern for that. We will see.

They were a bit of a challenge because I wanted them to stand properly. For a while there, I was unsure if they would be steady enough, as they were not wide and a bit tall. But upon finishing them, I came up with a "foolproof" way to align the pieces so that they are very stable and since all the pieces are 'pinned' together with dowel rods, alignment is very easy and accurate. You only have to drill and cut accurately to accomplish it.

There was a time over the weekend when I was sanding these pieces and I was a bit worried. I didn't know if things would need to be modified, or if they would stand nicely. There was even a point when I considered scrapping the entire project. But I kept myself moving forward, and as I said, I believe I have come up with a quick and easy way to make these work. I am relieved about that and the extra thinking may have been just what I needed to get myself moving forward again.

So I am back. And after seeing these finished deer (they will be decorated nicely for presentation photos) I feel that I am through the worst of the ripples of last week. It is a new day and a new week and if things go well, we will be updating the site again with out new stuff in the next couple of days. Time marches on.

Thank you to all the many people who have sent me your messages of support. Whether it be here on the blog or in private messages and emails, it has certainly meant a lot for both Keith and myself. We will hang in here as long as we can.

Drinkware Serveware Font Wood Event


I wish you all a great Monday and a wonderfully creative week ahead!
Your work is some of the best out there! Keep it up!

Gordon
 

Attachments

#10,831 ·
Making Lemonade

Thoughout my life, I have practiced and somewhat mastered the art of finding good in most anything. Even when something bad occurs, I have myself trained to try to find a positive slant in it. Some people call this 'optimism' and I suppose that is as good a word as any to describe my attitude toward life. I think it is a good habit to follow, as looking for something positive in a even a not-so-good situation often changes our entire disposition and more often than not, we surprise ourselves and things have a better outcome than anticipated. This view always encourages hope and while everything may not turn out how we initially anticipated, it usually isn't as bad as one would think. I like being that way.

Last week was a difficult one for me. Learning that the magazine I worked with for over 17 years was folding was quite a blow for me emotionally, not to mention the larger implications. In many ways, things felt surreal, as if it didn't really happen. While I was going about my normal routine of creating and designing, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of doing 'this' for the magazine or doing 'that' for the magazine. Then I would realize that that chapter of my life is over and reality would once again hit.

The most concrete evidence of this was Monday when I received all of my projects that were slated to be published back. As I opened the short note my editor Deb had written, I once again felt a wave of sadness come over me. We were really done. Time to think ahead.

But I did realize that only that one chapter had been completed. It had run its course and it was time to look into other things. Thankfully, I had not limited myself to one avenue, as Kieth and I have been exploring many different venues for our designs and knowing that many of them had been in place for some time, it somehow softened the blow that was just dealt. It showed us first hand the importance of diversifying our small business. It has been a great deal of work to do so, but is certainly paying off. So on we go from here.

On the good side, the projects that were slated to be published no longer are on hold for us. We are able to put them on our site immediately, without having to wait for them to run their course with the magazine. This includes things such as my SLD475 Nevermore Plaque that so many of you inquired about:

Bird Vertebrate Rectangle Font Art


I am finishing up the pattern packet today, but you can pre-order it now on the site. (I will send the packet along a bit later in the day.)

Keith also made this adorable "SLDK388 10 Filigree Fun in the Sun" Ornament set, which can offer many decorating possiblities.

Azure Textile Sleeve Font Pattern


Another ornament set the created was the SLDK389 - 14 Simple Halloween Ornaments. These will also have many fun decorative uses for the upcoming Halloween season.

Vertebrate Leaf Organism Mammal Grass


I spent the day finishing up my packet on the standing reindeer that I previewed yesterday. (SLD476 - Standing Reindeer Set 1)

Natural material Creative arts Horn Fawn Deer


I am very proud of the pattern. While I was creating the pattern, I thought about just how much I learned over the years by working with the magazine and being published. The pattern includes 18 step-by-step photos and explains the process so that even someone who is beginning woodworking can easily understand how to create the project successfully. It is nice to feel such a sense of pride not only in the finished project, but also the instructions. I think that writing instructions is just as important as the designs themselves, as what we are doing is in essence, teaching on paper.

I plan to make another set of two additional reindeer, as well as a sleigh to add to this set. That way the customer can make two of each pose of reindeer and have a wonderful little vignette to display under the tree, on a mantle or anywhere. I also thought as a 'bonus' pattern, for those who bought the other pieces, I would offer a free single reindeer with a bulbous nose (for Rudolph!) to lead the group. It will be a fun project to complete and I should have the rest of the pieces finished up for the next update - with plenty of time to make them for holiday gifts.

Keith has another Christmas design as well. This nice and simple plaque that would be a great seller at craft sales. (SLDK387)

Rectangle Font Handwriting Art Poster


And finally, we decided that we are going to be offering an ongoing "$2 Special pattern" that will be regularly swapped out. The first pattern we are offering will be Keith's SLDK214 Trick or Treat Spider Plaque.

Brown Sleeve Handwriting Wood Font


It is a fun and cute plaque and we hope everyone will like it and give it a try.

We have several other projects that were slated for the magazine as well, but we will be presenting them in the next several weeks, as we do future updates.

I am sending out the Newsletter later on today, as soon as I am done with the instructions for the "Nevermore" plaque. If you would like to sign up for the monthly newsletter, you can do so on our Mailing List page. Lots of customers who don't get a chance to read my blog every day like to receive the newsletter to see what we have new. Besides - I don't always get the chance to show all of Keith's new designs here on my blog and they are always in the newsletter. We also offer special coupon codes from time to time for our mailing list customers only.

I hope you all like the new items. Both Keith and I have several more in the works. We are both optimistic that through word of mouth and other social media that people will find out about us and continue to support us and our little business. We both thank you all for that support as well.

It is beautiful and sunny out today. Summer isn't quite over just yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days I will get a chance to perhaps visit the beach. It has been a hectic summer so far and the weather hasn't cooperated much. Soon the winter cold will be here again.

I wish you all a wonderful Wednesday!
 

