Pushing Daisies Pie Box Project

Hello all! So, I wanted to post something on here that I actually made a year ago (but wasn't blogging at that time). I just finished Season 2 (the last season) of Pushing Daisies TV show and I'm really hoping that the reports of a Pushing Daisies Musical/Film Project are in fact true.

For our Halloween party last year, I decided to make a replica of the pie boxes that the characters on the show deliver pies in. For those who don't know, the show centers around Lee Pace and Anna Friel as they solve crimes. He has the magical ability to touch a dead thing and bring it back to life. Touch it again, dead forever. He brings his childhood sweetheart back to life (Friel) and that starts a whole chain of unexpected events that takes a lot of unexpected turns. The show has a real Scooby Gang dynamic and the characters are very likeable. The show is punctuated by a lot of really witty, poetic dialog and bright, bold color. Lee Pace plays Ned the Piemaker, who runs his own pie shop, and that serves as the backdrop for many of the scenes in the show.

I just used basic craft wood from Lowe's, along w/ some small nails, glue, and I ran a recessed table saw cut through the sides to create that groove the box top slides into. Turned out great. The only thing i'd do differently is maybe make the box a tad shorter in height, and use a more stainable wood. That wood was intended to be used as cheap shelving and to be painted, I think. It has a sheen to it that doesn't want to sand off, and it just sort of repels most of the stain that I tried rubbing into it. It did slightly work, though. I think the stain I used was Colonial Maple (Minwax).

E-tablet stand

My fiance messaged me yesterday showing me a kitchen tablet holder (ipad, kindle, etc) that this lady had made from a cutting board, a Scrabble tray, and a wooden wedge. Here's the link. Mamie Jane's Blog. By doing this, she saved $32.50 over buying at Pottery Barn.

I had a blast looking around... but I have to admit, her projects tend to be much more feminine than anything I'd usually do. Candleholders and such. I got tired of looking after searching the first few pages.

Honestly with all the wood I have laying around, I could just trace out the shape of a cutting board and cut it out w/ a jigsaw. That'd be no $ at all - that's of course if I planned on painting the board, not staining it. It might be harder to create a realistic-looking cutting board out of one piece of wood if one could actually see the grain. A real cutting board is made from slats of wood, not one piece, obviously. See how she's distressed the paint job? Very nice. I really want to get into that. Especially using milk paint. She didn't, but it produces similar results. Very beautiful colors that lend themselves well to antiques.

The Scrabble tray that the tablet rests on could be something as simple as a length of funky moulding from Lowe's. The wedge that acts as a stand = another random piece of wood. And for this kind of project you really wouldn't need anothing more than a good wood glue. I trust Titebond III. And according to the manufacturer, it's FDA food-safe, in case you're gluing together a cutting board or any other food...ish surface.

Updates!

Expect some posts up here soon. I'm going to regularly post anything I do related to crafts on here, at the very least.

Black Shiny Bookcase

Okay, so here goes. I've been working on this bookcase now for about 2 weeks & I'm almost done. Here it is, sequentially. The top left and right will be books, the middle top will hold a lantern & candle, the middle are basket drawers, bottom left is books/camera stuff and bottom right is my printer. 

1. General idea taped on my wall

2. top left one (at Target)

3. adding some bracing (more added later)

4. stained & assembled for the first time

5. assembled, holes filled.

6. recessing those screws, filling w/ putty

7. baskets = drawers

8. Sanded wood putty, 2 coats paint, Satin Black. 

Now see the bottom of the bookcase on Steps 4 & 7, how it looks different? the back has openings to allow for slipping a power strip under there. Still to come, the bottom right area will have a drill hole for the printer power cable and mayyybe a hole on the bottom left compartment too. I'll add the last pictures below once I'm finished. I still need to purchase a candle lantern to put in the top middle compartment.

OVERHAULING THE BLOG

HOLD ONTO  YOUR LUGNUTS, IT'S TIME FOR AN OVERHAUL! - The Mask, Jim Carrey. 

It's been way too long. I'm redoing this blog. I had the idea to change from topics that attract online trolls quoting strange cultic Catholic extremist dogma on my page (yeah, scary stuff!) to where yeah, I'm still talking out my faith but also sharing things I love in life, centering around my passion for woodworking and making things that people ooh and ahh at. Even if they didn't do that, I'd love it for what it is. I can take pieces of trees and turn them into quaint, cool-looking furniture that brings a room to life. And I get new ideas all the time. If anyone has one, shoot it at me. I'll build for you if you pay me :)

Why 'fearing God' is misunderstood

It occurred to me that the reason people are uncomfortable talking about "fearing God" is because we demonize emotions. We talk about anger as if it's all evil, but Jesus "whipped" the merchants at the Temple a new one, and he's without sin. I don't believe he was happy with them when he did that. It's what you do with anger that damages or accomplishes anything. Take fear - I fear the sun and black holes. Neither would I want to get anywhere close to. Are those things inherently evil? No... not any more than a walnut. So why is it wrong to fear God? Why is it wrong to recognize him for who and what he is? If you have fear and loathing, that's wrong. If you have fear and admiration, you've got it.

Ancient Gladiator Chews Ref Out from Grave

Here's the link to the original article. I found this buried in my email from forever ago, thought I'd share it:

http://news.discovery.com/history/gladiator-tombstone-epitaph-110621.html


So apparently Diodorus with the two swords downed Demetrius, but the ref didn't declare it a submission, so Demetrius was allowed to get back up, at which point he killed Diodorus. Gotta make those calls right, refs!