Holiday Reindeer Gift for Grammy & Popsa

Two years ago, my hubby and I decided to make holiday gifts for our families (I need to get pictures of those). We made a wooden reindeer for my parents, AKA Grammy & Popsa. We kinda found an outline for plans online, but we mostly ended up "winging it." Our plan was to eventually make eight (maybe nine with a Rudolph option) "tiny" reindeer with a sled. The reindeer actually turned out not-so-tiny. Anyway, we were pretty proud of it. It took like a week or two of combined time to make that first reindeer. It was difficult.

This year, we sprung for some actual woodworking plans, found here (really good deal), and we've accumulated some WAY better woodworking tools. If you add up all the time we spent this time, it took like two days total for FOUR reindeer! The plans turned out to be a little smaller than we expected. I bought the package from Gold Country Woodworking that had plans for mini, small, medium, and large reindeer, a sled, and carbon transfer paper. We did the large plan, but it ended up still being about half the size of our first one we had done. But they look WAY better! 

We cut out the four reindeer pattern pieces from one piece of plywood. Impressive, right? We then detailed and sanded them a bit. We took the unpainted pieces on our 13.5 hour car drive to visit my family for Thanksgiving (we didn't want to die from fumes, also we didn't have time to let them dry). 

Side note: Our car had a recall and had to get it's engine replaced, so we had a rental for our trip. We got a minivan, which was really useful and convenient for transporting our stuff. WAY more room than a sedan. Now we're contemplating buying a minivan instead of a mid-size truck for our replacement car (for mine, which I lost in the flooding of Hurricane Harvey). 

So we took the pieces of the four reindeer to my sister's place to finish, away from the eyes of my parents. We tried spray painting them first. That was a poor choice. We really just should have stuck to regular paint. We went through 5 cans of spray paint, and probably would have needed like 5-10 more to the really get the coverage we were going for. So we gave up after the 5 cans and bought regular paint, brushes, and rollers. It took like 1 coat to get really good coverage. AND it was a way better color, too. We already had the clear coat spray paint, so we just finished with that.

It took a couple days for the painting and clear-coating, which added to our overall time of project. But, that was mostly due to family activities and such. Dry time wasn't actually that bad. We then put them together and I added some bows. Then we set them up on my parents' lawn for them to see when they got home. They loved them. Yay!! 

My dad ended up pulling our first reindeer out and setting him up with the new four. The difference is hilarious and enlightening. We got WAY better with our skills. And a pattern and the right tools make ALL the difference! We really need to fix that first guy. He's sad. After we came home, my dad ended up painting the big reindeer's nose red, naming him the leader. He's funny. He also set the reindeer up at my parent's assisted living home they run. The residents (he says) love them, too.

So, I hope you enjoy.

Ongoing Tropical Plants

I figured that I'd make a new post, instead of constantly updating the same older post, on the progress of my fruit plants. To overview, I've started planting avocados, mangoes, and pineapple. In the future, I will be planting more varieties of seeds, such as apples, peaches, nectarines, etc.

I have many seeds in the refrigerator right now. I read on several online posts, such as this one, on the subject that certain fruit trees need "chill hours" even as seeds (stratification). This mimics nature in a fruit falling off the tree in the summer, either being eaten or not, laying on the ground being left alone, and sitting out a winter.

The cold actually activates the "growing signal" in the seed, which tells the seeds to come out of dormancy and start it's life cycle (again, STRATIFICATION). I attempted to grow nectarines previously without chilling, and it failed. And since it doesn't get cold enough for long enough here in Houston, leaving them in a refrigerator for a couple months gets the job done, allegedly. We'll see once I actually try it.

But for now, here is an update on the pits, seeds, and cuttings that I have ready. These pictures were taken the other day. I just didn't have a chance to post them until now. Enjoy.

November 5, 2017 Plant Update: Planting and Transplanting- (for previous post, click here.

I had a pot full of unplanted avocado pits and mango seeds. 

Before

After

20 new avocado pits and 3 mango seeds planted. 4 avocado seedlings transplanted into the big pots. I need more pots and potting soil. I have 5 or 6 more avocados and 2 or 3 mangos ready to go in the bigger pots. Also, I seriously need to build a little greenhouse soon!

These are my indoor (for now) plants: 1 avocado pit that was sprouting in the avocado, 1 mango that I thought I'd try sprouting in a bag again (not going well... I had 3, had to toss 2, and the third isn't looking well... straight to dirt is better), and 1 new pineapple.

This little guy was cracking and sprouting already when I opened the avocado. I didn't have the time to put him straight in dirt, so I put him in some water. I'll be doing that soon.

Halloween 2017- My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Twilight Sparkle, "Pony Up"

So I made a deal with my 6 year old (she was 5 at the time, I think); that every other year I would make her costume, alternating with buying one. This year I get to make it. I was excited because I think my Ice Dragon costume turned out so cool. That was Halloween 2015, right after we moved to Texas. I need more experience, to be sure. I don't get to sew much, but I love creating stuff! (Which reminds me that I need to get a picture from my sister-in-law of my first-ever jean quilt I made for my niece.)

This year, my girl decided she wanted to be Princess Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony Equestria Girls, when she "ponies up." If you have a young child, you may have an idea of what I'm talking about. It has been a pain in the ass to try and find tutorials to help me with each piece off the costume. I found a lot of ideas on Pinterest. Though, mostly, I just had to "wing it." But, damn, I'm pretty proud of what I've done!

I took the girl to Joann's so she could pick out the fabrics for her costume. I've tried to keep her involved as much as I could. But, honestly, how much can a 6-year-old REALLY help?

Question: Do you ever get into a project and think that it probably would have been cheaper to just buy the thing (costume), instead of making it? After supplies and time? I'm almost positive it would have been cheaper to buy the stupid thing! But I'm having fun.

I kept having ideas and stuff, just to have my daughter have her own ideas of how she wanted things done. Perfect example is what the skirt was made out of: shiny, stretchy crap and shiny, super thin, non- flexible crap that has been just a nightmare to work with! Especially for a box pleated skirt that is supposed to have the pleats line up well enough for a divided applique. I'm pretty sure the type of fabric also has been the cause of some really irritating, time-consuming sewing machine issues. REALLY irritating!

I have been able to learn a lot this sewing go-'round. I've practically read the entirety of my sewing machine's manual. Also, I got to try some new sewing/craft supplies, which added to the overall cost, as well. And I've learned, the hard way, that if you plan on using a stitch which, by nature of the stitch, is incredibly difficult to remove once sewn, you need to double and triple check that shit to make sure you're sewing the pieces together the RIGHT WAY! I had to painstakingly pull entire seams several times.

Another thing I picked up is that I should probably learn how to read fabric patterns and learn the sewing/crafting lingo. That may have helped a bit. And lastly, just like woodworking, "measure twice, cut once!" This costume will grow with her still, but it's a little more snug than I was hoping for.

Alright. Below is my project. I apologize for it being kinda heavy with pictures. I'm new to the whole blogging thing and I didn't know if anyone would find this interesting. I don't do videos (...yet?), but I seem to always appreciate other blogs that have a lot of information to help me out (kinda like this one). Also, I (and my hubby) tend to forget to take pictures of something until a lot later than I should have thought of it. It's made for a few lost memories of cool things. As you can see, I'm trying to get better at this. If you have questions, I'll try to get to them. But no promises. I'm just being honest. That is, if anyone actually finds this blog and thinks I did well enough that I could maybe, possibly help them...

Enjoy!