Attachments

#10,832 ·
Making Lemonade

Thoughout my life, I have practiced and somewhat mastered the art of finding good in most anything. Even when something bad occurs, I have myself trained to try to find a positive slant in it. Some people call this 'optimism' and I suppose that is as good a word as any to describe my attitude toward life. I think it is a good habit to follow, as looking for something positive in a even a not-so-good situation often changes our entire disposition and more often than not, we surprise ourselves and things have a better outcome than anticipated. This view always encourages hope and while everything may not turn out how we initially anticipated, it usually isn't as bad as one would think. I like being that way.

Last week was a difficult one for me. Learning that the magazine I worked with for over 17 years was folding was quite a blow for me emotionally, not to mention the larger implications. In many ways, things felt surreal, as if it didn't really happen. While I was going about my normal routine of creating and designing, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of doing 'this' for the magazine or doing 'that' for the magazine. Then I would realize that that chapter of my life is over and reality would once again hit.

The most concrete evidence of this was Monday when I received all of my projects that were slated to be published back. As I opened the short note my editor Deb had written, I once again felt a wave of sadness come over me. We were really done. Time to think ahead.

But I did realize that only that one chapter had been completed. It had run its course and it was time to look into other things. Thankfully, I had not limited myself to one avenue, as Kieth and I have been exploring many different venues for our designs and knowing that many of them had been in place for some time, it somehow softened the blow that was just dealt. It showed us first hand the importance of diversifying our small business. It has been a great deal of work to do so, but is certainly paying off. So on we go from here.

On the good side, the projects that were slated to be published no longer are on hold for us. We are able to put them on our site immediately, without having to wait for them to run their course with the magazine. This includes things such as my SLD475 Nevermore Plaque that so many of you inquired about:

Bird Vertebrate Rectangle Font Art


I am finishing up the pattern packet today, but you can pre-order it now on the site. (I will send the packet along a bit later in the day.)

Keith also made this adorable "SLDK388 10 Filigree Fun in the Sun" Ornament set, which can offer many decorating possiblities.

Azure Textile Sleeve Font Pattern


Another ornament set the created was the SLDK389 - 14 Simple Halloween Ornaments. These will also have many fun decorative uses for the upcoming Halloween season.

Vertebrate Leaf Organism Mammal Grass


I spent the day finishing up my packet on the standing reindeer that I previewed yesterday. (SLD476 - Standing Reindeer Set 1)

Natural material Creative arts Horn Fawn Deer


I am very proud of the pattern. While I was creating the pattern, I thought about just how much I learned over the years by working with the magazine and being published. The pattern includes 18 step-by-step photos and explains the process so that even someone who is beginning woodworking can easily understand how to create the project successfully. It is nice to feel such a sense of pride not only in the finished project, but also the instructions. I think that writing instructions is just as important as the designs themselves, as what we are doing is in essence, teaching on paper.

I plan to make another set of two additional reindeer, as well as a sleigh to add to this set. That way the customer can make two of each pose of reindeer and have a wonderful little vignette to display under the tree, on a mantle or anywhere. I also thought as a 'bonus' pattern, for those who bought the other pieces, I would offer a free single reindeer with a bulbous nose (for Rudolph!) to lead the group. It will be a fun project to complete and I should have the rest of the pieces finished up for the next update - with plenty of time to make them for holiday gifts.

Keith has another Christmas design as well. This nice and simple plaque that would be a great seller at craft sales. (SLDK387)

Rectangle Font Handwriting Art Poster


And finally, we decided that we are going to be offering an ongoing "$2 Special pattern" that will be regularly swapped out. The first pattern we are offering will be Keith's SLDK214 Trick or Treat Spider Plaque.

Brown Sleeve Handwriting Wood Font


It is a fun and cute plaque and we hope everyone will like it and give it a try.

We have several other projects that were slated for the magazine as well, but we will be presenting them in the next several weeks, as we do future updates.

I am sending out the Newsletter later on today, as soon as I am done with the instructions for the "Nevermore" plaque. If you would like to sign up for the monthly newsletter, you can do so on our Mailing List page. Lots of customers who don't get a chance to read my blog every day like to receive the newsletter to see what we have new. Besides - I don't always get the chance to show all of Keith's new designs here on my blog and they are always in the newsletter. We also offer special coupon codes from time to time for our mailing list customers only.

I hope you all like the new items. Both Keith and I have several more in the works. We are both optimistic that through word of mouth and other social media that people will find out about us and continue to support us and our little business. We both thank you all for that support as well.

It is beautiful and sunny out today. Summer isn't quite over just yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days I will get a chance to perhaps visit the beach. It has been a hectic summer so far and the weather hasn't cooperated much. Soon the winter cold will be here again.

I wish you all a wonderful Wednesday!
Sheila, it is hard when doors in our lives close. I commend you for not dwelling on the sadness and looking ahead. I really like Keith's new Christmas plaque and the $2 Special Pattern is sure to be a hit as well! Thanks for all you do and share.
 

Attachments

#10,843 ·
Finding Success

I felt really good about things yesterday. After spending the day putting together the SLD475 Nevermore pattern packet and completing the newsletter and latest site update, I felt I finally could take a breath. It was around dinnertime by then, and after the roller coaster that we had been on for the past couple of weeks, it felt good to be (at least for the moment) caught up and allow myself to just 'be'.

I had entertained the idea of working on some ornaments that I had been painting, or even embroidering. But I am happy to say that once our newsletter was emailed out, I was kept pretty busy with a nice, even stream of orders, and I was happy to fill them out and touch base with some of my regular customers and friends.

I do think we will be OK.

As I said yesterday, we have several things in the works for the future of our business. I suppose the most difficult part of having so many choices is deciding where to best invest our time. Each opportunity reminds me of that game I played as a child called "Mystery Date" where you open a door and don't know what will be behind it. But that is part of the excitement and fun.

There are no fast and quick answers as to what will be successful. I find it very difficult to answer people when they put the question of "how can I start a small business?" to me. Sometimes I feel like they may as well be asking me how to preform brain surgery.

Not too long ago, I saw a graphic on Facebook that really hit home. The graphic had two lines plotted on it and was entitled "Success". The first line was under the heading "What people think it looks like" and had a straight line, from point "A" to point "B". The second heading stated "What it really looks like" and had a meandering nest of a line that started at point "A" and again ended up at point "B". Things aren't always as simple as they appear to be. My personal favorite thought on success is "if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it."

