A Really Big Project...Completed!

     I cannot tell you how happy I am to have this project done!  This one was over a year in the making!  It all started when I borrowed my father's table saw.  I was three-quarters done and I killed the saw!  To be fair, my dad said the ball bearings were ready to fail and I happened to be the unlucky one using it when it did!
     So, everything sat, for over a year, until my dad bought a new saw (thanks Dad!)  This fall the work resumed.  It's about about mid-October.  I am working feverishly to get it done before the cold weather and my pending surgery!  Yep!  I had surgery.  I had a hysterectomy the first part of November.  Another disruption in progress.  I had to take two weeks off.
     Mid-November I start working again!  I worked some really long days and was very tired some nights.  I just kept saying to myself, "Why is this taking so long?"  I was tempted to take some short cuts...maybe not be so diligent about filling holes...maybe skip the primer coat.  No, I tried to do it right.  Well, as right as a non-trained, novice carpenter can!
     So, here is the fruit of my labor!

     I built this 8-foot table out of some porch posts that were a curb find about 8 (?) years ago!  The entire top, other than two trim pieces, is made from cedar pickets and pine cross pieces salvaged from my daughter's bedroom remodel.  Which is a partial explanation to the time invested.  I ripped down each picket and screwed them together using a Kreg© jig.  The bookshelf on the far end and the cubicle under the table came from pickets, too.

 

     Love the legs and since I cut the posts in half...I have another set!

 

     A close-up of the top.  I hope you can see the pickets.  It's not completely smooth.  I made a conscious decision not to plane the top and keep it a little shabby.

 

     The end of the table, where I have the bookshelf.  I have more stuff to store here!

The cubicle which I had to compromise on.  To keep the apron on the table I had to put the cubicle unit behind it.  I purposely didn't do it as a built-in to allow more flexibility down the road.  Oh, and yes...I built the shelves specifically to fit these swim baskets!

A couple things I'd like to add, other than attaching the legs, I did all the work myself.  My dad helped me with those.  I wanted to make sure they were stable.  Hubby doesn't care for this kind of stuff and thinks I'm crazy...he may be right!  Also, since most of this was salvaged, the whole project cost me about $20!  The cost of those two boards and a box of screws.  Everything else I had on hand!

So, that's it!  I have more pictures...close-ups of my ribbon cabinet, magnetic caddy board thingy and my ink pad storage, but you can see those in the first photo.  Now, to do some playing in this room!

Thanks for stopping by today and letting me get this off my chest!  Whew!  So glad to be done!

Easter Tree

I had no idea when started my second blog it would take me so long to get to another post! I haven't been to any auctions since the last entry, although there is one this Saturday. So, I hope it's a good one. I'm feeling deprived! I'll take some pity, please! Anyway, I am fulfilling the "made" portion of my blog namesake with todays offering.
This is my "not so little" Easter tree! Every year the kids and I head to my parents house and find a large shrub to prune so we can have a tree. This year my dad had just trimmed all the lower branches off the trees, so we had a good selection. They are never perfectly shaped, but we're OK with that. This one has a distinct curve to one side. If I had put it in my usual spot it would have impeded the walkway! So, I put it up high at the dividing half-wall between my living room and kitchen. Everybody in the family got a vote and this got the thumbs up!
Most of my ornaments are recent store bought ones. However, this one with the scallop edge was made by me. I have a set of them, all different. I used orange juice can lids and all my yummy Stampin' Up papers. I like 'em!
My spring blocks are new this week. Boy, it took me forever to complete this project! Again, I used Stampin' Up patterned papers and recycled some craft-store wood blocks from a project years ago. My biggest challenge has been mastering my Cricket die cutting machine. I mounted these papers on chipboard, so they had a little more substance to them. I never read how to cut chipboard, so I had a few failures before I decided to read the manual!!! Then, I was trying to conserve paper by cutting my squares only a 1/4" large than my final finished size. Big mistake because I am not proficient at centering the cursor on the Cricket. Once again, I had many mistakes! However, it is done now and I am glad, glad, glad! So, what do you think?