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Category Archives: woodwork

A Warm Winter Game Weekend

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in family, home, home decor, lighting, party, Uncategorized, woodwork

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

family, family game night, game night, home decor, party

I’ve wanted to host a game night for a while but everyone’s schedules were really busy. So we freed up the whole weekend and let the gatherings happen when they could. What fun!

First of all, I wanted warmth and light. Right after Christmas is always so dreary. All the prettiness of Christmas is packed away and all that’s left is cold. So I did a little searching and gathered a bit of warmth from around the world.

First and most important, there had to be fur from Russia.
1-winter-game-weekend-fur-throws
I have a large fur throw in the living room but needed something smaller for the dining room chairs. I found the perfect fur at JoAnn fabrics and made two throws from 1.5 yards of fur to drape over the backs of the chairs.

I adore knits from Scandinavia and found a beautiful heavy knit, also at JoAnn Fabrics. 1.5 yards made two more comfy throws for the chairs. I also used another yard of fur and a lovely wool throw that a friend had given me.

On one chair is a pillow I made using Floral Wood Carving Stripe fabric from Spoonflower.  2 carved wood flower stripe fabric pillow.jpg Roostery sells premade pillows using the wood carving fabric too. The wood buttons were fun to carve while watching Gilmore Girls. :) 3-hand-carved-wood-buttons

On the table, more softness. “Go ahead and put your elbows on this table!” Oh the softness! 4 Winter Game Weekend soft table.jpg

I’ve never leaned on a table so soft that your elbows sink in, and there are no words to describe how comforting this is!!! If you want your guests to linger, you’ve GOT to try it!

To get it soft enough, I used these layers: Felt-backed plastic tablecloth, cotton table cloth, fluffy old blanket, chenille bedspread-turned into a tablecloth and a thick cotton throw. 5 Winter Game Weekend table throws and blankets.jpg

Our table belonged to my grandparents. Decades of love and laughter have taken place around this table. The only thing I’d change is if it were a trestle table with rounded corners and center pedestal so we could fit more people around it without bumping the table legs. My father made the family trestle table and I’ve always wanted one. This trestle table is beautiful! But really, all these tables are gorgeous here.

The first two nights I used the white bedspread/tablecloth as the top layer. The last night I put the maroon spread on top. You simply must try this! Make sure you use washable throws though, in case there are crumbs and spills. From now on, I’m going to be watching for thick, washable throws that can be layered on tables. I might even make one for my desk. Yes! … um… zzzz…. maybe too much comfort for a desk… ;)

For lighting, I wired old chandelier crystals and glass icicle ornaments to the light fixture. The crystals were salvaged from a family heirloom and I cherish them so much. 6 Winter Game Weekend icy chandelier.jpg They add a delightful sparkle and look quite wintery.

7 Winter Game Weekend chandelier with crystals.jpg Two corners of the dining room have lamps. The terrarium is still unfinished, tied together with cord but the plants are growing fine. They’re over a year old now. I finished all the carving but have yet to cut the wood base, glue it all together and line it with copper. The glass top of the terrarium is the old dining room light fixture that we removed when we bought this house.

8 light fixture and wood carved terrarium.jpg I also keep white mini lights on top of the china cabinet and dining room bookcase until winter is past. To me, mini lights don’t remind me of Christmas, they mean health and well-being. The more light in winter, the better!

While visiting my daughter in Tokyo, I learned about Japanese tables that were warmed underneath. What a great concept! To mimic the comfort of a kotatsu, I put an electric blanket under the table to tuck our stocking feet into. 9 Winter Game Weekend electric blanket floor.jpg

On the table I put a beautiful leaf plate from Arhaus. It was perfect for holding cookies – German Springerli and Viennese Chocolate Hazelnut Crescents.10 Winter Game Weekend Springerli Chocolate Hazelnut Crescents.jpg

One of my sons made me a gorgeous chalkboard tray for Christmas. He did a beautiful job on it! It was jolly fun writing on the tray, playing tic tac to and keeping score. 11 Winter Game Weekend Arhaus leaf bowl.jpg

We warmed our hands on cups of rich cocoa, Swiss chocolate of course. 12 Winter Game Weekend Chalkboard Tray.jpg

Friday night was just the girls. We played Old Maid, the very cards that I used in my childhood in the 60’s. So much fun!! 13 Winter Game Weekend playing Old Maid.jpg It had been so many years since I played with those cards. There was Fifi and her poodle, Greenthumb Gert, whose plantings were being nibbled up by rabbits as fast as she planted them, and Milkman Mo with his begging cats. Love the humor in these old cards, which probably would be deemed totally “politically incorrect” now-adays. 14 Winter Game Weekend vintage Old Maid cards.jpg

Saturday night, children and adults together played Clue. We did our best using  English accents and Oh the mystery and laughter!

