DEAD TREES TURNED INTO ART

Well, Hubby has been hard at it again.  He bought a new book last summer called "The Art of Segmented Wood Turning by Nalcolm Tibbetts.  He wanted to bump up his talents with something a bit more challenging.  He also has received some nice chunks of wood from our girls so he had to turn them into something.

It always amazes me how much

a dead tree can bring him to life!





This was his first attempt at Segmented Bowls.  This is made of Maple and Mahogany.

This was his second attempt.  This is made out of Maple and Russian Olive.  The Russian Olive has some beautiful wood in it but it doesn't get very large.  It works great for smaller projects but I wish it could be made into furniture.  It is the darker wood in the object.

This bowl is almost prettier on the inside.  I have no idea why this photo looks so yellow.  It really looks more like the photo above it.

The cover is even kinda of neat.  Almost like a basket.

This is just a plain turned bowl but the
 wood in it is so beautiful. 
This picture doesn't do it justice. 
It is made out of Cocobolo.

This is made out of Jobilo.  I am not sure where all these exotic woods come from but they are nice and different.




My daughter and her hubby are having a "Trip Around the World Party" and they are going to make Lefse.  She asked her Daddy if he would make her some Lefsa sticks and of course he said yes....spoiled little girl!

 Lefse Sticks



Wood burned decoration in the handle



 I didn't get a very good picture but these are what we call Lefsa sticks.  It is used to take the thin dough off the floured rolling board and place it on a hot Lefse grill.  You also use it to remove the Lefse from the hot grill.  You almost feel Ninja- like when using it...well almost.  Really hard to be Ninja-like when you have butter running down your chin from testing the first piece of Lefse.  For those of you with no Scandinavian blood ...you have my sympathy. If you don't know what Lefse is then you have not feasted with the Lutefisk Gods. It is a very thin almost tortilla-like bread made out of mashed potatoes along with some flour, sugar, butter, cream, etc. THEN when you eat it, you add more butter and sugar. Hard to believe that the Scandinavians have not died out from high cholesterol! Well for one...I am still here! 

My daughter and I try to get together to make Lefse every October for the holidays and of course there is never any left.  I wonder if she will share some of hers from the party?

Here is a link to see for yourself how it is made.  They have a very nice tutorial. 

Bird Houses and Cricuts

Well, we had a project this summer that ended up being a family project. Hubby cut the boards and milled down some old cedar shingles. My daughter helped me make some windows out of vinyl on my Cricut. I also did the shutters out of a beer can and ran it thru the Cuttlebug to give it some texture. We then painted them with alcohol inks to give them the look of old copper. The things you can make out of beer cans!
Hey, don't get me wrong here. I do mention beer cans and I do mention alcohol inks. They do not have anything to do with each other. Alcohol inks are just really cool alcohol based inks that colorize really slick surfaces such a metal, glass, and plastic. All those things that are normally hard to paint otherwise.

A Little about my Cricut

I really like to mess with crafty software programs and I love to play with my Cricut Expression. A Cricut is a machine that will cut out anything that you draw or bring into the software screen on your computer from 1/4 inch up to 2 feet! Oh, where would be without those special software programs? I love the fact that you can cut anything you want using the Make The Cut program also known as MTC. There is another program called Sure Cuts A Lot or SCAL that does about the same thing. For some reason I have both programs. They both do about the same but they each have their own little things that I like about them.
These third party softwares are the only reason I bought the Cricut. If I had to buy cartridges for all the projects I would be so broke I couldn't afford to buy the paper or vinyl to put in it! You can cut any font on the computer or search the Internet. You can cut out any dingbat you want. (You can Google that if you don't know what a dingbat is and NO it is NOT a dingy woman. I already hold that proud title!)
You can also design your own cutouts. It is endless what you can do with a Cricut. It is a lot of creative fun and I would highly recommend adding it to your personal "I need" list!

HOW TO KEEP A HUBBY HAPPY

This has been one long winter! But fortunately, we have been well fed and warm, so I can't complain...but damn it...where is spring? I am also fortunate enough to have a hubby that does not ice fish, play pool, watch sports, sit in the bar, or chase women that I know of! If he did chase women all I would have to do is wave a piece of wood in front of his face and he would come running back. Pretty simple to keep him around...a piece of wood and a cup of coffee and he thinks he died and went to Heaven. Nope, he isn't bored...to pass the time, hubby has been hard at it in the wood shop, using his magical turning lathe to turn trash wood into pieces of art. I know our kids are running out of room at their houses for the things he makes them but here are some more! Hey, even I get to keep a lot of the stuff!

The first 2 bowls are made from Ash from our trees by our home and other exotic woods and the bottom 2 vessels are made out of the Boxelder trees that grow here also. The red that you see is a natural occurrence in the wood probably caused by some bug or fungus that got in the wood. Boxelder are just trashy trees that are not the prettiest things but they sure make some nice bowls!

I love to do woodworking myself but seldom get the time with work and quilting....it is not a priority. He did try to teach me the basics of wood turning. After 6 hours of turning down a football size piece of wood into a spool that still does not look like a spool, I decided I would stick with making my outdoor furniture and crafty things and leave it at that. I have better things to do!

HANDCRAFTED ASH CLOCKS

These clocks were made from wood that grew out in our back yard. Our girls used to play around these very trees that the clocks were made from. Hubby thought it would be nice to make them each a clock out of the Ash trees that grew out there. He wanted to make them both the same but use different stains. For some reason they still turned out about the same color even though he used darker stain on one of them. It didn't seem to matter, the girls were thrilled with them.

I did nothing to help with this project except keep the coffee on and make an occasional caramel roll.

Hey, I know when to keep my mouth shut and let the man work!

PEN AND PENCIL SET WITH HANDMADE CASE

This is a handcrafted wooden pen and pencil set made by hubby to give to one of his friends. He usually finds his own wood and then turns them on a turning lathe. He never knows how they are going to turn out. Everyone is different.

I will take credit for making the case for it.

HANDMADE JEWELRY BOXES

I thought I would share a few of my hubby's projects. These are a few of the many jewelry boxes that he made for our daughters.