Ouija Cheese Box

So, I was able to score some cheese boxes pretty cheap at a somewhat local cheese shop and had an idea in mind. I've been wanting to do a wood burned Ouija project, and knew this would be a perfect platform! So, after stenciling the alphabet and everything, I got down to wood burning them. Lettering is not my best thing to do with a wood burner so this took awhile.

I decided to use a torch to burn around the edges and side of the top to give a more weathered look.

Then for the bottom part of the box, I mixed some brown and turquoise acrylic paint to give a faux patina.

I then covered the top and the painted parts of the body with a polyurethane coat. I left inside natural in to be able to store photos and papers inside. It gets pretty humid in Michigan, so I didn't want to run the risk of it getting sticky during the summer.

I added a piece of thick material to the bottom just to give it an extra touch!

I gave it as a Christmas gift and she really liked it!

I may make one for myself if I ever feel patient enough to do all the lettering again!

Altered Book 1:2

Well, I've been working in the book some more the past few days. I took out a lot more pages. There were 762 pages and now its down to 108! Most were removed and some just glued together to make thicker pages. I should've taken out more because the book is already too wide!!!

I still have a LOT to do, but have added some painted pages and added text to a couple. I've also added some ribbons and decorative tape.

 The opening cover: I've added some fabric strips and ribbon, as well as some ink splatter.

The same with the next two pages.

I added a few pages of just random mixed colors done with acrylic craft paint.

This one is my favorite set so far...

This one has a poem arranged on one side. The illustrations were part of the book. I just used some more craft paint around them with some decorative tape.

This one has song lyrics on one side and watercolor painting on the other.

So far I like how its coming along! I am getting some more paper crafting goodies for gifts this weekend so I will be able to add more diverse things!

Thanks for looking!!!

Altered Book/ Art Journal

So I've been really inspired to finally try my hand at making an altered art journal! I have been looking at videos and on Pinterest for inspiration and finally have gotten started! I found a couple of old cookbooks from the 1970's that had been sitting in my basement. They are still in really good structural condition and I rarely use cookbooks anymore, so I figured they would make a great base for this sort of project!

I tore out half the pages throughout the book and will most likely need to take out more as I go, but its a good start! I started with the book on the right for myself. The other book I will most likely make into a gift or do some other project later on as it has less pages.

So, I had some hand carved stamps I received from craft swaps, and a thesaurus from the dollar store, and some pre-painted paper, and got started! The opening cover page!

 I may add more to this later on, but this is it so far! It says "the lazy house wife chronicles" with stamps and thesaurus pages. And a beautiful hand carved goddess stamp!

It was titled Secrets of Better Cooking, but I painted over the "Better Cooking" and pasted in some witchy (witch, witchcraft, witchery) terms instead! Also hand carved god and goddess symbol stamps! 

This is the first set of pages that I will fill in with probably a mixture of handwriting and such. I don't have any sort of outline. I'm not nearly that organized lol! I have a few other random painted pages pasted in as well. This is just the start yet.I will update as I work on it!

I would love to see all of your books/pages as well!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays~ Whatever you celebrate!

We have been working hard to get our front room/den finished for the holidays. I finally "called it" and decided to finish after the holidays. We are mostly done with the exception of trim and flooring. The fireplace and brickwork were already in place, we just added new lighting, ceiling, and wall coverings including pine planking. Here are some pictures of the room all decorated for the holidays!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!!!

Fireplace with Christmas music sounds!

Wood-burned Wood Ornaments

I was recently in a craft swap on Craftster.org . I love doing these organized craft swaps but just hadn't been able to join any for the past couple of years. I have been wanting to make some wood slice ornaments that I've been seeing on Pinterest and other places on the internet. So, when I saw the Ornament Swap, I knew that would be a perfect thing to get me motivated to actually making them!  I had some juniper bushes we had cut down this summer and some cedar logs that were scrap from a nearby log furniture company. I don't like to run circular saws for whatever reason, so I had to enlist my husband to help cut the slices for me. I them sanded them, and since the juniper had had some sort of bug eating the bark, I treated them with some borax solution. Once dry, I sanded and stenciled out my designs. Some designs were from stencils I had purchased, some were traced from coloring books. Others were inspired by designs I had seen online, since I wasn't selling these. I then, wood-burned the patterns and added some watered down acrylic paint to add a little but of color.

I really like how they turned out! I decided to keep a few and give away a few. 

Lily Allen~ Somewhere Only We Know

Happy Autumn!!!!

