Thinking with My Heart: October 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

I received a lovely, uplifting surprise yesterday! My picnic table was featured on Ohdeedoh ! How cool is that?

I check out Ohdeedoh every day. I love the wonderful ideas and inspirations I find there. I'm so thrilled that one of my ideas was featured.

Monday, October 24, 2011

4x4 Pumpkin Porch Decoration for FREE

I saw these lovely pumpkins made out of 4x4's http://youcraftmeup.blogspot.com/ . Having a pile of wood from a portion of my deck that was removed just lurking around, I was sure I could scrounge up enough 4x4's to make some pumpkins. I ended up making 6 of them so that I could gift a set to my mom.

I cut three lengths of 4x4, and using the instructions on the craftmeup website, I used a chisel to gouge off the corners and some dents in the sides.

Here is a tip: lay your 4x4 partially on your lap and the other end resting on the floor. Then use your chisel and hammer to take off the corner on one of the bottom corners. I started by sitting the 4x4 flat on the floor and trying to take off a top corner. Taking off a bottom corner is much easier and does a neater job.

I then sanded, painted, and sanded again. I used thick branches for the stalks, and attached them as suggested on the website.

I didn't have any dark wire to make that lovely curly wire accent, BUT, I had removed a couple of coil bindings from some old manuals and had them sitting in a craft box! I took them outside and spray painted them black (they were white), and BINGO! I now had lovely dark coils. I clipped a few inches and added them to the stalk base along with some leaves from my craft box. Then I painted a sign and stretched out my coil binding to attach the sign.

I love how it turned out! And I'm so glad I kept that book binding! You never know when or how you will use this stuff, but it is fun when it finally comes in handy!