Woodworking

Bug, Fairy and Pixie are learning about Ancient Egypt. When they needed a pyramid, and needed one fast, we got out the Big Bucket-O-Legos and started building. After about an hour, the five of us... Bug, Fairy, Pixie, Mommy and Gammy, constructed a pyramid we were all pretty darn proud of. When we were done, the children began playing. Before you knew it there was vegetation, the Nile, and some local animals. They were using pirates and spacemen to set to work on building a palace, but it wasn't long before Bug wandered over and said, "Gammy, we need a mummy and a pharaoh." He had already built a sarcophagus but was hoping for an authentic looking pharaoh and mummy.

Well... how hard can that be, right? We grabbed a couple of our 1 1/2" wooden people pegs, the crafting glue and a few strips of white fabric. Before you could say Tutankhamen, we fashioned a mummy and pharaoh. To make the mummy, simple cover a wooden peg with glue. Rip fabric into 1/2" strips and begin wrapping the mummy. If the glue dries as you are wrapping it, simply add more glue. Make sure you cover the top of the head and the bottom, and tut-tut, you have your very own mummy, ready to be placed in his sarcophagus.

To make the pharaoh, rub glue on the lower half of a peg. Wrap a piece of a 1/2" strip of white cloth around the lower part of his body 2 times. Cut the strip on a diagonal so the cut is on the front of the pharaoh. To make his head wrap, cut a piece of fabric 1" by the distance around his head plus 1/2". Put glue on the head following a natural hairline. Wrap the scarf around his head, overlapping in the back. At this point the fabric will be standing up straight. Place a little more glue on the back of the head and fold the scarf toward the back, making sure to leave 2 sharp points on either side of the scarf. Add an embellishment around the pharaoh's neck. We cut a necklace out of green felt, making sure we cut it so it fit around his neck, and glued it in place. When the pharaoh dries, use a fine tip permanent marker and add facial features. He is now ready to storm the castle... I mean the pyramid!
  

Every summer Britta and Axel, along with their children, leave the Thicket and head to the city to visit Britta's sister, Greta and her family. When they go, Britta makes sure to bring gifts from the Thicket including acorn jam, dried mushrooms and toys for the children whittled from wood. In turn, Greta and her family come to the Thicket to spend the Christmas holidays. They never come empty handed. There are many things Greta and her husband Eldar can find in the city that are not available to the Thicket gnomes. They bring buttons and small bolts of cloth. Cooking pots and books. But this year, they brough special gifts for Britta and the family. Something that she never even dreamed of owning... their very own city bed! No longer will they need to use their sleeping bags. Beds! Britta is so excited the first night in her new bed she can barely sleep! Britta decides here and now to make something extra special for her sister's family.

If you would like to craft your own Gnome City Bed like the one Eldar made or a mattress and pillow like Greta made, click HERE or the directions can be found with the FREE patterns. Enjoy! 

Help your little gnome friends get a good night's sleep with these Gnome City Beds. Very easy to make, and your gnomes will truly be appreciative!

Materials for bed:
wooden container
decorative wooden knobs
crafting glue
wood paint
Mod Podge or sealer

Materials for mattress and pillow:
felt pieces
stuffing (Polyfill, cotton, wool or felt scraps)
embroidery floss

Directions for bed:
1] Purchase a wooden box of suitable size. (NOTE: Mine was purchased from a local craft store. It is made out of balsa wood and measures 3" x 4 1/2" x 1 3/4". This was a great size. There was a bottom and a top hinged together. This will make 2 beds. The top was not as deep as the bottom but it doesn't matter.)

2] Remove all hardware. At this point you may choose to fill the holes but I did not. I wanted to maintain that repurposed look.

3] On the flat bottoms, mark the position of the placement for the knob feet centering the marks 1/2" in from the 2 corner sides. 

4] Place a dollop of glue on the 4 marks.

5] Position 4 knobs on the glue. Allow to dry completely. (I bought packages of wooden knobs. They are approximately 1/2" x 3/4". I found them in the same area where I found the boxes.)

6] Paint or stain the bed. You can leave it natural, too. I watered down a light brown paint and "white washed" the beds. It tinted the wood more than painted it.

