And The Winner Is...

Drum roll please...

Please send an email with your shipping address to jodihippler (at) gmail (dot com).

I have some very exciting things for you! As soon as you receive them, we can share what you got with everyone!

I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. For reading and encouraging. It is truly an honor to be part of such an outstandingly kind and incredibly talented community. In a world where kindness is the exception, I treasure the kindred soul in each one of you!

Now let's make 2016 a year where all of our mini dreams become reality! Then let's share them with each other!

Time For Bed/s...

As many of you know, a few weeks ago I made my 100th post! To celebrate, I announced a giveaway. Anything that I purchased or made for Alki Point during this period would be one for me, one for the lucky winner. The drawing will be done at 11:59 on December 31st, 2015. The winner will be announced on New Year's Day. There's still time to enter, so just post a comment to this blog post: Post Comment Here

It was time to make the bed for Alki Point. I already had the 3d printed headboard, so I had to figure out what kind of bed to make for the giveaway. I went to my handy box of beat up and discarded old furniture to see what I could come up with. Aha! A headboard!

Now I just had to make a simple frame. I used 1/8" x 3/4" basswood for the outer frame, 1/8" x 3/8" for the three cross braces, and two Skinny Sticks as supports.

I glued the frame as a separate unit so that I could work with the headboard by itself. I sanded it and gave it a couple coats of a medium grey paint after adding legs to the end of the frame.

I covered the back and side pieces with the same quatrefoil fabric I had to use on my bed. I also painted the part of the legs that would show.

I traced and cut 3/16" foam core to make a headboard insert. Then I glued on two layers of quilt batting to give it an upholstered look.

I covered it with the same fabric, attempting to match up the pattern on the back of the headboard. Then I used Kris Compass' Upholstery Button Tutorial to make tufts in the center of each tile. For buttons, I used sewing pin heads pushed right through the thread. I cut the excess off with nippers, then secured them with a bit of glue on the backside.

After attaching the completed headboard to the frame, it was time for a mattress. I used the same 3/16" foam core, covered again in quilt batting.

Thinking that the recipient may want to match their own sheets, blankets and pillows, I finished off the mattress with a piece of white cotton. The 'One For You' bed is all ready for it's new owner!

Intermingled with making this bed, I was making the one for Alki Point. I started off pretty much the same way, with a frame made of the same materials, I just painted it in the same grey that I used for the cabinets.

I used the same quatrefoil and white cotton for this bed. The white cotton is actually a handkerchief  that I had on hand. I liked that there was a perfect finished and sewn edge that I could use as a sheet edge. I used Heat Bond to attach the sheet and bed cover together. This was nice to have only one piece to attach to the mattress.

I will hold off on making the bed and decorative pillows. I want to do a good job, so I need more practice. The last batch I attempted were horrid! This just might force me to bring grandma's sewing machine down from the attic and get it serviced! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Things Are Coming Together!

With the sofa taking up it's footprint in the living room, it was now time to decide on the coffee table. I designed one and had it 3d printed, but I wasn't sure I was going to use it. I had to see the space first. I purposely left it without a top, so I could decide to use either plexi, or wood once I saw it in the space.

After reading a post on Pepper's blog, I found a Rustic Live Edge Spalted Maple bookmark on Etsy.  I just loved the beautiful pattern, plus it came with a little piece of wood that was meant to stick out from the book. A perfect little chopping board for the kitchen. If a thing has multi purposes, it sells me on it every time! I found several good candidates just by searching for 'wood bookmark' or 'wood slice'. When I saw the table with wooden top in the room, the decision was made! I had to cut it shorter and round the edges, but that was easy!

I got really excited when I found the inspiration photo! The rustic wood, tray, flowers, books. glass buoy float, and jacks! Surely I could source or make all of these!

I found a really cheap set of jacks on eBay, with free shipping! Score! I liked the metal finish, so I didn't even have to paint them!

For the glass buoy float, I was able to find clear glass one hole beads on eBay, as well. I wanted the glass float to be similar in color to the inspiration photo, so I painted a few of them with Gallery Glass.

I globbed a good amount on, and when they dried, the finish was perfect! Much like sea glass! In the photo two of them have dried a bit, and the third has just been painted.

Here are all three after drying. Sticking the toothpick in the hole to paint them worked great! I stuck them in the foam to dry.

I had a fisherman's net set left over from making my dad's fishing cabin lamp, so I decided to use the netting for the glass buoy. It was a little too vibrant, so I dabbed on watered down white latex paint to dull it a bit.

Once both the netting and buoy were dry, I attached the netting by using a toothpick to stuff the excess into the hole in the bead. A dab of clear drying glue was used to secure it.

To finish off the details, I made a jar full of sea shells and tiny starfish. They are on the metal tray (recycled from an old electric razor and painted chrome) with a candle and a bud vase. There's a basket on the shelf with pine cones, and a book covered in a bit of a pretty coral cardboard package.

I love the look, and it is really perfect for the small space! I'm so glad I took the time to space plan the project before I got started this time!

The interior door trim has been affixed to the wall, as well as the wall sculptures that I made and had printed from Shapeways. I found that getting the spacing perfect was just a matter of inserting wood spacers while everything dried.

It's getting exciting now that all of the little details are coming together! Next, I'll be working on the bedroom area. No sew bedding is going to be challenging, so send good wishes my way!