Happy Halloween

One of Jerome's favourite movies is The Nightmare Before Christmas. So last year I made him this paper rendition of Jack the skeleton. Complete with string mouth. My original vision was to do it out of leather and stitch it all, but white leather is annoyingly hard to find. Someday I will find some though, and he will be made again! 

Happy Halloween!  

Lego Photo #1

Earlier this week I posted a fun photo to our cooking blog of Jerome and I cooking in Lego form. It got quite a few comments and emails from friends and family, so I thought I'd start posting some of the other Lego photos that I have taken in the same sort of series.

As most people who know me can attest, I am a big Lego fan and have collected a fair amount of Lego over the years. Our wedding cake toppers were even Lego people! Earlier this year I was messing with my Lego people and made one that had a moderate resemblance to me which I thought was amusing. I had found a little grassy area near work to eat lunch at and saw a tiny flower one day and thought it would be just the size for a Lego guy! So I lugged my camera and my Lego Laura to work one day and at lunch had a little photo shoot. I'm sure the people in the office building thought I was nuts, but I thought it was really interesting how the scale and juxtaposition of the natural world and the Lego came together. With a little tweaking it came out pretty nicely, and I ended up using it as a card for random notes, like I'm giving the recipient a little flower.

One of the other photos from the shoot which I didn't edit or anything. 

A Whale of a Tale

A few months ago, my bestest friend, found a whale tissue box holder on Etsy that she loved. She sent me the link, and her exact comment was:

"LAURA!! Please please please please please please consider making one of these."

Well, as I was looking for a project, the boxes were super cute and her birthday was imminent, I considered it! However, I wanted to put a bit of my own spin on it. So I decided to make a mini whale tissue box using those tiny pocket packages of  tissues, so that he could live on her desk at work and not take up too much room. This is especially fitting since she's a marine biologist!

I made him out of thin plywood using measurements from a small tissue package. I drew up a little tail and attached it to the box. I left the bottom open to allow easy access to replace the packet. I drill a hole in the top and rounded all the edges to ensure no snags. 

Here is is after I'd put on the first coat of paint. It's the only one I have with a clear scale to show how small he is. The little lego lady is taller than him! 

Here is is complete with his smile and eye and a clear coat on top. Luckily he survived the long mail voyage all the way to Edmonton, and is now enjoying his new home!

Spoon Rest

So to get back to turning, I decided to take on a nice simple small project. A spoon rest! I had the idea for it several months ago, just a simple cylinder with a concave surface and a small flat area so it doesn't roll around. I've made several wooden spatulas in the past which you can see here and it's always a pain when you have to lay them on the counter. That being said we wipe down the counters anyways, so I don't mind if there are drips, I just wanted something to prop up the spoon and not take away much counter space. 

Here you can see it in action with on of the spatulas I made. 

You may have seen it before as we use it in almost all of our cooking adventures!

You can see the concave area and flat spots here. 

I polished it up with wax and buffed it so that the food won't stick to it. 

I'm thinking it would be a good set to give as gifts for the upcoming holiday season. 

We'll see though, I have a few other projects up my sleeve that may need to come first.