Getting crafty

We've been rather crafty around here lately.  

No, I don't mean "clever at achieving one's aims by indirect or deceitful methods" but instead in I mean "of, involving, or relating to the making of decorative objects and other thing by hand."

Yup, our hands have been crafty.

Anyway, to start things off, we have two chess sets made by Josh's grandmother which are ceramic and lovely but have been sitting in a couple of boxes because #1 our children were small and likely to break them and #2 we didn't have chess board large enough to accommodate the pieces.

Well, Gavin decided to get his craft on by making an appropriately sized chess board.  He scavenged a lonely piece of wood from the scraps in the shed, measured the chess pieces, carefully laid out the lines, cut the board to size (thanks for the help Josh) and then painted the squares.  He did the project almost entirely on his own (busy little beaver, that child).  

  

And now, our children have started playing chess pretty regularly at the living room table.  

FYI, it's pretty fabulous to watch and 7 and 9 year old battle it out on a chess board...and actually know what they are doing.  I think almost everyone in this house could wallop me at this game.  Smarty pantses (??).

Next, our living room window has had a set of vertical blinds hanging over it since the day we moved in.  I have hated said vertical blinds since the day we moved in.  They were old and worn and stained and ugly and lots of other nasty stuff.  

Obviously I have been uber motivated to change that window covering since it is now only 12 years later and I finally got around to tearing the ugly things off the wall and then installing something new.  (I probably might not have done it even now but several of the hanging plastic strips have been cracked and broken lately so action had to be taken).  Hence,  I schlepped to the Walmart fabric counter, meandered my way through the clearance fabrics and clipped, stitched, ironed, hemmed, and hung these babies.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  

But, without question, my favorite bit of craftiness that has happened around here lately has been the tray that Josh built for his Dad.  

Josh's dad had a stroke last year so life has been a bit different for him since then.  One struggle has been eating.  It is hard for Dad balance in a kitchen chair so he takes most meals in his trusty recliner.  However, regular dinner trays are a little precarious when placed over his lap on the chair.

So, Josh set about making a tray that would be more snug and stable on the chair to make eating easier for his dad.

Josh took a bunch of measurements, bought some wood and set to work.  He cut things out and then he and Gavin sanded the pieces and he and Parker put it all together.  Bryce and Aubrey decided on ways to decorate the tray and then I stained and varnished the finished product.  It turned out to be fun for the whole family.  Everyone was involved, although Josh really did the bulk of the planning and labor.

And viola!  A tray that will hopefully fit the bill.  I love it.  I hope it does a good job.  We will see.  What a great chance to try to do something to help our dad and grandpa when he has done so much for us all these years.  It was a fabulous project.