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step stool...

whew...busy day! my hubby is away and i've been super busy working on some projects. later today my precious baby granddaughter is coming to spend the night so i wanted to get my step stool built and clean-up before she gets here. after hubby and i built our new bed frame that is very high i decided that a little step stool would be a cute addition in the bedroom. yesterday i took a ride to home depot and picked up some wood, glue, and wood filler. this is the first wood working project that i have worked on by myself without any help from hubby so i was pretty excited to see how i did. it was a learning experience that i very much enjoyed. these are my bits with their intial cuts done...

I started by using my jig saw to create the shape i wanted for the sides of the stool. i must admit that the cuts were not 100% perfect, but i was still very happy with it. next came a hurdle. i have never drilled pilot home or countersunk screws so i had to figure out (through trial and error) with bits would be best for the pilot holes and the countersinking. Yay, figured it would pretty quickly. then i attached the support pieces. at this point i was pretty proud of myself!

all that was left of the build was to attach to treads. super easy part. then i took it outside and gave it a good so i thought sanding. it is really cold out today, low 20's but i was anxious and impatient (i love instant gradification) so i decided to paint it too. i mean how could i stop when i was so close to doneness?!

woo hoo my first solo build. may not seem like much, but i'm thrilled :) what i learned... i need to sand better, i need more practice with the jigsaw, and gloves are a must when i spray paint...completely wrecked my manicure :|

so cute...

i love these little cuties! i made these today after thinking about it for ages. i bought some plain ceramic tiles at home depot and found these adorable pics.

can't wait to make more!

moving on...

linking to:
okay, christmas is over and my etsy store needs some serious attention. so do some projects around the house. hubby and i needed a new bed frame. i have been looking on craigslist for a new one without much luck. we dont have room for a headboard and foodboard, only a frame. our other obstacle is that since our apartment is so tiny, we need all the storage we can possibly carve out. so...we decided to build a new frame that would be high enough to allow us to put storage bins underneath.

we started with the essentials...a nice glass of pinot grigio for the mrs and a corona for the mr.

then it was time to get down to bed frame business! first order was to build the "box." we have a queen sized bed so the measurements were 60x80. hubby is so cute in blue :)

the next step was to add some supports to the corners to help the legs with stability. then we added the center supports. we had originally planned to add strapping across the supports, but realized we didn't really need them.

next we built the legs by simply securing two 2x4's together and securing to the frame. it came out exactly like we wanted and it hides an abundance of junkexcellent stuff underneath :)now i need to build a step so i can get in and out!!

ornaments...of course

while hubby and i were prowling the country i was putting together these cute little mitten ornaments. i love how they came out and they were fun to make. i used a blanket stitch to hold them together and stuffed them a little.

i made all the ornaments on the tree this year. i have dried orange slices, the mittens, some twine balls, real cranberry garland, and paper stars. it was a much different tree than we usually have and i really like it. oh, i always made a ruffled tree skirt for it.

linking to Beneath My Heart

advent calendar...

I have been seeing lots of advent

calendars everywhere and decided to try my hand at it. I decided on the pottery barn knock off so I went to my local dollar store to see what supplies I could find. I picked up some paper thanksgiving cup on clearance and bamboo sticks. At home I had some black paint, twine and number stickers.

So, I painted the cups and poked holes in them. While the paint dried I strung together the bamboo sticks. Here is is!