15-winter-game-weekend-clueMiss Peacock, how can you be capable of such a deed! Mr Plum’s strategy was quite scientific. And Colonel Mustard actually held the pistol and knife. This view of the chandelier is only possible if you’re a game piece lying in the billiard room. haha 16-winter-game-weekend-professor-plum-looks-up

One of my favorite warming strategies was loading fireplace videos on tablets and displaying them in the bottom of the china cabinet. Fire where there is never any fire!  17-winter-game-weekend-china-cabinet-fireplace I sure wish some company would create a mini fake fire device that could play a simple, looping fire video like this and fit in a small space like a china cabinet. I would buy several in a heartbeat. Fire amongst the plants in the living room? Yes! Fire on my nightstand as I go to sleep? Yes! The last time we had a fake fire was when we made a fireplace in the oven. There’s something comforting about flame, even if it’s fake.

Sunday night’s beer and poker game ended up being postponed because the flu visited. Alas. But even as I write this, I’m feeling quite toasty. The throws are still on the chairs and I feel the warmth radiating against my back. My laptop is set up on this table and my arms are leaning in on the softness as I type. A Winter Game Weekend after Christmas has definitely become a tradition in our home.

18-winter-game-weekend-all-the-best-of-the-worlds-warmth

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I made fabric from photos of my carvings

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in fabric, home decor, projects, sewing, Spoonflower, woodwork

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

carving, fabric, fabric design, floral, sewing, Spoonflower, woodwork

If you’ve been following my Instagram feed here, https://www.instagram.com/juliaamonroe/, you can see the progress I’m making carving wood panels for a terrarium.

Before assembling the carved wood panels into a terrarium base, I thought they would make a nice striped fabric so I took photographs of the panels and created a seamless, railroaded Floral Wood Carving Stripe fabric design. The design repeat is a little over a yard. You can find the fabric here on Spoonflower.

Fabric design from photographs of the carvings I'm making for a terrarium base.

Fabric design from photographs of the carvings I’m making for a terrarium base.

Close up of carving detail printed on fabric.

Close up of carving detail printed on fabric.

Another close up of the carved fern section.

Another close up of the carved fern section.

The Floral Wood Carving Stripe also makes a great gift wrap.
It’s available as wallpaper too.

The design is railroaded, with a repeat a little over a yard.

The design is railroaded, with a repeat a little over a yard.

I’m looking forward to making pillow covers from this fabric. They will look so nice outside on the deck. Or I might make cushions for the deck rocking chairs. Hmm, that will be a hard decision!

Floral Wood Panel Fabric

Floral Wood Panel Fabric

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I’m keeping busy

18 Saturday Jun 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, On my Worktable, woodwork

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Tags

carving, crafts, woodwork

Carving the wood base for the terrarium with my dad’s knives. 5 panels done, 1 to go.
Carving Terrarium Base

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He liked the cutting board!

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, birthday, crafts, family, food, projects, woodwork

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

21st birthday, bread board, carving, cutting board, food, woodwork, wrapping paper

It was a happy 21st Birthday! Twenty-one is a big birthday and the “toys” will never be the same again.  We got our son 4 items: a big hunk of awesome steak wrapped in meat paper, a loaf of hearty homemade bread wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, a bottle of champagne, and a bread board.

He was amused at the loaf of bread and had not yet opened the steak wrapped in meat paper and cutting board wrapped in cutting board paper.

He was amused at the loaf of bread and had not yet opened the steak wrapped in meat paper and cutting board wrapped in cutting board paper.


The meat and cutting board wrapping paper were great! I got them from a kickstarter project. The wrapping paper is available here from Gift Couture.
I took a discarded but still functional breadboard, sanded down the scruffy top and carved words in the sides. It was comforting using my dad’s old carving tools again.
Bread board 1
Bread board 2Bread board 3Bread board 4Bread board 5
He’s an awesome cook and appreciated the gifts.

Thank you, God, for good bread, for good meat, for good wine.
Life doesn’t have to be complicated.
Enjoy the people you love!
 

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Wood Spoon & a Topiary Tree

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, Gilded Girls, Uncategorized, woodwork

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

carving, Gilded Life, Glittered Roses Topiary, wood spoon

I finished the wood spoon but the recipient forgot to take it home. That’s just as well because I forgot to carve my initials in the back. Will do that this week.

Wood spoon with wheat and grapes carved into the handle.

Wood spoon with wheat and grapes carved into the handle.

WoodSpoon7

Wood spoon with wheat and grapes carved into the handle

I finally felt like working on a Glittered Roses Topiary, by A Gilded Life for the 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas class. I didn’t get very far in the glittering because of pain, no doubt left over from two days of crazy carving, but I’ll tackle it some more tomorrow. The topiary will be beautiful when it is finished! It will look lovely in the guest room/library.

Starting to make the Glittered Roses Topiary, by A Gilded Life for the 12 Artsy Days of Christmas class.

Starting to make the Glittered Roses Topiary, by A Gilded Life for the 12 Artsy Days of Christmas class.