7] To paint flowers, I simply dipped the end of a larger paintbrush in my petal color, and dabbed it on the wood. I made 5 dabs in a small circle. I used a goodly amount of paint to give the petals a raised look.

8] Change paint colors and using the same technique, dab a center to each flower. Allow to dry completely.

9] Using a small, flat brush, put green paint on the end. To make leaves, make one dab for each leaf. Position and paint 2 leaves per flower.

10] After the paint has dried, seal the wood with Mod Podge or the Natural Olive Oil and Beeswax Finish. I chose to use Pod Podge because the balsa wood was rather rough, and I wanted a layer of Mod Podge to smooth out the wood. 

Mattress and Pillow:
1] Measure the inside of the bed. Cut out 2 pieces of felt to this measurement.

2] Using 6 strands of floss and a blanket stitch, sew together 3 sides of the mattress.

3] Lightly stuff the mattress, then continue sewing the rest of the mattress closed.

4] To make the pillow cut 2 pieces of felt 1 1/4" x 1/2" less than the width of the mattress. Sew and stuff following the directions for the mattress. 

I was hoping to get more "words" done today, but alas, I didn't. Tim cut out and sanded a stack of blocks for me... enough to write a novel if I'm so inclined :) I did get a chance to write up the instructions. They are very easy to make and this is a craft you can definitely do with the kids. When thinking of gift giving, you don't need to be limited to the Holidays. Think of doing children's names for their rooms, or a word of encouragement for a co-worker's desk. OR perhaps the season names for your nature table. Whatever you decide, this was a fun and fast craft. The instructions for the Wooden Christmas Blocks can be found HERE or with our FREE patterns. Enjoy!

If you can cut a piece of 2x4, you can make this project. BTW... even if YOU can't cut a 2x4, many lumber yards are willing to do it for you for a nominal fee. Use your imagination to share greetings and messages by simply stenciling letters to blocks you have painted. This is a craft that most children can help you with. A very affordable Christmas craft to keep or give as gifts.

Materials:
2x4 lumber - You need 1 block per letter (Figure approximately 3 blocks per linear foot)
saw for cutting wood
sandpaper for sanding wood
*paint - milk paint for block, acrylic paint for stenciling
2" alphabet stencils (I purchased mine at Michael's. They were inexpensive paper stencils. You could also find a font you like and cut out stencils.)
stencil brush
Olive Oil and Beeswax finish (recipe available HERE)

NOTE CONCERNING PAINT: I used milk paint to paint the blocks. 1 teaspoon of powder to 1 tablespoon of water covered 4 blocks. I used black milk paint to stencil the letters. I had trouble with the black paint bleeding when I applied the finish. Milk paint "stains" the surface of porous surfaces. I think the original coat of milk paint I applied acted like a sealer and the black paint did not set well. (See pic below.) For the next set of blocks I make, I plan to use black acrylic paint for the stenciling.

Directions:
1] Cut a pine 2x4 to create squares. (Each block will be approximately 3 3/8" x 3 3/8".)

2] Lightly sand the edges to remove sharp edges. NOTE: Since these are made for display and not to be played with, and they are suppose to have a primitive look to them, you do not have to do a fantastic sanding job. Just good enough to prevent splinters while you are working with them. If you do intend to use them as a toy, make sure to thorough sanding job, making the blocks smooth, to prevent any splintering.

3] If using milk paint, mix according to instruction.  By mixing 1 teaspoon of powder to 1 tablespoon of water, I was able to paint 4 blocks. Allow to dry completely. 

4] Before stenciling blocks, arrange the blocks in the manner you plan to display them. It is not always easy to get a random look :) 

5] Center a letter stencil on a block, and using a very small amount of paint that has been blotted on a paper towel, stencil your letter on a block. 

6] Allow paint to dry completely. Finally, seal the wood with a beeswax and olive oil finish. The recipe for mine can be found HERE. NOTE: For this project, I melted the olive oil and beeswax together. I let it cool in a container, took it out, and used it in bar form.

