Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy this winter. I'm sure you'll get a lot of satisfaction refinishing that dining room set. It's not easy work - I refinished a rocking chair years ago and that's my first and last piece of that kind of work. Might have been easier if I would have had a heat gun.

My mom's been redecorating her bedroom and living room, including new flooring and furniture, so I've been helping over there a bit. Lots of fun spending someone else's money, LOL.

I'm planning on getting us some new bedroom furniture this winter. We bought one of those memory foam mattresses, so now I want a platform bed, which of course leads to a whole new set. I've got my eye on one, just gotta make up my mind for sure and hand over some $$$.

I've been busy getting christmas crafting done for some shows coming up. Here's some of the wreaths I've been working on.

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Wow gorgeous wreaths!! If my wife saw those she would want at least 2 or 3 to put up in the house. I am going like crazy making things for a craft sale in 2 weeks. I have lots of things made but I haven't finished anything yet. I will post pictures when I get them finished.

Other projects that I will be doing this winter are making a new bedroom downstairs (the ones upstairs are used as a playroom and a computer room/office). Also I plan on replacing all the carpet in the living room, hall and master bedroom with laminate flooring. I am also doing the kitchen and dining room for a total of about 700 square feet. That should really keep me busy, especially when my wife babysits our grandson and granddaughter(they should be a big help LOL) 2-3 days a week.
Hopefully I will have some time for fishing this winter.

Cheers Al

Pudge, that last wreath is absolutely adorable! They're all lovely, but that one's my favourite.

How nice it is to spend other people's money!LOL I'll be helping out my mom with her basement this winter. Last spring, they had water in the basement, and still haven't replaced the flooring. It's almost a good thing, as that old carpet was horrible and needed to be ripped out. So we'll have to go shopping for some type of flooring that will work there.

As for my projects, I want to add a wooden cornice and drapery panels in my dining room. As well as put up some molding around the doorway between the dining room and the living room. Need to add some shelves in the bedroom closet. And hopefully, got my fingers crossed, I'll finally get my new countertop in the kitchen, which will mean probably adding a tile backsplash of some sort.

I also want to do a few more of the plexiglass "stained glass" art for my garden. I've strung 2 small ones on one side of an arbor, and now need to do 2 more for the other side.

This past week, I finally finished one project that I've been procrasting for a couple of years doing. Since my dining room is fairly contemporary, my 15 year old tv tables didn't fit in anymore, so I painted and stenciled them.

Here's the before:
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And the after:
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It's a big change, but I think it turned out well.

Laurie

You guys have some good projects lined up! Me, i'm lucky to keep my house reasonably clean! LOL

I usually do have projects slated for the winter, and this year it will be painting Adam's room (if he ever gets the rest of his stuff out of there). I want to make it into an extra bedroom, though i'd actually like to have it as our bedroom instead of the one downstairs. It's a bit smaller than our present room and i don't think a queen-sized bed will fit in it. Too bad - it's a nice sunny room. But i'll get it painted and maybe dh will put the laminate flooring in.

That's the main project. I think i should go through the tubs of crochet cotton downstairs, as i'm pretty sure i'll never use up all of it.

At the moment i'm crocheting an afghan for my daughter. The web cam Sharon posted has come in handy - i watch it in the evening and get a square crocheted!

Pudge, our gardening club is going to make some wreathes at our next meeting - yours are an inspiration! :)

Thanks for the wreath comments. They're fun to make, and a nice change from the fragility of dried material. I'm also working on table centrepieces (with candle, and such) which are also fun. Marcia, if you want to do a wreath like the last picture I posted, wire some chicken wire on to the back of the wreath to make a sort of shallow basket type of affair, then wire the greenery on to the chicken wire. Everything else is just a whole lot of hot glue.

Laurie, your TV trays are wonderful (I also like the 'before'). Amazing what one can paint, and make it look brand new. My mom had a really ugly ceramic vase - 70's brown and gold, but a nice grecian shape. I painted it and a mirror to match and it turned out just super. The symbol on the TV tray, does it mean something or symbolize something? I see a person wearing a straw hat holding a hoe.

My mom's new flooring in the living room and hallway is laminate flooring. Gosh, they make it so much easier to install now than when we did ours 9 years ago. It took us only 2 days to gets mom's done, and one day of that was concentrated mostly on the hallway with all those doorways and transitions. The living room was breeze, though.

