Naughty Chair

Months back - I think last November? - Ted made a time out chair for Gwenna. Meredith uses it now too, at 18 months. Back when she was a year there was very little hope that her stubby legs could get her in it or get her down - nor did she understand the concept of time out.

For the longest time, it looked like this:


Do you see it there in the background? I don't know that I ever took a picture of just the chair. It was made out of scraps and just as he went along. No plans really, just thrown together. But it works great and I wanted it to last longer and be more ... visually appealing. Not that pencil on bare wood doesn't have it own "appeal".

Ted and Gwenna painted it the colors of the girls' room. Then Gwenna and I went back and selected letters to mod podge on. I love the color combo.


If I was into vinyl, I'd have done that I imagine but I love how it looks, just the way it is. And luckily, it's back where it belongs and there's a bottom on it about a dozen times a day. We're in serious need of our naughty chair these days.

Bird House

My husband Ted is really into woodworking. Maybe, too much, I sometimes think.

Recently he made bird houses with my neighbor boy (who is 9) and our daughter (who is almost 3). Ted did all the cutting and let the kids assemble, glue, and nail it all together.

Then my daughter and I painted her house. She wanted it to be yellow. All we had was a very pale yellow. I wanted it to look rustic so we lightly dry brushed it.

Front:

Back:

I think I want to do some cute design on the roof still. We'll see. At any rate, it's time to fill it with bird seed and invite our birdy friends over for a house warming party.

Wodden Letters

I made these wooden letters for my little girls, each when they were in my belly and one still is. It's a lot of fun to decorate with letters and words and it's even more fun if you decorate the actual letters before you put them up.

It's a very simple process to make these letters and doesn't take very much time or talent. Here's a list of things you need:

A wooden letter, any size but preferably larger than 6 in.
Patterned craft paper
Mod Podge
A medium sized craft paint brush
A pencil
Scissors
Embellishments that may include:

• Tag board cut outs
• Ribbon
• Buttons
• Stickers
• Craft pens
• Glitter
• Sequins

Hot glue gun with glue OR heavy duty craft glue

The first step, which isn't hard, just difficult to explain, is the hardest part. Begin by laying the wooden letter face down on the back of the paper. Let me clarify: lay your paper down on the table so the side you want glued to the letter is face up. Now put your wooden letter down so that you see the back part that will be touching the wall. (I may have overdone it but it's important to have this right.) With your pencil, trace, as close as possible, the outline of your letter onto the paper.

Remove your letter. Cut out the backwards letter from your piece of paper.

At this point, if you want two papers on the letter trace the letter again in like fashion and cut it out. The second picture (above, the G) was done like this. I actually even did a cute little torn edge on the left hand side but ended up covering it up because it also happened to be right where I wanted the nametag to go. Go figure!

Turn your letter over so that the front is now facing your. Place your paper on, right side up so that you see the pattern on the letter as you want to in the finished product. Make any cutting adjustments needed. Once you have it just the way you want it, brush a good layer of Mod Podge over the wooden letter. Carefully place the paper on top of the Mod Podge, making sure not to wrinkle it or trap very much air. You have some flexibility once it's on there but not much.

At this point, if you are doing two papers (or more, it's your letter!) paint a full coat of Mod Podge over the letter and get your second layer in place. Once the second layer of Mod Podge is dry, do another coat over the entire front of the letter so that any exposed paper is sealed. If you were doing only one paper, after you have put that in place, seal it in with Mod Podge as well.

Once that last coat of Mod Podge has dried, you're ready to decorate. This is the fun part! Do a dry run with all your embellishments. Try moving things about and putting things where you might not imagine. Clumps of things such as stickers and ribbon can compliment each other very well and even if you'd imagine a crowded look, it might end up looking cute.

Now, I haven't done one of these for a boy yet but I would really like to. I have so many cute idea dealing with little sports memorbelia, littler wooden cutouts, and the like. I would love to see one of these done for a little boy.

I hope you have fun making a wooden letter. I've done this a couple times now so I may have left something out. If you have any questions on the process, please let me know!