I have got about 3 minutes before my house is invaded by the grandbabies for our weekly bagels and corned beef. BUT, I just finished these blocks and I LOVE them. I plan to fill my house with "words" this Christmas. Besides the normal MERRY CHRISTMAS, PEACE and JOY, I plan to make all the Golden Ticket words from Polar Express, which I love. Okay, all the time I have. Instructions will be up later this evening or tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday!

Here is our second variation of our Christmas Tree Applique Block. Because art is suppose to imitate life... we've mixed our Wooden Pine Forest in with our Wooden Autumn Forest! (We will have a winter scene closer to Christmas with snow and decorations!) But for now, it is still autumn in the Thicket!

As far as the pattern goes, when you start with a simple design, there are so many different things you can do with it! I used the outside shape of our Christmas Tree Applique Block for our small trees, and I enlarged the pattern for the larger trees. Both sizes are included on our pattern, along with the star and the birds. For directions for cutting out the wood, painting and finishing, follow the general directions of our Wooden Apple Orchard.

Here are a couple of notes that pertain to the Wooden Pine Forest. When laying out the patterns on your wood, fit the birds and stars around the trees. Trying to cut the little pieces out of little pieces of wood is both difficult and more dangerous. So, trace them near your trees, and cut out the small pieces first. That way you have a larger piece of wood to hold on to.

Next, we drilled holes in the tops of the two large pine trees so pegs could be fitted into them. This is an optional step but we wanted to be able to add stars for Christmas and birds for the remainder of of the year. This means your birds will have permanent pegs in them. So, we cut rings of a tree branch, then drilled a hole in the middle to hold the birds. Perfect!

Finally, as always I used milk paint. There is information about it found in the general directions found with the Wooden Apple Orchard. To create the tiers of the trees, I darkened my green paint with a little black and made free form "swishes". They do not need to be perfect. They simply need to imply shape. The bird's bodies have 1 coat of milk paint. I let the paint dry, lightly drew on the wings, then painted the wings with a second coat of the same paint. The second coat caused the wings to get that dark.

If you are interested in crafting your own Wooden Pine Forest, the pattern for the trees, birds and stars can be found HERE. General directions for working with wood can be found in the Wooden Apple Orchard directions. Enjoy!   
 

We had a very busy weekend, tons and tons of fun... but we were exposed to lots and lots of people. Michelle and I assumed SOMEONE would stumble upon a bug this weekend... and, as it turns out, the first to fall was BUG. He came down with a temp through the night so all plans for the day have changed. My regular Wednesday morning coffee with my friends has been switched to snuggling on the couch with Bug, while Michelle takes Pixie and Fairy to their Halloween Dance performance. Also, I will have to put off writing up directions for our new Wooden Pine Forest... part of our Christmas Corner, Christmas Tree Applique Block variation, BUT, I'm so excited, I at least wanted to share a quick photo. I'll get directions up later in the day or tomorrow. Cute, right? And the birds... LOVE the birds!

Saturday night is our 19th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party... I'll tell you more about that later. But when the decorations were unpacked, a devastating discovery was made. Mice had gotten into one of the boxes and ate one of the family's most beloved decorations... our Gourd Ghost Sculpture. I really find it hard to believe it could have been THAT tasty. I made the sculpture 25 years ago! But, alas, everyone of the little Ghosties was chewed on, leaving behind unrecognizable piles of gourd shell, and, little piles of, well, let's just say little reminders that we had been visited by mice!

I was heartbroken. This would be the first Pumpkin Carving Party that we'd celebrate without the watchful eyes of our little friends. I knew that I really didn't have time to remake the sculpture... what with the party 2 days away and out-of-town company coming. But, sentiment got the better of me. I told myself, if I went to our local craft stores, and could find actual dried gourds, not the Styrofoam type, I'd find time to make another sculpture. Well, at Michael's I found some real, dried gourds. Granted, they had been painted, and true, they weren't the shape of my old gourds, but I hadn't qualified my personal pact, so, this afternoon, instead of the numerous other jobs I should be doing, I remade our Gourd Ghost Sculpture... and wrote up a tutorial to boot. So, if you're still looking for more Halloween projects, and can store it away from mice in the off season, you might want to make your own sculpture. Directions for the Gourd Ghost Sculpture can be found HERE or with our FREE Patterns. Enjoy!