Pudge, I think laminate flooring is the best way to go! The ease of installation allows more people to do it themselves, and what a cost saver that is. We did our kitchen, dining and entrance hallway a year and a half ago, and did our 2 bedrooms this past spring. I absolutely love it, and it hides dirt like you wouldn't beleive!

The symbol on the TV tables is supposed to be the Chinese symbol for love, but seeing as I can't read Chinese, who knows what it could say. I also see a little person wearing a hat, and now that you mention it, he could be holding a hoe, or a hockey stick!LOL With my luck, I probably put it on up-side down, but this was the way Debbie Travis had it on the package, and who am I to argue with her. ;^)

Thanks for that chicken wire tip on the wreath too. I never would have figured that out for myself. I probably would have used about 2 pounds of hot glue before I gave up.

Absolutely gorgeous wreaths pudge! I'm thinking about making a new christmas one for the front door this year. Yours are definately an inspiration.

I love the "after" picture Laurie. Very nice change. Funny thing is the first thing I saw was a person wearing a straw hat too!

We don't have any major reno projects planned but I'm definately busy all winter long! Everyone's projects sound great. Gotta love that laminate flooring. We have it in the basement now (since our flooding a few years back) and I just love it.

I've been making lots of girly-girl (tween/teen) purses, pillows, and wall hanging for my girls and to give as gifts.

I've also got lots of cardmaking stuff going at the moment. Our school is having a Christmas Bazaar soon and I'm donating a bunch plus making lots for myself too since I'm on a roll now anyways! And I'll go from making cards to making a garden journal, and then I'll go onto some other similar project I'm sure.

Yesterday morning my oldest DD begged me to make her "one of those cool super fuzzy scarves" so yeah, twist my rubber arm girl! LOL Lucky for her I had some of that wool kicking around -- and lucky for me that she loves the colour! So that's this weekend's #1 project!

Ang

I finally got around to finishing some of my projects for the craft sale next week. I spent all day sanding and spraying finish on to my projects. Here are a few pictures of what I have made.

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Butterflies

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Sleighs, Baskets and a couple of tree ornaments

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Fancy Jewelery boxes

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Clock faces

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Kleenex box covers

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Shelves

I still have a few more thing to finish but most of it is done thank goodness. Now hopefully a lot of people show up with pockets full of money.!!!!LOL LOL

Cheers Al

If they don't show up with money, they're crazy! You do such beautiful work, Al - i wish you were showing your wares around here!

Beautiful, Al. Good luck at the sale.

Al, you are truly talented! I love your jewelry boxes. They're so unusual looking.

This is such a great thread! I love seeing everyone's wonderful creations.

Al, I would be thrilled to own any one of your beautiful pieces. You haven't done anything with a horse on it have you? My sisters 40th birthday is coming up very soon and I am drawing a complete blank on what to get her. I want it to be something really special. Ideas anyone, lol?

Cindy

No fair everyone, I'm jealous! I just want time to craft! Although I'm not really crafty. What with kids, school, work, and my kids medical, I just feel better when we get them to finish chores. Maybe I should just go ask santa-lol

I am at least working on keeping some potted tomatoes alive in the sunroom, and starting a bunch of cuttings throughout the house. Also, I'm trying to take a few minutes to organize this puter! We don't do a lot of reno on the house in the winter (7 people, 7 pets-- well paint and fur dont mix!) but we are "planning" our kitchen for spring!

Really everyone, I am jealous. You all are working and having fun! The stuff you make is wonderful!

Unbelievably, Al! You are truly an artisan. Just beautiful.

Well, I just layed down some flooring in the house. I found some Trafficmaster Resilient flooring (walnut) at Home Depot and thought it was economical, tough and nice looking. I hadn't seen it before...has anyone else used it? I put it in our kitchen/entry way. Looks like wood laminate and comes in strips, but its flexible like vinyl. Each side and the ends have an adhesive strip that you overlap and press down (I used a rolling pin). It was very easy and comeletly DH free! You use a utility knife to cut it too, which was nice. No mess either.
The only hang up is (like Vrie!) fur and the adhesive strips don't mix!

If anyone else has used it...how does it wear? It has a 25 year warranty, but you know how warranties go...
Sorry i don't have pics and I couldn't find a link either :^( Toots

You folks are truly magnificent craftsmen!
I am jealous too, IÂm not at all crafty, I donÂt even know how to knit ;)

Sharon

Ugh, I hate knitting (learned way back when in 4-H). And crocheting (mom taught me). Heck, I don't even like sewing on a button. I did make all my valances a few years back, but that's only because I came across THE PERFECT fabric and thought how hard could it be. Not hard, but all that hemming, oy. When I was about 14 I learned cross stitch, and remember enjoying it but haven't tried it since. Needle crafts just aren't my cup of tea. I do appreciate others' work, though.

