If you are a writer, or even if you’re not, taking a break from your everyday work schedule, once in a while, is a good thing. For me, my break is making something that is not written on paper… Cover letters, Bio’s, submissions and most often, rejections can wear on my soul. Nothing helps my anxiety, or soothes my mind better than working with my hands. Sitting at the table with a project is the most relaxing thing I have found and I try to take on a new one every few months. Painting on rocks is something I can do inside, on rainy days. These are just a few of what I have done:
The last set of stones, shown here, I made for my grandson. It’s part of a bigger project that was a blast! He has had hours of fun playing in his special in-the-garden play area.
And of course, he wanted one for his own house, so I immediately began another. This time, he chose Peppa Pig and dinosaurs as his theme.
And by no stretch of the imagination could anyone consider me a talented painter. I have zero imagination when it comes to drawing. Usually, I have to look at a picture and that’s what I did for these. Painting on rocks is difficult, so I use the fantastic marker paints. However, I found with those, the paint does not weather well. I had to re-do them with weather proof paint after the first season.
My grandson also needed a couple of step stools so he could brush his teeth all by himself. I made one for my house and one for his. For this project, I needed a bit of help from my husband.
Every time he gets up on these stairs, he traces over each character with his chubby little finger and recites each character. He loves these steps and it makes me so happy!
He and Sassafras love the ones at my house!
A much bigger project that I’m proud to say I did on my own, was a walk way to my favorite shed. This was not an original idea, but one I found on the internet. It was something I could sit down to do, and it was required as each of the flowers in the path were hand created. It took days to build but I’m happy with how it came out.
I used a special stone dust that has glue in it to keep the stones in place. Admittedly, a few still get kicked around and so I find myself trying to fit them back in like a puzzle.
Another thing I’ll show you was something I also saw on the internet. My kids were visiting and wanted to do a project. All I had for raw materials was a couple of old pallets and a busted up water bed. We looked it up and came up with this:
A pool bar! My most favorite thing! And to think we made it from pallets! Crazy!
This adult sized sit and spin was a Christmas gift for my grown daughter. She had always wanted one as a child and for one reason or another, didn’t get one. I made this last year with the help of my husband and let me tell you….it’s so much fun! We have all played with it numerous times. I’d show you a picture of her on it, but she would be mad! We made it with pre-cut pine rounds(Lowe’s) and a lazy Susan that I bought for $11.00 on Amazon.
Not all projects need to be so time consuming. Some are just thrown together when the holiday or season calls for something creative. I did this from something else I saw. Next Halloween I’m going to do it a little differently, as the full size flower clumps are hard to stuff into the buckets.
So that is just some of what I have been up to besides writing. I would love to know if you also find the time to make things! I would love to see and hear about your hobbies.
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