I must say that I felt rather successful last night. I noticed many, many new customers were ordering as well as some names that I recognized. While I love knowing each of my customers on a personal level, I can tell you that it is rather exciting when I realize that we are growing to the point where it would be impossible for me to do so. Of course, I still give the same personal service to all, but by not recognizing many of the names that came across on the order forms, it showed me that we ARE growing and it was very encouraging for me to see.

I also noticed that while our new things that I introduced in yesterday's post did well, so did our older designs. This furthered the supposition that people are just finding us. It gave us a great deal of hope.

We certainly appreciate all the support that our customers offer to us. By purchasing from us and sharing our site with their friends, it is helping us reach more people than we ever thought possible. I know I say that I am grateful often, but that is because I truly feel that in my heart. Our customers will keep us alive. Thank you!

Before I go today, I wanted to share with you a photo that a customer from Germany (Angelika) sent me. While I don't always get a chance to post photos that are sent to me, I really enjoy seeing them.

Angelika took my SLD311 Butterfly Oval Self-Framing Plaque design :

Azure Water Font Dishware Body jewelry


And used it on the top of a box she created:

Flower Petal Font Rectangle Wood


r>

Isn't it just lovely?!

I can't tell you all how much joy I feel when I see someone enjoying my designs. To me, it is the best reward for my work.

Today looks to be another spectacular day in Nova Scotia. The sun is shining brightly and the air is warm and calm. The coolness of the morning has already burned off and the crickets are all singing.

I have many directions that I can choose to head today. I have a little more organizing, some painting, some drawing, or all of the above. I also have some new opportunities to work on for advertising and letting people know about our site. My day will be full and happy.

I wish you all a wonderful Thursday. May your day be filled with fun, enjoyment and creativity, and may you be successful in whatever you do.
 

Attachments

#10,844 ·
Finding Success

I felt really good about things yesterday. After spending the day putting together the SLD475 Nevermore pattern packet and completing the newsletter and latest site update, I felt I finally could take a breath. It was around dinnertime by then, and after the roller coaster that we had been on for the past couple of weeks, it felt good to be (at least for the moment) caught up and allow myself to just 'be'.

I had entertained the idea of working on some ornaments that I had been painting, or even embroidering. But I am happy to say that once our newsletter was emailed out, I was kept pretty busy with a nice, even stream of orders, and I was happy to fill them out and touch base with some of my regular customers and friends.

I do think we will be OK.

As I said yesterday, we have several things in the works for the future of our business. I suppose the most difficult part of having so many choices is deciding where to best invest our time. Each opportunity reminds me of that game I played as a child called "Mystery Date" where you open a door and don't know what will be behind it. But that is part of the excitement and fun.

There are no fast and quick answers as to what will be successful. I find it very difficult to answer people when they put the question of "how can I start a small business?" to me. Sometimes I feel like they may as well be asking me how to preform brain surgery.

Not too long ago, I saw a graphic on Facebook that really hit home. The graphic had two lines plotted on it and was entitled "Success". The first line was under the heading "What people think it looks like" and had a straight line, from point "A" to point "B". The second heading stated "What it really looks like" and had a meandering nest of a line that started at point "A" and again ended up at point "B". Things aren't always as simple as they appear to be. My personal favorite thought on success is "if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it."

I must say that I felt rather successful last night. I noticed many, many new customers were ordering as well as some names that I recognized. While I love knowing each of my customers on a personal level, I can tell you that it is rather exciting when I realize that we are growing to the point where it would be impossible for me to do so. Of course, I still give the same personal service to all, but by not recognizing many of the names that came across on the order forms, it showed me that we ARE growing and it was very encouraging for me to see.

I also noticed that while our new things that I introduced in yesterday's post did well, so did our older designs. This furthered the supposition that people are just finding us. It gave us a great deal of hope.

We certainly appreciate all the support that our customers offer to us. By purchasing from us and sharing our site with their friends, it is helping us reach more people than we ever thought possible. I know I say that I am grateful often, but that is because I truly feel that in my heart. Our customers will keep us alive. Thank you!

Before I go today, I wanted to share with you a photo that a customer from Germany (Angelika) sent me. While I don't always get a chance to post photos that are sent to me, I really enjoy seeing them.

Angelika took my SLD311 Butterfly Oval Self-Framing Plaque design :

Azure Water Font Dishware Body jewelry


And used it on the top of a box she created:

Flower Petal Font Rectangle Wood


r>

Isn't it just lovely?!

I can't tell you all how much joy I feel when I see someone enjoying my designs. To me, it is the best reward for my work.

Today looks to be another spectacular day in Nova Scotia. The sun is shining brightly and the air is warm and calm. The coolness of the morning has already burned off and the crickets are all singing.

I have many directions that I can choose to head today. I have a little more organizing, some painting, some drawing, or all of the above. I also have some new opportunities to work on for advertising and letting people know about our site. My day will be full and happy.

I wish you all a wonderful Thursday. May your day be filled with fun, enjoyment and creativity, and may you be successful in whatever you do.
Angelika has just proved that you are a great inspiration to us all! You are also very generous with your designs in allowing us all to use your designs as a stepping stone to something else. There are some designers who do not appreciate their designs being changed at all and that is ok too. I personally prefer your way of working! :)
 

Attachments

#10,846 ·
This and That

I had kind of a 'catch up' day yesterday. With all that had been going on lately and with getting the new patterns up on the site, I was beginning to feel a bit frazzled. So many things to do and so many directions to head. I didn't know what to do first.

I find that if I don't give myself a little break from things, I really start to feel it. Then I wind up running in circles and becoming overwhelmed.

After doing my usual chores, I decided to pick up a paint brush and work on some ornaments I began last week. People often ask why I paint others' patterns when I am a designer myself. But as most designers can tell you, it is not only fun to paint designs other than my own, but can also be far more relaxing. You may want to call it "lazy" but there are times when I like everything spelled out for me where most of the 'work' is done. I have my favorite designers too, and depending on what mood I am in, I like to try their patterns. A little of this. A little of that. It depends on my mood.