   Autumn is finally here! I've got my non-Halloween decorations out and the place is looking very festive! Once October is here I will get the witches, jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts out. I've been working on cutting down the jungle that was once a flower garden. After a couple weeks of humid and rainy weather, the weeds just completely took over everything!
   Well, I was quite busy over the past week so I haven't gotten on to do any updates. Last Friday night was my hometown Homecoming. Its been (Gasp) about 15 years or so since I've been to the parade and game and a few things have changed! The high school updated their concession stand and bathrooms, as well as, put in a new walkway/ramp up to the stadium seating. The parade was disappointingly lacking in school spirit, however. There were two floats made by students. One was from the youth football team and there was just one from the high school students. I remember when each class built a float and the parade had many more participants. I guess its just too "geeky" to show school spirit anymore. The game was a loss, but got to spend some quality time with friends.
   Saturday was my birthday. I really don't care to celebrate my birthday much anymore but my husband surprised me with some "tie-dyed" mums and a romantic card. We took a day trip around the Eastern/Central Michigan. The forecast had called for rain but it actually turned out to be a really nice day! We stopped a large sporting goods store and a cheese shop in Pinconning. I scored on some cheese boxes that I will find some project for and we got some samples of specialty cheeses to snack on. We drove north up to Tawas City and stopped at a park near Lake Huron to eat our cheese. Since it was so nice out we just took a nice long loop though West Branch and Houghton Lake back to the freeway home. Of course, it wouldn't be Michigan without some road construction, but luckily, it wasn't a problem.
  Sunday we spent the day clearing my husband's hunting area at my parent's property. Not my favorite thing to do, but I got to use the weed-wacker lol. There is a nice little oak grove coming up through the bush! By clearing around the small trees, hopefully they will grow nice and strong in the next decade or so.
  This week, I've just been clearing out my gardens and working on daily chores. We had planned to go away this weekend again, but there are just too many things to get done before winter gets here! Insulation needs to get put in our front den, the woodshed needs to be built, the portable carport moved, and, wood to be cut, split, and stacked! There are a lot more projects, but, hunting season starts and my husband will be focused on that...
  As for my focus, I need to get ready for a craft bazaar in a couple weeks! I don't even know what I am going to bring yet! I have necklaces and pocket knives for resale. I have lots of wood-burned and painted signs made that I plan to bring too. I was hoping to get some holiday items put together but time has just crept up on me! It doesn't help that on the weekends, we've been binge-watching The Walking Dead every chance we get! Now our fall shows are back on this week too! Thank goodness for DVR!
  Check out my Instagram account (linked on the upper right) for photos of our adventures! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to get things more interesting soon!

Featured song: Atlas Genius - Centered On You

Middle of September Already!!!

  I can't believe how fast the month is going by! Autumn is nearly upon us so I dug out the outside fall decor. I keep it pretty basic until October, then I get out the jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and witches! I've been working on a few projects but not really completing any. That is the norm though. At least I get around to starting the projects. I won't post any pictures today since none of the projects are presentable yet. And, I've just been too lazy to go upstairs to get my camera.
  Tomatoes are still slowly rolling in. I didn't plant many plants, but the crop has been awesome this year! I have one cherry tomato plant that is still producing about 10 ripe tomatoes a day. Two roma plants that sprawled all over their cages and out into the lawn! They are still producing a few ripe ones a day. And 3 steak tomato plants that are nearly done. I haven't gotten the total tally yet but I have well over 50 jars a various tomato products that I've canned in the past month and a half! Not bad for the few plants I have. My crock of sauerkraut won't be ready for another month yet, but this batch is looking pretty good! I started one a couple weeks before this one and had to throw it out as the water somehow drained out! I made some last year and it turned out perfect! This time I added a small head of red cabbage to the 2 giant heads of green, and shredded up a carrot to see how it would turn out.
  I started to organize my basement but still have a ways to go. Since my parents came to live with us after having a house fire, storage has been a little limited. I have plenty of room in the basement but its not very efficient. So, while browsing Pinterest I found some ideas for making a shelving unit for all the plastic/rubber totes I have all over the place. I made the shelves with the scrap wood I had lying around and, it worked out pretty well! I still have a lot of stuff to go through yet, so I haven't taken pictures.
  I also started to re-pot some of my outdoor annual foliage to bring inside for the winter. We purchased some sweet potato vines and coleus from a local greenhouse and they were so pretty this year I can't part with them! I'm going to see if I can keep them alive through the winter. With 7 dogs and 4 cats, we shall see how that works out.
  The last project we worked on was for my husband. We went to my parents' property to get it ready for hunting season. My husband hunts whitetail deer. Bow season starts October 1st, rifle season November 15th, and muzzle-loader season starts in December. He hunts all three seasons so he has a lot of stuff to set up! All his trails had become heavily overgrown. So, we had to clear those, and make some new ones in the process. He has a new ladder stand, so we had to find a nice tree to set it up in. The wild grape vines are everywhere on that property, so it was quite a battle getting through to a large tree! It took us until dark to get a path cleared and we didn't get the stand set up yet. Hopefully the weather holds up this weekend so we can finish.
  On Friday, my hometown is having their Homecoming football game. I plan to attend the parade with some friends and maybe go the game as well. Saturday is my birthday. My husband and I plan to go to Pinconning, Michigan. There is a sporting goods outlet store that is having a drawing for a crossbow package. We've been binge watching The Walking Dead and I want to try out a crossbow. Apparently, they have some you can try out. Not sure if I would actually like one so I want to try it out before I buy one. There are also some cheese shops there too I want to check out as well. Then, maybe out to eat at a nice place, and maybe see a movie. I really want to see Bridget Jones' Baby. I like the other two movies and am a fan of McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) so its a win/win for me!
  I'm sure Sunday we will be back in the woods at least part of the day. I also want to get supplies to finish out our front room too. We need to get some blown-in insulation and rent a machine to install it. Then, I want to get some paneling for the ceiling. Too much stuff for one weekend, I'm sure.
  Well, I will try to get some pictures up next week and hopefully have some finished projects to share. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Featured song: Gary Jules - Mad World