Happy New Year!

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Picking up the Carving Tools Again

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, Inspirational, Scoliosis, woodwork

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

carving, gouges, surgery, wood spoon, wooden spoon

It has been months since last I carved.

I am slowly recovering from October’s grueling surgery. Most days I have to sit very still, my back held against a heating pad. But today, despite the pain in my back, I just had to pick up the gouges to work on the old spoon. Handling the wood and gripping the smooth handle of the gouge felt so right. I was comforted.

Grapes and wheat wind around the wood spoon handle.

Grapes and wheat wind around the wood spoon handle.

The wood spoon was buried in a box for months, unfinished.

The wood spoon was buried in a box for months, unfinished.

It felt good holding the wood, gripping the gouge.

It felt good holding the wood, gripping the gouge.

WoodSpoon4

WoodSpoon5

Just because something is put away for a long time, even months or years, doesn’t mean it’s gone. When the time is right, it will happen. Be patient. Be at peace while you wait.

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The Box

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, crafts, Inspirational, projects, woodwork

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

art, box, carve, carver, carving, the box, wood box

We’re excited about life. The pieces are all there. We have plans and everything seems straight and simple.

Construction gets under way. We’re moving forward. We know exactly what we want.

And then the Carver picks up an instrument and begins the work.

We hold tight. We think I can do this. It’s ok.

But then things change and we’re not so sure.

People are brought into our lives that make us uncomfortable.

The cuts get deeper.

Color pales and we get confused.

We watch as bits of us drop away.

We look down and see what is lost. We mourn what has fallen. We don’t want to part with things we think are important.

The Carver keeps the instruments sharp. Carefully honing the blade, we hear the swish of metal on stone and we’re afraid.

We no longer recognize ourselves.

There are strange steps. Odd bits of life, ragged and raw.

The gouges are deep.

We weep over the pile of loss from the past. We focus on what is gone.

What we don’t see is how the Carver’s hands firmly and lovingly hold us.

All we see is the pile of shavings that obliterate our view.

But the Carver sees. The Carver sees a beauty on the inside that we can’t see from the outside. The Carver whittles away, bit by bit, to reveal the treasure within.

We don’t understand the Carver’s dream. But we reach a point where we must trust. Even though we don’t understand, we let the Carver work. And we begin to let go.

We begin to trust that the Carver has a greater plan. It is too big for us to understand right now. But now we think I can get through this. It’s going to be ok.

And for the first time, we’re ok with it.

♥

To be continued…

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The Art of Wild Abandonment Bloghop Post :)

04 Friday May 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in altered books, art, crafts, painting, projects, woodwork

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

art, blog hop, bloghop, cake, painting, stacked blocks, the art of wild abandonment, wood block cake, wood blocks

Welcome and greetings if you are following the Art of Wild Abandonment Bloghop! You probably arrived here from the amazing blog of Paty Shaulis. Her artwork is exquisite!
If you didn’t start at the beginning of the bloghop, you can join in the fun by visiting http://clairesmillie.wordpress.com/ and learning all about it.

Make sure you scroll to the bottom of my blog post to get the link for the next hop on the bloghop!

I and hundreds of others recently finished the e-course, The Art of Wild Abandonment, taught by Junelle Hallstrom Jacobsen and Christy Thomlinson. The projects were crazy and colorful and we learned all sorts of new ways to get our hands messy and express our wild creativity.

In addition to learning how to draw radishes and owls and sheep, altering a purse with paint and turning a roofing brush into an art brush holder, we painted wood blocks! Here is my version of the wood block project – Bloom!

It started with a couple wood blocks my dear husband cut for me.

Supplies gathered to decorate the blocks – my sketches, paints, modeling paste, ink pad, oil paint stick, wood blocks and, not in this photo, a flower and a coffee bean.

Once I got the blocks painted, the rest followed quickly.

I decided to make a 3 tiered cake with swags of thick sweet icing around the side. The word I chose for the top was Bloom. It’s the perfect word to describe what happened to so many members of the class. We all bloomed!

A view from the top of that sugary cake.

But wait, what is this on the bottom of the blocks? Another design?

A view from the top of the blocks flipped over. But then what happened to those sweet swags of white frosting?

Is that… a sheep? 0_0

More sheep!

And a sheep on top!

It’s a whole hill of sheep! Bloom Hill, covered with sheep!

But let’s check out that cake again. The sheep are upside down. And what is that under the rose on top?

The sheep’s hooves!

To make the hoof prints, I glued a coffee bean to an eraser and used it like a rubber stamp.

Eat cake! Draw sheep! Bloom!

Have fun hopping to the next post about The Art of Wild Abandonment on the wonderful blog of Janet Terrien Bracewell. I love her art journal!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. :)

A huge thank you to Junelle and Christy for teaching the Art of Wild Abandonment. It was a really fun e-course!
And Thank You to Clairesmillie for coordinating this bloghop!

One last pic – my owls.

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