The pieces that I am working on are by one of my favorite designers - Jamie Mills Price. Ever since I began decorative painting, I have been drawn to her designs because of their cute appeal and details. While I own several of her books, I will admit that I have only found the time to paint a couple of her pieces throughout the years.

Several weeks ago however, Jamie announced that she was beginning a "Halloween Ornament Club" in which after joining, you would receive a new ornament pattern for each month of the year. (You can see the details here - http://www.betweenthevines.com/html/halloween_club.html" target="_blank">Jamie Mills Price Halloween Ornament Club</a>)

I loved the concept, as I love painting ornaments. I had seen her Christmas Ornament Club pieces over the past few years and was really considering joining. However, the shipping charges for the patterns were prohibitive for me, as shipping to Canada was quite a bit. But this time I noticed that Jamie was offering the patterns in PDF format, and they could be emailed to me at a big savings. Since I cut my own wood and didn't require the pieces, this was perfect for me and I decided to give it a try.

My first patterns arrived at the end of July. They were the June and July installments and the first patterns of the club. Jamie's work has always been first class, and these patterns were no exception. They were of a cute pirate ghost and a darling little witch. I was really pleased with the details of the patterns, and they even included a RECIPE with them! I think it is good to be on the other side of the learning tree once in a while, as it exposes us to different techniques and methods of doing things.

The pieces were easy enough to cut and I cut myself a dozen of the witch ornaments to 'play with'. I base coated them last week (which is NOT my favorite part!) and I was just about ready to start painting. Doing twelve pieces will take a bit longer than I anticipated, as the ornaments have quite a bit of detail. You can see them starting to come together in this picture:

Font Art Circle Visual arts Fashion accessory


While they are just getting started, you can already see how cute they will be!

Being somewhat impatient, I decided to move forward with just one piece first - just to see how they would come out. I made this decision late in the day, and I pooped out at this point:

Orange Creative arts Wood Art Fashion accessory


You can already see how many colors are layered in the hat. They are going to be beautiful!

As usual, I had a 'helper' keep me company throughout the day. "Inspector Pancakes" made sure I did a good job, and only chimed in when he thought I was slacking.

Cat Carnivore Wood Felidae Whiskers


It was really a pretty nice and relaxing day. I will certainly keep you all posted on my progress, as I hope to finish them up in the next couple of sessions.

I tend to be a slow painter, and I don't often have the extra time to play with stuff for myself like this. I always fight the battle during my down time of doing painting or embroidery. Sometimes one wins and sometimes the other.

Today it is back to the drawing board for me. I plan on working on the other stand up reindeer to go with the set I introduced earlier this week. They were very popular and I want to get the companion pieces, as well as the sleigh done as soon as possible - hopefully by the next update. As usual, I feel the clock ticking faster than I would like.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is overcast here today, but warm and muggy. I think we may be in for some rain later on. No matter what though, I know I will have fun.

I wish you all a wonderful Friday.
 

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#10,847 ·
This and That

I had kind of a 'catch up' day yesterday. With all that had been going on lately and with getting the new patterns up on the site, I was beginning to feel a bit frazzled. So many things to do and so many directions to head. I didn't know what to do first.

I find that if I don't give myself a little break from things, I really start to feel it. Then I wind up running in circles and becoming overwhelmed.

After doing my usual chores, I decided to pick up a paint brush and work on some ornaments I began last week. People often ask why I paint others' patterns when I am a designer myself. But as most designers can tell you, it is not only fun to paint designs other than my own, but can also be far more relaxing. You may want to call it "lazy" but there are times when I like everything spelled out for me where most of the 'work' is done. I have my favorite designers too, and depending on what mood I am in, I like to try their patterns. A little of this. A little of that. It depends on my mood.

The pieces that I am working on are by one of my favorite designers - Jamie Mills Price. Ever since I began decorative painting, I have been drawn to her designs because of their cute appeal and details. While I own several of her books, I will admit that I have only found the time to paint a couple of her pieces throughout the years.

Several weeks ago however, Jamie announced that she was beginning a "Halloween Ornament Club" in which after joining, you would receive a new ornament pattern for each month of the year. (You can see the details here - http://www.betweenthevines.com/html/halloween_club.html" target="_blank">Jamie Mills Price Halloween Ornament Club</a>)

I loved the concept, as I love painting ornaments. I had seen her Christmas Ornament Club pieces over the past few years and was really considering joining. However, the shipping charges for the patterns were prohibitive for me, as shipping to Canada was quite a bit. But this time I noticed that Jamie was offering the patterns in PDF format, and they could be emailed to me at a big savings. Since I cut my own wood and didn't require the pieces, this was perfect for me and I decided to give it a try.

My first patterns arrived at the end of July. They were the June and July installments and the first patterns of the club. Jamie's work has always been first class, and these patterns were no exception. They were of a cute pirate ghost and a darling little witch. I was really pleased with the details of the patterns, and they even included a RECIPE with them! I think it is good to be on the other side of the learning tree once in a while, as it exposes us to different techniques and methods of doing things.

The pieces were easy enough to cut and I cut myself a dozen of the witch ornaments to 'play with'. I base coated them last week (which is NOT my favorite part!) and I was just about ready to start painting. Doing twelve pieces will take a bit longer than I anticipated, as the ornaments have quite a bit of detail. You can see them starting to come together in this picture:

Font Art Circle Visual arts Fashion accessory


While they are just getting started, you can already see how cute they will be!

Being somewhat impatient, I decided to move forward with just one piece first - just to see how they would come out. I made this decision late in the day, and I pooped out at this point:

Orange Creative arts Wood Art Fashion accessory


You can already see how many colors are layered in the hat. They are going to be beautiful!

As usual, I had a 'helper' keep me company throughout the day. "Inspector Pancakes" made sure I did a good job, and only chimed in when he thought I was slacking.

Cat Carnivore Wood Felidae Whiskers


It was really a pretty nice and relaxing day. I will certainly keep you all posted on my progress, as I hope to finish them up in the next couple of sessions.

I tend to be a slow painter, and I don't often have the extra time to play with stuff for myself like this. I always fight the battle during my down time of doing painting or embroidery. Sometimes one wins and sometimes the other.

