Custom end table

I was inspired by Pinterest to make a custom end table for my dad's favorite plush leather armchair. He has to lean way forward to get his coffee or the remote from the low coffee table. This table is intended to be placed right up against the side of the armchair, with the top part hovering over the armrest. The bottom has a caddy for his magazines and such.

It's not perfectly made - the cuts are slightly crooked, and there are a couple of extra holes from placing screws incorrectly. But I'm a woodworking newbie so I'm proud of myself. I borrowed a circular saw from the Oakland Tool Lending Library to cut the pieces. Then I sanded the edges, assembled it, and painted with the recommended 3 coats of sealant.

2015 goal review, plan for 2016

My goals for 2015 were set at a pretty low bar. I attained all of them except for visiting 2 alpaca farms, but I intentionally put those on the back burner. I'd still love to have alpacas on my future homestead, but 1) it's a much lower priority compared to raising produce, chickens, and rabbits, which are all much easier to get into, and 2) I want to live in the Tri-Valley, which is probably too hot in the summer for alpacas to be happy, so I might need to give up on that idea.

Let's set goals for 2016 which are attainable, but will force me to stretch a bit more:

• Implement a new marketing strategy for my dog training business each quarter. (This will be a challenge!)
• Watch at least 24 hours' worth of dog training DVDs from my stack. (2 hours each month - doable, right??)
• Observe or help with chicken slaughter, to gain hands on experience.
• Practice sewing/crafting with rabbit hides. I have a small stack of prepped hides but haven't done anything with them yet.
• Learn more about fiber. Hopefully take a spinning class AND see about volunteering on someone's farm on alpaca shearing day.
• Sew up the 3 pattern and fabric sets that have been sitting in my closet for a year. I just finished up a 3 day, intensive pants class at Stonemountain and want to make multiple pairs of pants from my new personalized pattern.
• Generally speaking, set aside larger chunks of time for myself, particularly for sewing.
• Continue cooking, gardening, crocheting.

Jewelry making

I am writing this post in October, but scheduling it to show up after my family exchanges Christmas presents. This year, I was inspired to try my hand at jewelry making. The first step was spending two hours wandering back and forth in the jewelry and beading section of Michael's, and figuring out what the different tools and accessories were for. Second was picking out the colors and styles of beads I wanted to use. The third part, actually putting it all together, was surprisingly quick and easy.

Click on any picture to see it come up in a bigger size.

For my parents, I made three sets of magnetic wine charms:

And for my sister, I made a necklace in memorium of her beloved kitty, Sasha:

I was pleased to find a photo of Sasha in front of a window, making a glow around him that lends to the vintage feel of the brown pendant, beads, and leather strip. The beads match his orange tabby fur.

Memory jar

This would be filed under "make" rather than "grow":

1. Clean out jar.
2. Cover with scrapbooking paper and decorate.
3. Add slips of paper with descriptions of happy memories whenever the thought strikes you.