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Category Archives: Craft Fail

THE Carpenter Christmas Tablescape

25 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, Christmas, community, Craft Fail, encouragement, family, Inspirational, Uncategorized

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Tags

Christmas, Christmas tablescape, tablescape

Carpenter, as in not someone’s name, but rather the vocation. The wood worker that cuts down trees and uses sharp gouges to make houses and three-legged stools.

And not just any carpenter, but THE carpenter. Jesus could have been any profession in the world. But he was a worker of wood, a simple carpenter by trade. When I volunteered to do a tablescape for the Christmas brunch event at our church, the first thing I thought of was Christmas trees and wood, and how significant wood is in relation to Christmas and Jesus… and me.
1-christmas-wood-tablescape-front
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Jesus worked in a wood shop. He used logs and blocks of wood. He used saws and gouges.
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At the end of a day he would have had the glorious smell of aromatic sawdust and curly wood shavings clinging to his garments.
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As an apprentice, one of the first pieces of furniture he would have made would be a three-legged stool.

6-1-legged-stool

Three legged stools can sit firmly on uneven surfaces.

6-3-christmas-wood-tablescape-favor

And if one leg is a little longer than the other, the stool still works so it is the perfect beginner’s project for making furniture.
6-2-3-legged-stool
7-legged-stool-ornament

8-christmas-tablescape-setting
My dad enjoyed wood working as a hobby but he didn’t build furniture. He built his own house, he loved cutting down trees and chopping wood, and he loved carving.
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I learned to carve by watching him. “Never fight the grain of wood,” he quietly said. “Work with the grain, not against it. Take tiny cuts. You can’t put wood back but you can always cut away tiny bits. Take your time.”
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My father had incredible patience and I watched in silence as he made tiny cuts in the wood.
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I was 22 when I married and moved away from home. All I learned about woodworking was during my childhood but I never forgot my father’s skill. My father passed away just a couple days before Christmas, two years ago. But instead of having the memory of his passing be something hard, it is beautiful this time of year. Because my father worked with wood and so did Jesus. My dad never got to see my carving. But somehow, I think he knows and is glad.
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Wood workers mark their tools and their woodwork. It’s called a “maker’s mark.” My dad carved his name into the gouges he made from nails.
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He carved his name and date in his carvings.
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He sometimes carved the location where he made his piece.
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Jesus knew all the details of woodworking.
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His first contact with wood was being laid in a wood manger, a feeding trough for animals. It was rustic and rough.
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As he grew, He learned how to shape wood and smooth wood, remove tiny bits to make something functional and beautiful. He knew which trees were strong, which had the best grain, which smelled aromatic. And he would have known about maker’s marks.

As I put together my Carpenter tablescape, I included two wood cross beams leaning against the back of the creche.
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After spending a life working with wood, Jesus’ last contact with wood was being nailed to it.
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And there, in the cross, was Jesus’ “maker’s mark”, the nail prints.
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This Christmas, what is precious to you? To me, it is the memory of my dad, the wood carver.
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And being blessed with the ability to work with wood like my dad and Jesus, The Carpenter.
27-christmas-wood-tablescape-manger-1655
28-christmas-wood-tablescape

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Craft Fail – Butterfly Wing

11 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in Craft Fail, crafts, nature, projects

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

butterfly wing, cutting, embroidery scissors

It didn’t work! So disappointing! About three years ago I found a butterfly wing in the driveway. I couldn’t bear to let it go so I pinned it to my bulletin board. For the past three years, it has gently fluttered on my bulletin board every time the furnace or air conditioner kicked on.

I needed a little butterfly for the project I’m working on and thought it would be sweet to cut the butterfly wing up to make a smaller butterfly. The first “alas!” was trying to draw cutting marks on the wing using a permanent marker. The marker bled rapidly into the wing, ruining the beautiful yellow. The second “Alas!” was when the butterfly wing shattered when I pressed an x-acto knife on it. I tried to cut the wing using sharp manicure scissors and that fared better but the wing is beyond use and the beauty that I have enjoyed for three years is gone.

Craft Fail - Cutting a butterfly wing did not work


What I learned:
1. Do not try to mark a butterfly wing with anything, just cut freehand.
2. Use sharp manicure or embroidery scissors to cut butterfly wings.
3. If the wing is really beautiful, don’t do anything at all to it. Just pin it to a bulletin board and enjoy it, especially if it flutters in the breeze when you walk by.

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Craft Fail! Corks and Chains

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in Craft Fail, jewelry making

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Tags

chain, cork, craft fail, jewelry

Some of my short lengths of jewelry chain were getting tangled up in the box so I decided to wrap them around something. Great use for the wine corks, I thought. I drilled one hole through the middle of the cork and then another hole from the top center to the side of the cork.
I dropped an inch of chain through the center hole and then secured it by wrapping chain around the cork. Then I put the remaining end of chain up through the side hole and out the top of the cork.
Looks great!
But then when you lift the cork, the chain falls right off the bottom of the cork! Ha ha!
Back to the drawing board on this design.

Craft Fail - Jewelry Chain keeper. The chain falls right off the bottom!

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If at first you don’t succeed… (Vintage Glitter Cloche)

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in Christmas, Craft Fail, crafts, projects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bottle brush trees, Christmas, craft fail, crafts, trees

Working on the Vintage Glitter Cloche was a good learning experience in crafting. Here is my first attempt at making those awesome cream-colored bottle brush trees.

Bottle Brush tree fail.


What a hoot! I had no idea that the trees would disintegrate if left in the bleach solution too long. The green trees were placed in the big jar of 40% bleach/water solution and left to bleach. I stirred them occasionally and watched the green leach out for about an hour. Then I went Christmas shopping. When I returned hours later, the trees looked wonderful. But when I pulled them out of the solution, they were rusty and disintegrated. Such sorry little trees! I’m going to make another cloche that will fully showcase the awesome character of these trees. Perhaps a Dr. Seuss-inspired cloche. That will do nicely! Never waste a crafting failure, just re-purpose it!

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