Today it is back to the drawing board for me. I plan on working on the other stand up reindeer to go with the set I introduced earlier this week. They were very popular and I want to get the companion pieces, as well as the sleigh done as soon as possible - hopefully by the next update. As usual, I feel the clock ticking faster than I would like.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is overcast here today, but warm and muggy. I think we may be in for some rain later on. No matter what though, I know I will have fun.

I wish you all a wonderful Friday.
Really nice to see pretty Witches instead of the ugly Disney ones. These should look great. Can't wait to see the final group. Where's Witch number 13?
 

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#10,853 ·
'Lazy' Weekend

It is hard to believe that another Monday is upon us. What I find even more difficult to digest is that it is the final week of August. It seems as if summer has just began and at least here in Nova Scotia, there were only a few days that I would consider to be 'hot'.

But as I awake in the morning, I notice that it is darker each day. This morning when I got up the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. I know that soon it will be completely dark, and I will once again need a light on while I have my morning coffee.

The air is cooler as well. This morning I needed both a blanket and kitty to keep me warm while I was going through my morning emails. Richard sleeps comfortably at my feet, swaddled in the blanket that I have on my lap. I can feel his warmth on my legs and the air outside the blanket is still much cooler. Autumn is approaching.

I accomplished a good amount of things this weekend, but as usual, not as much as I wish I could have done. I don't know why, but lately I have had a lull in my ambition. Not to the point of crisis, but I am just not my usual 'ball of fire' that you all have become used to seeing. The past couple of evenings I was completely happy to 'just sit' and watch a show that Keith and I have been following. No painting, drawing or embroidery. I haven't even talked online much. Perhaps it is a much needed step away that will prepare me for the busy holiday season to come. (I'll say it is, anyway!)

There are no shortage of ideas. Just the ambition to implement them. I don't really view it as a crisis though, as I know it is only temporary. I am trying to fight the feeling that in a month or so I will look back on this time with regret, and hope that I don't view it as being 'wasted'.

Is resting and replenishing ourselves really considered 'wasting time' though?

I hope not. I kind of look at it as a necessary pause in the crazy life we have so that we are better able to function and take on other things in the future. It is a shame that society has come to look upon these down times as being something negative. Perhaps it is me, but I always find myself trying to justify any down time I take at all.

And I know I am not alone.

I see many of my friends do the same thing. Just when I wonder how they are able to accomplish such a huge amout of things, I see them apologizing for not keeping up that crazy pace.

It can't be healthy.

So as I sit here and write to you how we all deserve time off, I can't help but feel that by doing so I am also trying to justify my actions (or lack there of!) Isn't life funny?

In any case, it was a good weekend and even though I went at a slower pace (for me, anyway) I did accomplish quite a bit.

Last week in our site update, I introduced the first part of a set of reindeer that I created. I was really thrilled that people liked them as many patterns were ordered. My friend and customer Barb even sent me a photo of the set she made of them at a wood show, in which she used no electric or power tools at all. I think they came out wonderful:

Vertebrate Wood Sculpture Mammal Art


I love seeing people make my designs. It really makes me feel good. I also had several people asking for the rest of the pieces that I spoke of.

I had designed the original pattern to have two poses of the reindeer (shown above.) I will be creating another set of two posese so that customers can double them to make a total of eight reindeer for a vignette. I also am creating a pretty sleigh for them to use - either with the vignette or on its own. I have a little teaser of the drawing for that sled to show you:

Nose Head Bird Human body Jaw


I hope to finish up the drawing of it today, and then I will cut it out hopefully tomorrow.

As a bonus pattern, I also drew up a single reindeer - Rudolph - that I will offer free to those who already bought the other three patterns. I will also be selling the Rudolph pattern singly.

The deer are all drawn and ready to cut as well. It will be fun to see them all come together.

I suppose when I list everything here and look back on things, I really didn't sit idle after all. Besides the drawings, I spent part of the weekend painting the ornaments I showed you last week and on Saturday evening I embroidered. It was a full weekend and I enjoyed myself very much.

Keith was busy as well, as he spent pretty much of last week drawing some beautiful new cross ornaments.

White Font Art Material property Creative arts


These two-piece crosses will be wonderful smaller as shown for ornaments or even enlarged as plaques. They can even be used individually as pendants or accents for other pieces. There will be ten 'double crosses' in the pattern set and we already have had some wonderful feedback on them.

So things are moving right along. Even though it may feel as if I am not doing a lot, when looking back, I am pretty proud of what we did do. I suppose the secret to being happy is to enjoy what you do and allow yourself to feel good about doing things at a comfortable pace. I think that in the end, it is the best way to live.

I wish you all a fabulous Monday!
 

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#10,854 ·
'Lazy' Weekend

It is hard to believe that another Monday is upon us. What I find even more difficult to digest is that it is the final week of August. It seems as if summer has just began and at least here in Nova Scotia, there were only a few days that I would consider to be 'hot'.

But as I awake in the morning, I notice that it is darker each day. This morning when I got up the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. I know that soon it will be completely dark, and I will once again need a light on while I have my morning coffee.

The air is cooler as well. This morning I needed both a blanket and kitty to keep me warm while I was going through my morning emails. Richard sleeps comfortably at my feet, swaddled in the blanket that I have on my lap. I can feel his warmth on my legs and the air outside the blanket is still much cooler. Autumn is approaching.

I accomplished a good amount of things this weekend, but as usual, not as much as I wish I could have done. I don't know why, but lately I have had a lull in my ambition. Not to the point of crisis, but I am just not my usual 'ball of fire' that you all have become used to seeing. The past couple of evenings I was completely happy to 'just sit' and watch a show that Keith and I have been following. No painting, drawing or embroidery. I haven't even talked online much. Perhaps it is a much needed step away that will prepare me for the busy holiday season to come. (I'll say it is, anyway!)

There are no shortage of ideas. Just the ambition to implement them. I don't really view it as a crisis though, as I know it is only temporary. I am trying to fight the feeling that in a month or so I will look back on this time with regret, and hope that I don't view it as being 'wasted'.

Is resting and replenishing ourselves really considered 'wasting time' though?

I hope not. I kind of look at it as a necessary pause in the crazy life we have so that we are better able to function and take on other things in the future. It is a shame that society has come to look upon these down times as being something negative. Perhaps it is me, but I always find myself trying to justify any down time I take at all.

