a quick Cracker Barrel checker board

My kids and in-laws recently had a dinner out at Cracker Barrel and were very interested in playing checkers on the porch outside.   Unfortunately there was a suspicious lack of checkers....  When we got home that night I decided to use an old end table and make one for them.

Just a quick tape off of 1 1/2" squares in the center of this end table

chose orange and a dark brown

 taping for next squares - the problem with this sort of project is the amount of tape "wasted" in taping things off.   If I wasn't  looking for exacting square lines letting my kids help paint on this, I probably would have done it free hand without tape.

  2 coats exterior poly, let dry and let the games begin!!   They have rocks vs. globs.   :) 

an outdoor chandelier

I live in a very old house.   It was build in 1937 by a man who build flour mills for a living,  for his daughter when she got married.   Most of the fixtures (and wiring -ack!) were original when I moved in.   There were two of these lights in the living room and dining room but one didn't work.   This is the one remaining light.  When the other one was removed, I kept it (yeah, I'm not a hoarder, really, I just know good-can-be-used-for-something-sometime stuff when I see it!)

I've been thinking all along, wouldn't that make a neat outdoor light?  So when I stumbled across the LED solar lights at Walmart for only $4.00 I had to pick one up to see if it fit in the bulb socket - success!!  It fit perfectly!

First unscrew what you can, my light had a long threaded bar through the center that attached the light to the ceiling.   Cut and pull out all wiring.  I had to be careful with the bulb sockets - they were made out of porcelain and chipped when I tried to grab it with the needle nose pliers.  

Separate the stem of the LED light from the globe and pull out the red plastic tab to get the batteries to connect. 

Globe rests right inside the cups that once held lightbulbs.  I used GE silicone 2 and added a rim of glue to the inside to hold it securely. 

Hanging at a temporary spot in the yard until I can get the pergola built this summer (hopefully)!  

It doesn't add a tremendous amount of light, but it glows nicely :) 

Monogram letter

My 1st grader wanted to give something to his teacher this year as a last day of school gift so I found this project with the help of my TwoPeas friends and we worked on it yesterday.  Easy and so cute!  (With a bonus flower bouquet from my gardens)

Here's a link to the project directions on another site.   I'll post mine too.

http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?nid=61&sid=14325740

 

---- Supply list ----

-colored pencils (or crayons or regular pencils)

-sharpener

-for cutting I used this little miter box and thin saw

-small clamp

-glue

-rice paper or other nice scrapbook paper

-picture frame

-monogram letter printout from Word

-we used rub on letters for the name 

Next he lined up all the colors in the order he wanted to use them

He sharpened them all

We marked the length we needed to cover the monogram letter and he cut them using a little clamp to hold the pencil steady in the miter box.   you can see a few already cut in the picture on the left.  

All cut and ready to be moved to the final paper.

We used a piece of thicker rice paper with a nice texture and some paper fibers visible.   Placed the printed monogram letter underneath for a gluing guide.

Once the pencils were glued in place and the glue had dried I gave him my rub on letters and he added her name by himself.   Placed in a frame with an extra layer of cardboard behind the rice paper so it wouldn't buckle.   Glass was removed from the frame.  

Very cute!   Hope she likes it!!  

:)