Beyond The Picket Fence: Cabinet First Aid

I love this Blog!!!  I was actually looking at the cabinet she built to go under the first aid cabinet.  Such a simple design, cute and functional.  I think I could actually make this one!  Enjoy!

New Craft Pictures

I guess it's about time for me to show off some of my crafts!  I'm not making as many of the funny barn wood signs, but all sorts of cute stuff out of barbed wire.

This is a large personalized wall or door sign.

These are a huge hit.  These are 15" and I make them 20" also.

A lot of my items start from a request of a customer for something different.

Spring Break Houston Livestock Show

Spring break Houston Livestock Show was fantastic!!!  As expected, the pig gets sick a week before the show and drops 15 pounds.  We get him recovered and were lucky that his weight was at the maximum for the medium weight class.  Houston is filled with sift after sift, but Brady (my 3rd son) was waved straight to the ring with his pig.  The cheers rang out through the barn from friends and teachers who were also there.  They place ten, he was either 11th or 12th which is awesome.  The reason he didn't place higher?  One of the judges noticed the pig would swing a leg differently every once in a while.  That is how competitive this huge show is.  This is Brady's first year to breed, raise, and show his own pigs and he did VERY well in two major shows with two of those pigs in spite of all the obstacles he had to overcome.   We were tickled pink!!!!  Now, we start all over again.

Venues for Buying and Selling Crafts Online Comparison

I was just searching the internet to see if there might be another website other than Ebay to sell my crafts.  I found this great website I thought I'd share with everyone!  It's called Craftdom and not only has a detailed list of venues, but all sorts of other informative craft news and tips.

The Hazards of Working with Power Tools

I've had a couple of unfortunate accidents in the last few months!!  In November, I hit a hard knot with the circular saw and the saw "lurched" back so hard I couldn't control it.  It went right across my left hand that was holding the board.  The Dr. stitched it up so well, you can't tell at all and he actually extended my lifeline.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a  brand new table saw!  The wind was blowing extremely hard, and the guard flipped up and didn't come back down.  Just turning to push the OFF switch and the wind caught me and the very tip of my ring finger on my left hand went right under the guard.  I'm not including a picture of that one because it was just gross looking.  I don't know how, but it heeled up fairly well too.  I'll have to send the ER doctor a really nice Thank You card!

I didn't post this to gross everybody out.  JUST BE CAREFUL!, especially if you are unfamiliar with a power tool.  I was following all the safety rules and still had two potentially life changing accidents.  They say not to wear gloves when you are working with power tools, but that is exactly what kept these cuts from being MUCH worse.  They are leather and I get the child sized large gloves so that they really fit.

Livestock Show 2013

The County Livestock Show went REALLY well this year!!  I'm so proud of my 15 year old who is breeding and raising his own show pigs.  One of his pigs won Reserve Champion of the breed and brought over $1000 dollars at auction!!! He was soooo excited because he'd been diligently saving for a truck and that put him over the top.
They took one pig to San Antonio for a show and one day before they left, the pig got sick and lost over 15 lbs. Guess what the judge whispered in my sons ear as they cut his pig from the ring.  The pig's composition was great, her just needed some more mass (weight).  That was disappointing, but he got quite of bit of interest from people wanting to buy from next years litter.  One more show to go.  We're going to Houston in March.