unfinished business

I work hard and I enjoy all the things I do but I do miss the feeling of a job well done at the end of a project. I was feeling pretty down on myself about never finishing anything since my projects tend to take months to years to complete, or other things, like dishes and laundry will never be done.

I was at work one day and this idea hit me. It wouldn't leave me alone. So I had this idea that this project I had in mind could be something I could finish in one weekend...and that was something I was sorely needing right then. A few days later, I bought the foam board. I didn't know exactly how I was going to execute it but I just knew it was doable. I was wrong, however.

I wasn't going to blog about this until I was finished but Sheri suggested that I do so here is what I have so far. It measures approximately 39" x 23".

I had this picture open on my computer screen and was working on the dining table directly in front of the computer. This is one of my favorite pics. :o)

I drew the dogs freehand onto the foam board. I finished Bear, Jack and Tucker before I realized I didn't have enough room for Jack. I had to erase them and start all over again.

Once all the drawing was done, I started cutting with an xacto knife. I'm very good with an exacto knife on card stock but I've never cut foam board before...I'm not as good. Oh well...I say it gives it character.

Now, it' all cut out. I bent Tucker's leg (on the board) in the proccess. Oh well...more character?

I was actually feeling pretty good about my progress and I had to clean up to go to a bbq Adam was at. I was going to stop by Home Depot to get some wood trim and Hobby Lobby to get some burlap...both are for this project.

I bought the burlap but I didn't know the dimensions of the frame I needed to build yet so I didn't get the trim. So, another project not finished. It took me a few days to get over this failure. I will still finish it when I have the money to buy the trim. There are a few more steps I can work on before I need the trim anyway but haven't had the opportunity to work on that in the last 3 weeks.

So, after I go over not finishing it and was able to take pride in the bit that I did finish, I wanted to get some pictures with it. Tucker, my ever present buddy, wanted to be with me. As soon as I held the picture up, he distracted me by looking cute and offering his paw to shake. It wasn't the picture I was after but I like it better than whatever I would have gotten. :o)

When it's finished, it will go above the bay window. It has always bugged me a bit to have such a large space empty...not that the other walls are full of things...that's one of those other projects I'll get to someday, rehanging pictures. I hung the pictures once already in this house so it doesn't excite me to have to do it again.

So, true to the way I work, I distracted myself from my work at hand before I got around to cutting it out. I had this overwhelming urge to decorate my desk. I couldn't stop myself. I must have ADD. I have a growing collection of crocks. Some of them were tucked under my desk and others were hidden in the basement. I played around with arrangements and finally decided on this...

The box is a woodens hipping crate. The table toppers are from thrift stores. The large crock with the wooden lid was given to me by a friend back when I only had the butter churn. The churn and small drink crock on the desk are from thrift stores. The lidless crock was one of three I bought from craigslist.

Besides the small crock, on my desk is also a vase that really reminds me of arts and crafts and an oil lamp. They both came from thrift stores. The stuff in the vase are the seed heads from my fern garden.

Not my dream way to display them but it will do until I figure out something better. Besides, this isn't even all of it. I have another (larger) drink crock, a couple pitchers, a plate, a bowl, a vase and a few small crocks with no lids. I'd really love to be able to display them all together.