Wood Workers

Recently I was contemplating buying a cricut cutting machine. I got it into my head to make some seasonal letter blocking after I realized I didn't have any spring decor. My friend Kristi offered to lend me her cricut to see if I liked it. I am so glad I didn't buy one! After trying to scrap the vinyl off of the sticky pad without ruining it, and having to reprint a few letters because the "material saver" button didn't work like I thought it would, I was very frustrated! Not to mention the cost of vinyl and cartridges just isn't worth it to me! That being said, I am still very happy with my blocks!

Ryan was nice enough to cut the wood for me, but I should have thought to have him run the wood through the plainer first. The natural woodgrain often caused my paper to bubble and I had to re-do a few of them.

I think my favorite letter is the "a" in "Fall". You can't see it in the picture but it has a spider crawling down.

The bigger project finally done at our house is Andrea's playset. I've been begging Ryan to get this done, simply because I hate being asked to go to the park everyday (now I'm just asked to go in the back yard everyday). Originally Ryan wanted to design it and build it himself but we found this set at Walmart that was much more cost effective. We had set aside some of our tax refund just for this purpose, so even with all of Andrea's medical expenses lately, we could still afford it.

Andrea does well with climbing up the ladder and going down the slide but she still likes me to hold her hand so she doesn't go to fast, and of course, I have to push her on the swing. Hopefully one day she will go play by herself, but not quite yet.

I love the little playhouse in the bottom, and it also has a picnic bench on the backside. This was probably the first project in a long time that didn't cause marital problems for Ryan and I. We worked very well together, I would read the instructions and hand him what he needed. I just hope it holds up to the weather, and we need to figure out how it's going to work with mowing and watering the lawn, but that will come.