And I know I am not alone.

I see many of my friends do the same thing. Just when I wonder how they are able to accomplish such a huge amout of things, I see them apologizing for not keeping up that crazy pace.

It can't be healthy.

So as I sit here and write to you how we all deserve time off, I can't help but feel that by doing so I am also trying to justify my actions (or lack there of!) Isn't life funny?

In any case, it was a good weekend and even though I went at a slower pace (for me, anyway) I did accomplish quite a bit.

Last week in our site update, I introduced the first part of a set of reindeer that I created. I was really thrilled that people liked them as many patterns were ordered. My friend and customer Barb even sent me a photo of the set she made of them at a wood show, in which she used no electric or power tools at all. I think they came out wonderful:

Vertebrate Wood Sculpture Mammal Art


I love seeing people make my designs. It really makes me feel good. I also had several people asking for the rest of the pieces that I spoke of.

I had designed the original pattern to have two poses of the reindeer (shown above.) I will be creating another set of two posese so that customers can double them to make a total of eight reindeer for a vignette. I also am creating a pretty sleigh for them to use - either with the vignette or on its own. I have a little teaser of the drawing for that sled to show you:

Nose Head Bird Human body Jaw


I hope to finish up the drawing of it today, and then I will cut it out hopefully tomorrow.

As a bonus pattern, I also drew up a single reindeer - Rudolph - that I will offer free to those who already bought the other three patterns. I will also be selling the Rudolph pattern singly.

The deer are all drawn and ready to cut as well. It will be fun to see them all come together.

I suppose when I list everything here and look back on things, I really didn't sit idle after all. Besides the drawings, I spent part of the weekend painting the ornaments I showed you last week and on Saturday evening I embroidered. It was a full weekend and I enjoyed myself very much.

Keith was busy as well, as he spent pretty much of last week drawing some beautiful new cross ornaments.

White Font Art Material property Creative arts


These two-piece crosses will be wonderful smaller as shown for ornaments or even enlarged as plaques. They can even be used individually as pendants or accents for other pieces. There will be ten 'double crosses' in the pattern set and we already have had some wonderful feedback on them.

So things are moving right along. Even though it may feel as if I am not doing a lot, when looking back, I am pretty proud of what we did do. I suppose the secret to being happy is to enjoy what you do and allow yourself to feel good about doing things at a comfortable pace. I think that in the end, it is the best way to live.

I wish you all a fabulous Monday!
well you are right…monday is here…but we don't have cool air as you, its stinking hot here…i might have to go buy an air conditioner as the one in the bedroom is not giving off cooler air as it should…but i digress..those crosses that keith did are so good, in fact the slits in the top pieces must be the width of the blade….as i could not see how he would make those unless there was a little hole that was just right, they look mighty nice…well i don't think i'm up to facing the day yet, and a little bit longer snooze is coming on…..pet those kitties for me, and tell keith i said hello, unless you think he needs petting…see, look at me, getting silly befor 8 in the morning….you guys have a good week
 

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#10,859 ·
The "Two-Minute" Blog

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call to remind me that I had an eye doctors' appointment in Digby this morning. I must be getting old because I completely forgot about it. I also thought I set my Google reminders to remind me, but I guess I forgot that as well, or I did it wrong.

In any case, I have to skeedaddle out of here today and it is supposed to be a beautiful and sunny day here in Nova Scotia. My sweetie thought it would be a great day to play "hookie" and it didn't take much convincing for me to agree.

I don't know where the road will take us today, but I am sure it will be beautiful. These chances are so few and far between and I know in a couple of weeks it will be getting cold and snowy and the opportunities will have passed.

But before I go, I wanted to share with you some awesome photos I received from a customer (John Shaw) These are his versions of two of Keith's beautiful patterns.

The first one is Keiths' SLDK380 - John 14:6 :

Wood Font Brickwork Brick Building material


The second one is Keiths' SLDK312 - Mark 5:36:

Wood Brick Brickwork Font Building


We both really loved John's version of the plaques. Thank you so much for sharing them. I hope they will be inspiring to others!

I wish you all a great day!
 

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#10,860 ·
The "Two-Minute" Blog

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call to remind me that I had an eye doctors' appointment in Digby this morning. I must be getting old because I completely forgot about it. I also thought I set my Google reminders to remind me, but I guess I forgot that as well, or I did it wrong.

In any case, I have to skeedaddle out of here today and it is supposed to be a beautiful and sunny day here in Nova Scotia. My sweetie thought it would be a great day to play "hookie" and it didn't take much convincing for me to agree.

I don't know where the road will take us today, but I am sure it will be beautiful. These chances are so few and far between and I know in a couple of weeks it will be getting cold and snowy and the opportunities will have passed.

But before I go, I wanted to share with you some awesome photos I received from a customer (John Shaw) These are his versions of two of Keith's beautiful patterns.

The first one is Keiths' SLDK380 - John 14:6 :

Wood Font Brickwork Brick Building material


The second one is Keiths' SLDK312 - Mark 5:36:



We both really loved John's version of the plaques. Thank you so much for sharing them. I hope they will be inspiring to others!

I wish you all a great day!
Have a great day playing hooky, Sheila! Thanks for sharing John's plaques!
 

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#10,863 ·
Ready to Cut my New SLEIGH!

I have to admit that the past couple of weeks have not been easy. Please understand that I am NOT whining about things, but I haven't been feeling my usual self and as a designer, that affects just about everything that I do.

The closing of the magazines has really taken a toll on me. It is getting better each day, but I feel as if I would be lying to you all if I put on a front when I wrote here each day and acted as if I wasn't affected. After all, for nearly seventeen years I did so much with the magazine in the back of my mind. I find that I am catching myself thinking "oh - this would be good for the magazine" or something similar only to realize that it no longer exists. It is as if I lost a friend or a loved one. I suppose old habits are hard to break.

But the opportunities are right here in front of me and I need to take time to sort through them and make some decisions as to which way I want to go. I know the smart thing is to really consider each option carefully, and that takes time and thought. I don't want to do anything in haste only to regret it later one. I think that is the smartest approach.

