Shrine Box and Trying to Stay Warm

The cold snap around these parts has been rough. Our house is so old and huge, trying to keep all of it warm is next to impossible. Forget going out to the workshop! Even my craft room (where my computer lives) was even to cold to be in for any length of time.

My Beloved had to go out of town so he helped me bring some of my project stuff in the house. If he’s not home, I’m not cooking! So I set up a workshop in the kitchen. Everyone puts a scroll saw on the kitchen counter, right? I discovered that my Beloved used a piece of wood I’d been saving for a project. Crap. Move on to something else. I had some wood for another project but hadn’t touched it because I thought I needed to use the table saw. And I couldn’t get to the table saw. I decided to use the scroll saw and just be very, very careful.

I started building the shrine box that had been floating around in my head for quite some time. I cut out a heart with wings from a very thin piece of pressed wood, and a star, a sun, and a scalloped topper from MDF.

I painted the heart, the sun, and the star and glued them to the box. I stamped words and phrases to the front of the box.

I traced the shape of the winged heart of the front piece it’s not attached to and painted that area black. I stamped in words using white paint in that area. I masked it of before stamping and it reads, “While life is short, love is long.”

I painted the inside a mottled red and stamped lettering on the inside of the doors. My daughter’s boyfriend came up with an idea I really liked, to paint the inside like the chest cavity where the heart would be. While it would suit me just fine, I’m not sure I’m keeping this piece so I need to remember that not everyone thinks creepy is cool.

The inside doors read, “Those we loved live on in our hearts. Our memories keep them alive.This is the true meaning of immortality – Love.”

I like it!

Patio Table Redux

When we moved in this house, the backyard was jumbled and junky but it had potential. We got the junk out of the way (except for the bathtub but that's another story). A previous tenet had dug up the bricks to the side of the patio in an attempt to steal cable. Like no one would notice the unsightly hump he made when he put the bricks back. Replacing the bricks wasn't an option as they are old and almost impossible to find, not to mention costly. My Beloved dug them up, chipped off the old mortar and reset them. It looks so much better and I have the added benefit of being able to walk across the area without fear of busting my ass.

Of the things left behind by others, there was the bar (which I have redone) and a plywood table with a hideous attempt at a Compass Rose painted on it. The base was awkward and unsightly. And too damn high. I wanted to keep the top and the glass cover. My Beloved sanded the top and sprayed it with primer. And then it sat. And sat some more. But I did get some veneer to cover the edges with in the meantime!

I was in the house knocking around and get a strange text message from my Beloved, "I need a good brushing. Remember me?" Say what? Then another, "I have great potential...all I need is a good coat." I head outside to see what in the world he's talking about. When I saw what he'd done with the table I had to laugh. He even left his phone there to make it seem like the table was messaging me. Okay, Okay! I get it. Paint the table.

Several designs had occurred to me at different points but since we'd more or less come to an agreement on what we wanted the space to be, I had to come up with something fitting. When I first laid eyes on the space I thought "English Garden." I meant wild, explosive, whimsical, riotously colorful English garden, not tightly manicured and geometric English garden. But as we discussed ideas more, we moved further and further away from it. Now it's Moroccan or as my Beloved called it, Arabian Nights. I busied myself with coming up with a design and set to work.

I ironed on the veneer to mask the cut edges of the plywood, transferred my design and got busy. I love it. Even though we knocked off the base it was originally on and added legs, it's still too high for my liking. When my Beloved gets home, he'll shorten the legs and it'll be perfect.