Make it at Home Gifts #1 (suitable for children)

This year my wife said that I shouldn't spend any money for Mother's Day. I agreed but could not let her celebrate the occasion without some type of gift to show how much I appreciate her. So what do I do? I got to the work shop.

I know it is too late to use these ideas for this year's Mother's Day, but I couldn't post them ahead of time or she would have known what I was doing. These ideas can be used as gifts for any occasion or just to show you care for someone. In all I am going to cover three projects. I will assign difficulty levels, list materials needed, cover costs and offer step by step instructions. I hope you enjoy these posts. I will make sure they are all linked.

All of these projects were made from reclaimed pallets. Despite what many people say on Pinterest I very rarely find pallets for free, but I can consistently buy pallets any where from 25¢ to $2.00 depending on size and shape of the pallet.

Also please also realize that difficulty levels I assign are based on use of hand tools only. I do not have a table saw or router or anything like that. Difficulty level will probably go down with more advanced tools. 

Project: Photo Zigzag Displayer

Difficulty Level: Beginner (if an adult cuts the pieces this is an excellent project for children)

Cost: $3.00 to $12.00 dependent on if you have any of the materials on hand before beginning.

Actual cost: Maybe $1.00 (you will have enough supplies leftover to do another project.)

Take a 6 inch wide board, normally the outside crossboards in a pallet and cut 3, 7 inch pieces. 

Sand each individual piece.

Nail the pieces together at right angles creating a zigzag pattern. Then paint. You can use any color you want, I chose black. Lowe's has a can of gloss black paint for $0.99 from Project Source. Small box of nails less than $2.00, you will only have to use 12 nails. There will be a lot left over for other projects.

Select the pictures you want to use. Remember if you use actual photos you will not be able to get them off later. I printed our photos from the computer. A good quality photo paper with a matte finish will work best. Allow your photos to completely dry before you continue.

Cut your photos to size and glue a photo to each section. I used wood glue because that is what I had on hand. Any white school glue will do nicely. Allow to dry completely. A small bottle of glue can be bought at the Dollar Store for, you guessed it $1.00.

After the glue has completely dried spray with high gloss varnish or lacquer. When it dries you are done. A spray can of gloss lacquer costs anywhere from $3.00 to $9.00 depending on name brand.

That is it.

I hope you enjoy these projects and I wish you...

Rural Dreams and Homestead Wishes

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The Home Fires Are Burning

Allow me to get sentimental for a moment. We burned out first fire of the season this week. I know some of you have had to burn several by this point, but this was our first. I believe there is something magical about the first fire of the season. This fire was extra special for me, it was not only the first fire of the season, it was also the first fire in our new home. The first fire always brings back lots of memories for me. 

I have lived with wood heat basically my whole life. I do not remember the first time my dad had me help cut the firewood. I do remember that he always started cutting firewood in August, the hottest part of the year. Lord how we would sweat. I can still hear my granddad say "When a man cuts his own wood, it warms him twice". Never truer words have been spoken. If you have cut your own wood you know what I mean.

After the wood was cut the larger pieces still had to be split, and it did not seem to matter how much of the wood you split, we always ended up with too many large pieces and still had to split some in winter. I counted it all fun, even though it was very hard work. I always felt proud that even at a fairly young age I was helping take care of my family.

We did not have a fireplace when I was growing up. We had a King brand wood heater. The kind with the removable to that would expose a cooking surface. It kept up warm during the coldest times of winter. In fact many times it kept us too warm. My mother had the ability to get that heater so fired up that we would have the windows and even the front door open because it was so hot in the house and this in January in the middle of an ice storm. (Love you Mom, but you know it is true.) 

We used that heater to cook soups and just beans during a power outage due to an ice storm. I remember baking potatoes in the fire box. I remember having to dump the ashes in the garden. I also remember coming home from school on a really cold day and being able to smell the fire before the school bus topped the hill. As soon as the bus reached the top of the hill ,I could see the smoke coming from the chimney and everything was better. Those memories are over thirty years old and yet they are still very dear to me.

As I am writing this I can look over at the fire I have built for tonight. When I look at the flames and hear the soft crackling of the fire it makes perfect sense to me that the hearth was so important to the Greeks that it had it's own goddess. Hestia was the Greek goddess of the hearth and home, she was described as simple "having a wooden throne and a woolen pillow", not ambitious "she never chose herself an emblem", but important to everyone.

In spite of all of the challenges we still face, my wife and I have built the best life I have ever known. We keep The Home Fires Burning and I hope and trust that you will too. Together we can help the world to ...

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