So from time to time, I may miss writing here every day. I also may not be working at my usual 200 mph pace that you have all become used to. I find myself just sitting and "contemplating" a bit more these days, and while it may slow down my production process, I think in the long run it is a good thing. Taking time for myself is really important now. Even if it is stealing ten minutes of the day here and there.

I tell you all this because I know that I am not the first, nor will I be the last to experience this. Especially now - there are so many of you who have gone through similar experiences where your life has changed. Some things may be good and others maybe not so good, but whether it is good or bad, coping with them is something that we can't avoid. Life will always be changing. Things will change around us. Digging in and trying to keep things the same would only prove exhausting, but each of us needs to find which way is best for US to cope with our changing world. And this apparently, is mine. Things may be a little slow, but at least they are moving again - and at least they are moving in a GOOD direction. Sometimes baby steps are the best way.

I did pretty much finish up the drawing of my sleigh yesterday. I am excited about it because the first part of the reindeer pattern has been so popular. I can't wait to cut the remaining reindeer and sleigh and see the set altogether. I think it will look pretty cool.

I have a small sample of what I came up with for the fretwork on the sleigh:

Nose Hair Head Arm Eye


It's just a small peek, but you get the idea. I don't want it to be really difficult, but I want it to be pretty and "Christmassy". And fun to cut. ;)

I still have a few adjustments on it this morning, and then I should be ready to go. This week has been pretty discombobulated, it seems, but I finally got through the piles of emails that I had and I feel I can move ahead with a clear head. I hope to have the set done over the weekend. Then I have some new things to make.

It is all good.

It rained last night and this morning when I awoke, it was still dark out. I could hear the soft rain falling, and there were periodic flashes of lightning. But it wasn't violent at all. Rather very calm. It's grey and foggy out now, but in a pretty way. The rain has stopped and the crickets are chirping loudly - so loud I can't hear the river across the road. I think they are happy for the rain.

I wish you all a good day today. The week is winding down and the final weekend of August is upon us. Summer is getting ready for its final Act.

I hope you all take some time to enjoy today, even for a short time - and appreciate all the good things around you.

Have a great Thursday.
 

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#10,864 ·
Progress

I thought I did pretty well yesterday. Besides getting a lot of little things done, I made pretty good progress on my new sleigh. I found a really nice piece of cherry to cut the main part of the sleigh, and I am going to use walnut for the runners. I think that the contrast will look good.

By the time I finished all the drawing up and got everything prepped for cutting and did all my errands, it was later in the afternoon. Sometimes just 'every day stuff' takes a little time to complete. But that was OK, as I wanted the day to be productive and relaxing, and I feel it was on both accounts.

I cut the sleigh sides, and the bed, and here are my results:

Font Volute Motif Art Ornament


The most important things was to get the angles of the sleigh bed correct, and I did accomplish that. This piece will be pretty easy to put together, which is what I wanted. I didn't want to make this into an advanced level project at all. The holly and swirl pattern is done randomly, and I like that. I am never really good at "random" as I always wind up doing "repeat random" (like wallpaper) but I think this is one of my better efforts. It is hard to believe, but it is much more work for me to do this type of drawing than doing something precise.

The cutting itself was not hard. As I said above, it was really nice and relaxing. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the saw and have some thoughts about doing some more projects like this as well. But first I need to finish this. :)

After the first sanding, I was pleased. I still need to touch up a couple of the holes, but this is with no finish at all:

Brown Wood Font Pattern Art


It will be fun to see it get finished up today. Then on to the remaining reindeer. :)

It is another beautiful day here in Nova Scotia. The weekend also is suppose to be great. I feel good today, seeing the progress that I made on this piece and can't wait to get it finished.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well.

Enjoy your Friday!
 

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#10,865 ·
Progress

I thought I did pretty well yesterday. Besides getting a lot of little things done, I made pretty good progress on my new sleigh. I found a really nice piece of cherry to cut the main part of the sleigh, and I am going to use walnut for the runners. I think that the contrast will look good.

By the time I finished all the drawing up and got everything prepped for cutting and did all my errands, it was later in the afternoon. Sometimes just 'every day stuff' takes a little time to complete. But that was OK, as I wanted the day to be productive and relaxing, and I feel it was on both accounts.

I cut the sleigh sides, and the bed, and here are my results:

Font Volute Motif Art Ornament


The most important things was to get the angles of the sleigh bed correct, and I did accomplish that. This piece will be pretty easy to put together, which is what I wanted. I didn't want to make this into an advanced level project at all. The holly and swirl pattern is done randomly, and I like that. I am never really good at "random" as I always wind up doing "repeat random" (like wallpaper) but I think this is one of my better efforts. It is hard to believe, but it is much more work for me to do this type of drawing than doing something precise.

The cutting itself was not hard. As I said above, it was really nice and relaxing. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the saw and have some thoughts about doing some more projects like this as well. But first I need to finish this. :)

After the first sanding, I was pleased. I still need to touch up a couple of the holes, but this is with no finish at all:

Brown Wood Font Pattern Art


It will be fun to see it get finished up today. Then on to the remaining reindeer. :)

It is another beautiful day here in Nova Scotia. The weekend also is suppose to be great. I feel good today, seeing the progress that I made on this piece and can't wait to get it finished.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well.

Enjoy your Friday!
Beautiful! Love the scrolly swirls on this. Looking forward to seeing it finished. This would make a beautiful centre piece on a table filled with glass balls, pine cones or candies - or a santa!
Enjoy the weekend. It feels like Fall here this evening - a bit of a shock after our heat waves !
 

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#10,869 ·
Don't You Love When That Happens?

Sometimes good planning really does pay off. I am not saying that everything went 'without a hitch', but in the end, the build on my new Christmas sleigh worked out pretty well. I am really pleased with it.

When 'building' three dimensional pieces such as these, to me it seems like there is so much more involved than just cutting fretwork. While the fretwork design is a really important part of the piece, on something like this, it is just that - a part - and getting the pieces to work together can be the biggest challenge.

Not only do they need to work well together and fit properly, but what I always try to do is to make things work using minimal tools. I want this project to be something that someone with just a scroll saw, drill press and hand sander can accomplish easily. Because of this desire, I need to have a little "wiggle room" for those who may not be able to cut things absolutely perfectly. Lord knows I don't always do so! But I think I hit the nail on the head this time and everything went pretty much according to plan.

