Western General Store

I wanted to build a storage chest for our bathroom so I drew a plan in my design program. It would sit by the toilet and hold extra toilet paper with magazines or books on top. I had rough cedar lap and gap siding left over from house repairs and I cut a board of the 3/4" thick siding into 10" pieces to form the sides of the chest. The board was cupped so we ripped them down the v groove on the table saw. I glued and nailed the pieces together to form the 4 sides. I glued and nailed the sides to a solid mahogany base of 12" x 7 1/2" and glued and nailed the corners. I cut pieces from scraps and glued them into the gaps at the bottom. At this stage it looks like a planter. Overall it is 13 1/2" x 9" x 10" tall. I glued and nailed pieces together on 1/4" plywood to form the lid. Notice I stained the cut corners on the chest which matches the rest of the wood. I glued cedar trim on the lid and cla...

Spring is just around the corner so time to bring out the colors of spring. It's easy to make a Spring Hat Wreath. I had this sun hat and found a flower garland at the craft store to wrap around it. I wired on a burlap bow and a twine hanger for the top. Make a horseshoe candle holder by screwing Small Horseshoes onto a block of wood, paint it the colors of spring and add silk or real flowers. Use as centerpieces for weddings or parties. It will hold a 3" pillar candle or... A votive. To make a rustic spring planter I gathered scraps from my weathered pallet wood projects. I glued and nailed the upright pieces to a pallet wood base. I used the rest of the flower garland and tied twine around the  planter. Or you could add daisies and a distressed Cross Nail . Here is another color scheme with a Mini Star Nail . These ideas should give you inspiration to create for Springtime.

Hearts are the theme today to spread some love around the world! I made these two lariat hearts by simply using a 44" piece of lariat, pulling it into the shape of a heart and wrapping with red leather lace, leaving enough excess for a tassel. I could stop right there. You can hang these anywhere and I thought they looked great! But I wanted to make more hearts! So, I made a heart from pallet boards. I cut a heart shape from plywood, placed the boards together, traced the heart shape on the boards and cut them on the scroll saw, then glued them to the plywood. Actually, I used liquid nails which I don't recommend because it takes too long to dry. This heart is 8" wide x 7" tall. Then I cut 2 small hearts from the scraps. They are 3 1/2" wide x 3" tall. I attached a green lariat to the large heart with a brad nail gun and tied the lariat hearts together with red bows. I glued on the small hearts and added a red bandana. When I throw...

This project evolved over time as I came up with ideas. Sometimes I pick up a horseshoe and ideas start popping into my head. My husband has a wood shop so we have tons of wood. I grabbed a board and screwed a Large Horseshoe on each side and put a couple of finger towels on it. Cute! But...that wasn't quite what I wanted. How about a napkin holder? You don't need to be a welder to make this! I cut a piece of mahogany to 6 5/8" long  x 2 3/8" wide x 1" thick and screwed Large Horseshoes to it after they were spray painted black. You can use any wood and color schemes. Standard napkins fit perfectly! Then I decided to make a no weld hand towel stand. I took the base from a previous project ( Longhorn Jewelry Holder ) which is 6" x 6" x 3/4" thick. The mahogany post is 1 3/4" x 1" x 16" tall. The Medium Star , 2 Large Horseshoes, and a  Small Star Nai l for the top were spray painted black. Try other type...