Simple Crafting

 or How to Overthink a Craft

The finished product.

A couple of months ago, I heard about a children's memory game made out of wood that I thought I might want to try. The game set was made of round disks cut from a branch and then stamped with pictures to form a matching game. It seemed just about my skill level, especially if I could get help from Ward. I thought I would make a couple of sets for gifts and maybe one for the library.

And then my mind kicked into high gear thinking about the actual construction. First consideration was safety. The pieces needed to be larger than choke size and be made of a non-toxic wood and finish. Luckily Ward knew a lot about finishes, but we still spent a fair amount of time shopping for what we thought would be best. Next, I considered using natural cut wood from a branch, but worried that as it dried over time, it would crack. So we went with a 2" pine dowel. We experimented with thicknesses--thick enough to not break and easy for little fingers to pick up. But not too thick. Then came the hard part--getting pictures on the pieces. I tried stamping, markers, stenciling, ink transfers, painting, stickers along with gluing, decoupaging, and various finishes.

 However, even with all of those methods, I was not happy for various reasons including look, durability, water resistance, etc. In the middle of the experiment, we changed from a pine to a hardwood dowel because the wood grain pattern of the pine competed too much with the pictures. 

A few of the prototypes

Finally, I came upon a workable solution. I used clear address labels which I printed letters onto and then put on the finished disk.  That was covered with another coat of finish. But, of course, it wasn't quite that simple. The hardwood (poplar) didn't finish well, so we switched back to the pine.

Then it was onto making a bag to hold the pieces. What should have been a simple, straight seam project turned into hours of frustration with the sewing machine which was having all kinds of adjustment problems. I was able to get something workable, but the machine needs some serious attention before I use it again. 

The finalized pieces.

So despite all of that, when it's all said and done, I'm happy. It was nice working on a project with Ward and I think the children I'm giving these to can have fun (and learn) from them. It should have been so easy, however that would have been only if I hadn't thought so much about it. Oh, well. Onto the next project.

Until next time when I'll show you some things Ward's been working on.

Note: Fitting in perfectly with the theme of aggravation, Blogger is frustrating me with its formatting and spacing. I gave up on those for today so the post may look a little strange.

Natural Centerpiece

I have a very clever friend who is good at many things but is especially known for her flower arranging. And when you're known for having a special skill, you are often asked to use it.  So, she "volunteers" to decorate every year for our holiday luncheon at work. Meaning, every year she decorates the tables with centerpieces that she makes for very little money, and afterwards they are highly sought after when they are given away as door prizes. She had a couple of ideas I thought I would share with you in case you want to incorporate them into something you might do. And did I mention she was clever? She does not live in the world of Pinterest so all of this came from her own imagination.

The centerpieces had a natural theme and except for the thin candle, they were low to the table so they didn't block you from seeing and talking to the people across from you. (A pet peeve of mine with some table decorations.)

All of the pieces that made up the arrangements were found pieces. Some were from coworkers yards (like mine) and some were found in parking lots.

Can you tell what the base is? It's the bottom of a Chinese take out container. She discovered these from me since she rarely eats out to know about such things. I take them to her sometimes to put under her plants, and I took her several more when she decided that they would make the perfect base for the arrangements. The beads around the edge are an inexpensive garland. You could really put anything around the edges you wanted.  A more neutral color would allow you to change the candle and use this arrangement different times of the year.

The candle holder was cut from a plastic wrap tube. It turns out that it is just the right size for a standard candle. Who knew? (Well, some of you out there probably did.)