Western General Store

I saw a photo of a leather covered knife block and thought I can do this! I purchased an inexpensive knife block with knives to experiment. I made a template out of paper around the front of the block and cut the leather to fit. I stamped it and put a leather finish on it. I glued it on with Titebond regular one section at a time, letting it dry after each section. I wrapped paper around the back of the knife block to make a template for hair on cowhide. Cowhide is ready to be glued. I glued it on one section at a time, letting it cure between each section. I painted the white leather edges with a brown leather finish. I put Briwax on the unfinished wood. On each side I made a concho and glued it on with Gorilla Glue. I was pleased with the way it turned out. Try it and add some Western flair to your kitchen. Good luck!

I was cutting out these shelf brackets from mahogany and noticed a pretty left-over design. Well, I must make something out of that! An idea came to me to make a Decorative Cross piece. The dimensions of this piece are 5" wide x 14" tall. I knew mahogany had a dark rich tone when sealed with a clear sealer. For contrast I squiggled some acrylic turquoise lines to look like turquoise inlay. Since this is the back, I could practice my technique. A Key hole was installed on the back for easy hanging. I put a finish on a Leather Cross , then glued on a metal Cross with regular Gorilla Glue. I've never used this glue before, and it worked great! I sawed off the little loop hanger at the top of the metal cross and filed any sharp edges. I wanted to sand some of the sealer so I could glue on the leather cross. I traced the cross onto contact paper, cut it out and taped it onto the wood. After sanding, I glued the leather cross onto the wood using...

Western cutouts are great fun and they can be used in so many ways. I drew and cut them out of plywood on a scroll saw. You can cut them out of cardboard, leather or thick paper. You can paint or stain them and then you can: Glue them to a skewer to stick in flower arrangements. Drill a hole in each and add jute to make ornaments. Glue them to boxes or frames. Make Garland. Drill a hole if it's wood or leather and make a key fob. Attach a hook to display on your saddle. It doesn't have to be western. You can make any shape you want, such as Christmas cutouts. Choose your theme, cut out your shapes and create!

This Cast Iron Star Stirrup was on the website, but I have not been able to find anymore. So, I decided to make one out of wood. I placed the stirrup on plywood and traced it to make a template. I traced the star section and cleaned up the lines before I cut it out on a scroll saw. Once the templates are made, I can trace this pattern onto any wood I choose. This is cut from mahogany. When I glued and screwed it together, it broke apart. I cut another one from oak and glued it together. I used a brad nail gun to secure it. I spray painted it with a textured paint. I made another one and stained it to show the wood grain. I used epoxy on this one, which seems to work better. These Star Stirrups will make great western home décor accents!

Old wood from old barns and buildings, which included red and white oak, was used for the cabinetry in our kitchen remodel. This wood is dense, heavy and very strong. The kitchen crew rebuilt some of our cabinet doors, so in this project I'm using the cabinet door reject scraps. Since the cabinet door frames had this groove on it for panels, I thought it would be perfect for making picture frames or mirrors. I cut off half of the groove on the table saw to create a place for a picture or mirror. I cut the boards to make a 16" x 20" opening. The outside dimension of the finished frame is 20" x 24". My plan was a rustic looking turquoise color and add large 2 1/4" conchos to the corners and center 3 3/4" silver clavos on each side. I glued it together and nailed it with a brad nail gun on the edges at the corners and used a staple gun on the back corners. This would look good with a coat of polyurethane, but I wanted to ...

Making wreaths for Christmas is easy and fun! I used our 12" metal Star in Ring and an 18" grapevine wreath. Nothing says rustic and natural like a grapevine wreath. I wired the star to the wreath and made a bow and wired it on at the bottom. I added pieces of greenery and tied large rustic bells to the wreath with twine. In the beginning I was going to paint the star and bells red, but I like it just like this! For a western style wreath I used a 16" grapevine wreath and cut the top out with a saw to make a horseshoe. I added a bow at the bottom and pieces of greenery. The twig balls were in a package which I bought years ago. I thought the little twig balls would be cute with the twig wreath, so I spray painted them red and used hot glue to attach. I drew the horse on plywood, cut it out on the scroll saw and painted it red. I wrote "Howdy Y'all!" with a white paint pen. I used hot glue to attach it to the wreath. What i...

This window picture frame, which I bought at a craft store many years ago, was behind my stove in the old kitchen, but I thought I'd repurpose it. I'm sure you can still find these type of frames, or you could make your own. Another idea is to find antique windows from old houses. Print out your favorite picture or have it printed by a print service. This photo is of my two mares who were sisters. November is about the family getting together and celebrating what we are thankful for. You could print out several family photos and place one in each pane. I found a board that was already finished and was the perfect size for the shelf. It is 31" x 3 1/2" x 3/4". The window Frame is 30 1/2" x 23" tall. I drew and cut out these shelf braces on the scroll saw and gave them the same finish as the shelf, which is dark brown Briwax. I thought about painting the whole thing one color and distressing it to look old, but I like the contrast....