Now that the yard projects are done until the spring, I have so many shop projects that are just beginning. From items that I plan to sell, to a new bed frame for us, to planter boxes for the garden in the spring, I will certainly be busy in the next few months with all my tools. The fun never ends here at the JK household!
Some of my winter projects overlapped with the last few yard projects. In September, I was tasked once again with building some Advent Calendar frames. I wrote a post ‘Tis The Season last December about building these frames for my mother-in-law. She had some more inquiries for them again this year and had planned to build more to sell this year. I built her 10 frames to fill with her beautiful creations. So far she has put together 8 advent calendars with only 4 left to sell. We are looking forward to filling ours with treats ordered from Gingerbread World.
While having my Saturday morning visit with my parents, I had mentioned that I was building these frames again and my dad piped up that it would be neat to use one of his carved plates as a centrepiece for one of the calendars. I also thought it would make a unique Advent Calendar so using one of the frames my mother-in-law hadn’t used, I created little wooden boxes and used my dads plate as a centrepiece. It turned out great! I love when I can visualize what I want something to look like and then once I am done making it, it turns out exactly how I imagined it. Dad and I are going to build another one because we were so happy with how it turned out. Now I have all sorts of ideas for different styles of calendars I want to build!
I worked on another dog bowl stand for our friends who help us stock up on wood for the winter. I thought it would make a good thank-you gift for them and their dog. Bob is getting a little older, so I thought it would be a good treat for him to have his bowls a little higher and easier to reach.
I also have plans for some Christmas gifts for family that I will need to spend some time building. I have ideas, but will need to get out there to start working on them. I can’t tell you what they are in case my family reads this post.
I will also be building us a king size bed frame this winter. I found one I like and it conveniently came with the plans to build it. We have two adorable dogs, one of which truly believes that the bed is hers and that we are just allowed to sleep up there with her. She’s not a small dog, and can often take up a good portion of our queen size bed. It is completely our own fault since we liked all the cuddles when she was a puppy. So our solution is to build a bigger bed! Hahaha. This is going to domino some in-house building this winter. With a new bed frame, I want to take the carpet out of our room and move it to our guest bedroom in the basement. I’ll put laminate flooring in our bedroom while the bed is out. I am sure I will be sharing plenty of stories about how all that goes. With the new carpet downstairs, I want to take out the wall panels and do proper drywall on the one guest bedroom wall. All the others are dry walled, and by adding insulation and drywall, we are hoping it stays a little warmer for guests.
I have a bunch of other shop projects bouncing around in my head that will keep me busy for the winter. I want to make bookends for my bookcase, and maybe a few to sell. I want to experiment with making cutting boards and coasters by laminating different types of boards together to create cool patterns. I have a plan to build a decorative sleigh as part of our outdoor Christmas display by our front door. I would like to make some wooden knifes for charcuterie boards, maybe making a set to go with one of my cutting boards. I may try my hand at making a nice wooden desk organizer for my home office, especially since I will continue to work from home for a while.
So many plans, so little time. Once we get into April, my shop days are numbered for big projects. The boat goes back into the shop for May fishing. We also start our yard projects again around then, so I have less time for the crafty builds.
My Dad and I started an Etsy shop, M2C1Kraftwerks this year to help keep our crafting habit going. If you are interested in seeing what we have been busy making, please visit our Etsy Shop.
JK Building The Dream 