summer projects

So I always seem to scheme up ideas of things to create.  I didn't get pics, but it was recommended that Ivan use a slant board for school and they are crazy to find (only at therapy sites) and even worse to ship (4 times the cost of the item for shipping alone), so I made one.  It's a clip board that tilts up and sits on the desk.  I made his school one out of a clip board, binder and wood scraps to make it sturdy.  It's blue and covered in the plastic of the binder.  The one for home was much simpler, just a clip board with 2x4 triangles on the underside to slant it up.

Here we are in the city getting supplies for another project that took forever!  We were given a picnic table some time ago and the boards for the top were all weathered and warped, so when I was given some free tile, I thought to tile it.  Brian says that my "free" projects actually cost a fair amount of money.  OOPS.  So we had to buy plywood, more grout and more cement, some tools to apply it all... 

 

First I broke tile pieces and arranged them.  Then I tried using some cement we had, but it was not good anymore, so I tried to use another material we had and ran out, then neither of those stuck well, so I ended up re-gluing the pieces over and over again. AND I could never remember exactly how they went as I'd pick them up to scrape and re-glue- so that was a bit infuriating.

Then I grouted it and we ran out of that- thus a trip to the city- cause there isn't any in town!

Finally, I used a sealer to weather proof it.  We used old pennies.  The middle one is our wedding year- 1998, my birth year is to the left and an American penny is to the right.  I wanted to put in the birth year of each of our kids, but didn't have all the right years.

I found my old shutters that hung over a small mural I had made in the nursery we had in Abilene, Texas.  Knowing I was not going to paint another one, I reused the shutters to make a treasure box.

I would have liked paint that matched better, but was using what we had.  This was all made from scrap pieces and screws we have.  AND I overcame my fear of the circular saw for this project AND decided that Brian needs another drill/screwdriver some day.

And for Isaac's 3rd birthday, I made a small portrait.  My sister noticed that a few members of the family are not represented in portraits- like her youngest- Isaac and my youngest Emora.  So I got one done ;)  I was pretty excited to hear that he loved seeing himself in it.  It's not perfect, but close enough to recognize him.

Now seeing them together, I notice that he was looking straight at the camera and somehow I made him looking off to the side and made his smile more crocked, oh well!  I've still so much to learn...