Australian Cruise

Australian Cruise
Our first full day in Australia, 2012, on a Freemantle beach.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Dried Leaf Stationary

My friend, Beverly, makes this very cute craft that her mom taught her when she was a kid.  She wanted me to post it.  Absolutely!  Adorable!

Dried Leaf Stationary





Supplies:  envelope, paper for template and inside of card, dried leaves (flowers, construction paper cutouts, whatever you want to use), white water-base glue, soft paint brush, bowl, wax paper, cheap facial tissue,  paper-cutter or scissors, and rubber cement glue.





1.  Decide what size envelope you are going to use.  (Can't seem to get rid of this HUGE space!  Sorry!)


   2.  Cut a paper twice the size you want your finished stationary/card so that you can fold it, and use it as your template.  Draw a dark line down the crease where your stationary will fold.  (if your card is too big, it won’t fit easily in the envelope, and too small will look funny.)


  3.  Choose your pressed/dried leaves that you wish to use.  (you can buy them at a craft store or make your own ahead of time by doing the following:

Pick unique leaves, place a single layer of them in newspaper, place a book or heavy object on top to press it.  Repeat until all the leaves are pressed.  Wait 6 weeks until the leaves are thoroughly dry. )

  4.  Using your white glue (I use Elmers, but any brand should work) and soft-bristled paint brush (I get mine out of the kids water-color kit), mix together some glue with some water in a bowl.  I use about 2/3 glue and 1/3 water.  (It needs to be runny enough to spread, but glue-y enough to hold everything together when it dries).


  5.  Lay your template on your work surface.  It is a good idea to label which side is the outside front and outside back of your stationary for easier leaf placement later.



  6.  Cut a piece of wax paper and place it over your template.  If it tends to roll up, place something on the edges to hold it down.



  7.  Place your desired leaves on the wax paper in the desired location.  I prefer just to have mine on the front, but you can also have them on the back.


 8.  Take a piece of tissue paper, and pull the 2-ply piece into two separate 1-ply pieces.

 9.  Use one 1-ply tissue and place it on the leaves and wax paper (the template is still underneath the wax paper). 


  10.  Using the soft brush, VERY gently spread glue-mixture on the tissue.  It is best to “dab” (up and down) the glue-mixture on rather than “brushing” (sideways) it on.  I start on the leaves so it holds them in place better.  You want the tissue to be thoroughly wet so it adheres to the leaves and wax paper.  Do not use so much that it puddles up. 


  11.  Continue spreading the glue-mixture.  This process takes time and patience, it usually takes me about 5-7 minutes, so if this is your first time, make sure you allow plenty of time for this.  If you happen to tear the tissue, gently and carefully push the torn edges back together.

  12.  Continue with the glue-mixture until you have covered the entire area of the template.  Remove the template and set the project aside to dry.


13.  It takes about 4 hours to thoroughly dry.  The glue is slightly flexible, but if you bend it too much, it will crack or start separating apart.  It is best not to stress it too much.

14.  When it is dry, it can be ironed between clean paper to make it flatter, or just leave “as is” as I usually do.  Then, cut it to your desired size.  You can use your template as a guide.

  15.  Fold it in half so that your design is on the front.

  16.  Cut and fold a plain white paper so that it is just a tiny bit smaller than the stationary.

  17.  Write a note/letter, then using rubber cement, glue in the paper (if you glue it in first, writing on it will be bumpy).  It looks best to glue the back, then just a little on each front corner to hold it in place.
    

18.  All finished!




Sunday, July 27, 2014

Railings, and DONE!

Life has been kind of crazy the last few weeks (I did can 75 pints of apricot pineapple jelly, for instance), so even though work has been going on on the deck, I haven't gotten the pictures posted.  And now it's done!!  Yippee!!

Well, there is one post cap that was warped, and I have to take it back and get a replacement.  But that just has to wait for another day.

Once the stairs were up, we could walk up and down, but it was a bit nerve racking, since there were no railings.  So we didn't do it much.  It was very nice to have the back door available, though!

So the first thing to do was put in the posts.  What a pain.  There is a steel post, then the vinyl sleeve that goes over it.  You have to put down the steel support, then attach the post, then put on the sleeve to make it pretty.  But they got done! 
 
The metal support under the post.


Railings done on the stairs.




That was one day's work.

Next came the railings.   We did the railings on the deck one day, then another day we did the stairs.


First railing section done on the deck!
All the deck railings finished!
The stairs were a bit tricky.  We didn't get them perfect, BUT unless you are looking for it, the imperfections are not noticeable. 

Here's the railing support for the stairs.

One section done, one to go!










All done!  Doesn't it look great!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Stairs!

We worked a little bit on Monday and 4 hours today, and now we have stairs!  They aren't completely finished, as we are going to put Trex on top.  But they are all bolted together and onto the deck. Secure!  It's kind of creepy walking up and down them, though, as there are no hand rails.  Eeek.


All the treads on, but upside down so we can put supports under the top stair.
All ready to put into place to measure the header.
All the supports in place!  Just needs some railing and the Trex.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Decking on!

Jacob and John got all the decking on yesterday!  It was quite a chore, and John was glad to have Jacob's help.  Here are some shots:
Here, they've laid the boards down to just see how they fit. But you can now stand up on the deck!

You can see how long the boards were before they cut them off!

Finally getting rid of the last piece of the old porch.  They couldn't put in the last board with this in the way.

Wahoo!  All the decking is on and secured!  Looking good!

Monday, June 23, 2014

A little bit more done...

John had to work on Saturday, our normal "building" day, but he did take the day off today, and worked on the deck for a while. Like 4 hours.  Then that was enough!

It may not seem like a lot, but the things he did today (with a little of my help), was: hang the rest of the joist hangers, hang the joists, screw the ends of the joists into the side supports, and bolt everything down!  Everything took time!  And there were lots of bolts!

Looking good!
View from above.  John's just finishing putting in the bolts on the bottom.

View from below.  Looking so good!





Lots and lots of bolts, and top and bottom and on the sides.



There are a total of 16 joists and hangers.  Not huge, but just right for us.




Monday, June 16, 2014

Building begins!

We were very grateful to Thomas and Jacob who came over and helped on Saturday.  This was the 2nd time we NEEDED help!  Probably the last time we'll actually need it, but help is always appreciated.  Especially when it lets me relax and do other things!

We got the supports and the deck frame in, as well as started putting in the joists.  We have half of the joist hangers up, and one joist.  But then it was time to quit, so we did!

Leveling the frame.

Don't you love the ladder holding one side up?  We did it this way so we could measure the needed heights of the supports.
Securing to house.
Securing posts.  Notice the hanging "flags"?  This is trying to prevent John from hitting his head, since he'd already done it 4 times.
Yeah!  It's strong!

Oops!  Forgot to cut this old support to size before we attached the joist!
Finished for the day!  Looking good!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Demolition continues...

Thomas and I got out there this morning and took down the headers, the stair beams and the decking.  Looked pretty naked!
 After John got home and we ate lunch, John and I went out there and continued.  There were two bolts that were coming up from the cement that had been supporting the stair posts.  John cut them down to size.

Then we measured and cut the headers going into the house, pre-hung them for "good measure", drilled a few bolt holes, as well, then took them down.  The top is going to be pre-built, then we'll hang it on the house and measure the posts while it is up. (Supported by ladders, people, etc.)  Since the post holes are at different levels, that's the way it is going to be done.

Here's the first cut:


Here's what the side of the house looks like now:

 Here's the "outline" of our deck, just waiting to be put up!

Next week's goal: hang this, put the posts in, and hang the joists.