That didn't mean that I didn't have to cut two sets of runners. My first set, while cut and fit properly, looked "bad" with the sleigh bed. They weren't long enough and the curls of the runners were hidden by the sides of the sleigh, making the piece look messy and ill-planned.

Back to the computer and drawing board it was. But not before I made some pretty firewood.

I am often asked by others if I want someone to cut my designs for me. While I appreciate the offers, I graciously refuse because I feel that I need to know everything about the builds and implementations of my patterns, and the only way I can learn that is by cutting each one myself. If some lines are a little closer than I am comfortable with, I may leave them on my sample (as I don't want to waste perfectly good pieces) but I will go back on the computer and 'tweak' them so that the 'average' person can accomplish them without difficulty. To me it is part of the process and a huge reason that I can sell my patterns with the confidence that they are excellent quality. I always say that I am still learning and these last several pieces support that statement. I have learned a lot.

But at the end of the day, everything WORKED!

The sleigh went together beautifully, with no 'teetering' at all. The size was perfect to go with the reindeer and I do believe that the WAY I put it together allowed for some small imperfections in cutting. I was really, really proud.

So without further babbling on, here is the finished sleigh:

Furniture Wood Chair Stairs Volute


It is made of MAPLE with WALNUT runners. :) I love the contrast and I am pretty pleased with it.

Here is a photo of it with the two reindeer:

Wood Textile Art Floor Flooring


As you can see, it is a good size to go with the deer. Today I will be making the additional reindeer to complete the set.

My sleigh here is three inches wide, but I am also going to include pattern pieces to make it four inches wide for those who want the sleigh alone - perhaps to hold small ornaments or candy. I liked the slender size though for my sample, as I think it would fit better on a mantle or similar shelf at the thinner width.

I hope you like it.

The pattern for this and also the reindeer will be available at our next site update, sometime mid-week. I know people will ask me anyway, but I will state it here nonetheless. ;)

From the many inquiries I received, I think this will be a really popular set for me. I surely appreciate that very much, as a lot of thought went into it. I was so happy that everything pretty much fell into place as I hoped it would.

Don't you love when that happens?

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. It is sunny and calm and a bit cool here in Nova Scotia. Autumn is definitely approaching very quickly. There is so much yet for me to do!

I had a beautiful day yesterday of not only making the sleigh, but I cooked up a wonderful batch of red sauce using some awesome fresh produce. I used tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and a bit of celery and herbs and spices to make a wonderful, healthy sauce. I didn't have the chance to eat it though, as we had other things planned for dinner. Today I think I will make a Chicago style deep dish pizza using the sauce. It will be a masterpiece, I am sure. ;)

Have a beautiful Saturday! :)
 

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#10,870 ·
Don't You Love When That Happens?

Sometimes good planning really does pay off. I am not saying that everything went 'without a hitch', but in the end, the build on my new Christmas sleigh worked out pretty well. I am really pleased with it.

When 'building' three dimensional pieces such as these, to me it seems like there is so much more involved than just cutting fretwork. While the fretwork design is a really important part of the piece, on something like this, it is just that - a part - and getting the pieces to work together can be the biggest challenge.

Not only do they need to work well together and fit properly, but what I always try to do is to make things work using minimal tools. I want this project to be something that someone with just a scroll saw, drill press and hand sander can accomplish easily. Because of this desire, I need to have a little "wiggle room" for those who may not be able to cut things absolutely perfectly. Lord knows I don't always do so! But I think I hit the nail on the head this time and everything went pretty much according to plan.

That didn't mean that I didn't have to cut two sets of runners. My first set, while cut and fit properly, looked "bad" with the sleigh bed. They weren't long enough and the curls of the runners were hidden by the sides of the sleigh, making the piece look messy and ill-planned.

Back to the computer and drawing board it was. But not before I made some pretty firewood.

I am often asked by others if I want someone to cut my designs for me. While I appreciate the offers, I graciously refuse because I feel that I need to know everything about the builds and implementations of my patterns, and the only way I can learn that is by cutting each one myself. If some lines are a little closer than I am comfortable with, I may leave them on my sample (as I don't want to waste perfectly good pieces) but I will go back on the computer and 'tweak' them so that the 'average' person can accomplish them without difficulty. To me it is part of the process and a huge reason that I can sell my patterns with the confidence that they are excellent quality. I always say that I am still learning and these last several pieces support that statement. I have learned a lot.

But at the end of the day, everything WORKED!

The sleigh went together beautifully, with no 'teetering' at all. The size was perfect to go with the reindeer and I do believe that the WAY I put it together allowed for some small imperfections in cutting. I was really, really proud.

So without further babbling on, here is the finished sleigh:

Furniture Wood Chair Stairs Volute


It is made of MAPLE with WALNUT runners. :) I love the contrast and I am pretty pleased with it.

Here is a photo of it with the two reindeer:

Wood Textile Art Floor Flooring


As you can see, it is a good size to go with the deer. Today I will be making the additional reindeer to complete the set.

My sleigh here is three inches wide, but I am also going to include pattern pieces to make it four inches wide for those who want the sleigh alone - perhaps to hold small ornaments or candy. I liked the slender size though for my sample, as I think it would fit better on a mantle or similar shelf at the thinner width.

I hope you like it.

The pattern for this and also the reindeer will be available at our next site update, sometime mid-week. I know people will ask me anyway, but I will state it here nonetheless. ;)

From the many inquiries I received, I think this will be a really popular set for me. I surely appreciate that very much, as a lot of thought went into it. I was so happy that everything pretty much fell into place as I hoped it would.

Don't you love when that happens?

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. It is sunny and calm and a bit cool here in Nova Scotia. Autumn is definitely approaching very quickly. There is so much yet for me to do!

I had a beautiful day yesterday of not only making the sleigh, but I cooked up a wonderful batch of red sauce using some awesome fresh produce. I used tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and a bit of celery and herbs and spices to make a wonderful, healthy sauce. I didn't have the chance to eat it though, as we had other things planned for dinner. Today I think I will make a Chicago style deep dish pizza using the sauce. It will be a masterpiece, I am sure. ;)

Have a beautiful Saturday! :)
Lovely piece, Sheila, very lovely indeed!
 

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