I think I've discovered 'stamping'. I wanted to make some nice looking tags for jar mixes I put together, so bought some rubber stamps and a glittery gold ink pad (who knew there was such a thing as a gold ink pad - too cool). With a computer and stamping a person can make a whole lot of neat looking things - certainly no need to buy cards or gift tags.

I made out really well at Saturdays craft sale - a number of those wreaths sold and all of the artificial centrepieces, plus I took orders for another dozen. This week I've been working on fresh greenery centrepieces for a special (indoor) farmers market on Sunday. These are my favourite to make, and I usually do several for gifts and at least 2 for myself (and the lady who lets me cut cedar from her bushes always gets one). After a few years of testing different greenery I've found cedar and juniper last the longest (about 2-3 months if set in wet floral foam and watered regularly) so now that's all I use. Thankfully I got a bunch of it cut before this cold spell so I'm not out there with frozen fingers - just have to nip out on the deck where I store them in garbage bags until ready to use. Here's a few pics.

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Pudge, how did you make out at the Sunday market sale? I like your centerpieces.

Pudge, would you be able to post pictures of your homemade stamped tags?

Ang, what about your homemade cards...can you post pictures too?

I make homemade cards using stamps and garden pictures but haven't really got back into it yet this winter except for a few hours one night. Hopefully after Christmas. I am asking for some ribbon and bead supplies for Christmas so that I can use that to add to the homemade cards to 'spice' them up.

I love knitting, cross stitching, sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking, reading, gardening, taking pictures and tole painting to name a few but right now am trying to get through the house one 'pile' (area) at a time and cull. My daughter helped me go through my clothes closet the other week and I don't have much left. It was good. I really don't need all the stuff that came out that either didn't fit, was too short or too small, out of style, etc. Good excuse now...to go shopping for clothes cause I 'need' some more.

I also want to make some more 'stained glass' pictures and am busy each Monday evening (after Christmas and until spring) when I open my home to those who want to come to make garden decorations/crafts, like the 'stained glass' projects that I teach.

Brenda

Brenda, if you are into beading I should bring you my old beads if I remember next summer. I used to be really into it and sometimes I look at my old beads and wonder what on earth I will ever do with them.

Since I got my router for my birthday, it has really hit home just how bad I am at woodworking. LOL. I've said it before, trees die thinking they might become my woodworking projects. Darn you Al for making it look easy! LOL!

Gillian, I am wanting to get a few beads so that when I make a card I can use them to add to the picture. So, sure I would gladly 'take' your beads and see what I can do with them. Thanks for the offer.

Brenda

BTW, for those of you making your own homemade cards...

Where do you get your envelopes?

If you go to the dollar store you can purchase for a dollar 10 or 15 Christmas cards and envelopes in a box. The other day I was in the dollar store and they had French Christmas cards...15 in a box.. for $1.00. I will throw out the cards (don't know what they say anyways) and keep the envelopes.

I have a different size of envelope that I ordered from a printing company but I don't remember what I paid for them. I had to order something like 100 of them to make it a decent price each.

Brenda

Brenda, don't throw out the Christmas cards that came with the envelops you needed. I cut them up and make Christmas gift tags out of them. It's how I recycle my Christmas cards from the year before. Plus I'm too cheap to buy tags. :)

Syreeta

Actually Gill it is not as easy as it looks. It took me about 4 months to make all the items that I have shown here. There is a lot of sanding and milling to get the desired look that I want for my projects. A couple of forums that I use to get a lot of ideas and techniques on the use of equipment and making the projects are.
http://wmyoung.proboards107.com/
http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/
Both of these forums are Canadian but there are members from all over the world.

Another idea for the router is a show on television (on PBS I think) Saturday mornings is the Router Workshop where all the projects are made with a router. The hosts for this show live not too far from you in Elie Manitoba.
Hope this helps you a bit.

Cheers Al

I know it's not easy Al, that's why we are all so impressed with your skills ;0) I will try to catch that router show. Elie is indeed close, just west of Winnipeg.

Brenda, I e-mailed you back about the beads. There are some different shapes & sizes that maybe wouldn't be good for cards but perhaps you could use them for some other crafts.

Syreeta great idea for the tags! I have also seen really nice cards that are their own envelopes, if you fold them right and use a pretty sticker to hold them shut. You might want to check that out Brenda.