dremel - I'm Topsy Turvy

Pinewood Derby Green Alligator Car

September 18, 2011 7 Comments

I’ve been meaning to post this for months! Computer Boy’s first Pinewood Derby! I think I was more excited than he was. Of course it’s the ONLY scouting event I’ve been at all excited for! I know for most families it’s a father son project. But here in our house it’s a Mom and Son project! My husband hates small detailed work. Where I LOVE working with my hands, tools and small detailed work. So I got to do it with him.

We started by having his draw his design out. Now I know that the way to win is with a sleek thin design, but I really wanted it to be ALL him, do design and create every aspect of his car. So I told him to draw ANYTHING he wanted and I’d cut it out.

I didn’t think it would be quite so detailed or so difficult to cut out! Check out the spikes, and the swirls, and eyes. My first thought was “okay, how am I going to pull this one off?”

Now I have a lot of tools, but not EVERY tool. So for this I used my new Jig Saw. I know there are other tools better suited for this, but I don’t have those. I don’t have a garage so if I can get away with a smaller hand held version I will. (remember this is back in May, I was only 17 weeks along at this point)

Overall I think the basic shape worked out pretty close to what he had wanted! I even got the spikes. Next I took my hand held rotary tool (A Dremel or a Black and Decker work great.). I finally got to use my Dremel flex shaft (that I got for Christmas) for this project. AMAZING, it was so much easier to work with the smaller grip. I used the rotary tool to cut into the wood to create the swirls, and to go through the “window eyes” to create a hole all the way through.

He loved it! He was SO happy I was able to create a “window” for him too (since I initially told him I didn’t think I could.). Then we had Computer boy sand it down and paint his first layer, the next day his second coat and ten the eyes.

You can see that difference between the pre-bought shapes, the ones a dad did most the work on and the older boys cars. But I’m very proud of Computer boy doing so much himself! He’s more like his dad and doesn’t necessarily LIKE working with his hands on small stuff, but he did a great job.

He was pretty upset when he didn’t win for best looking car, but in the end I think he had a great night! Afterwards he sold his car (for some tokens) to The Destroying Angel, and she’s loved it and played with it ever since!

Filed Under: dremel, family, kids, parenting, tools

My new (and old) toys need names!

April 26, 2011 38 Comments

Help! Growing up we named everything, every car we had (we went through a few: Bambi, The Boat, etc.. the ACTUAL boat was named Jaws!) had names! My sisters and I loved to name things. Well my husband is more “boring” (read practical) and thinks my naming obsession is silly. SO I haven’t named anything in years. My Tattoo and my pillow (pre-husband) both have names (Sam and Ted). My minivan is almost 7 and still doesn’t have a name (so SO sad) and neither do any of my tools and appliances. Well I’m finding the fun and joy in what I do again (I’ve been a bit stressed and focusing on things that aren’t FUN for me). SO it’s time to have some fun:

So I decided to ask for your help! This time around I need your input on names, then I’ll narrow it down to favorites (maybe adding some of my own) and we’ll have a bunch of Polls! AND I’ll send out prizes to whoever FIRST came up with the names that end up winning…. Ohhh incentive (or bribery)! Your choice of one of my crochet flower ring, egg nest pendant, Ric Rack rosebud earrings or Ric Rack rose ring:

What needs names? (disclosure, I got almost all these images from google because I didn’t want to run all over like a crazy lady cleaning each spot just to get pictures from all over the place!)

2004 Silver Honda Odyssey (this Gal couldn’t have more miles if she tried, we’ve taken her cross country more times than I can count!)

OLD Sewing Machine (this one IS my picture- Girl- doesn’t even have a brand name on it, it was my Grandma’s, leaning towards Lucille, my Grandma’s middle name)

Hobbylock Serger (Girl- my MIL wasn’t using it so I borrowed it, and now she said I can keep it! LOVE!)

Sony Cyber Shot Camera (Not sure if this is a boy or girl yet- this is the one that Kim from Today’s Creative Blog sent me!)

Kindle (This one seems to be more boyish, but I could be persuaded with the RIGHT girls name)

Hand held Rotary tool (AKA Dremel- although mine is Black and Decker) (Girl- Not all tools are boys! This is one of my go-to easy-peasy tools, etching, drilling, carving, LOVE HER!)

Flip (Eeeek! I won this bad boy from Petite Elephants giveaway with Just Ask! LOOOOOVE it!, you will SO be seeing more vlogging, tutorials and personal from this one!)

Silhouette (That’s right, I gave up winning one and bought it, and all the accessories. SHE totally needs a name, something modern, sleek, maybe even sci fi… She’s pretty, modern, can do it all, and makes everything better- no we can’t name her after me… I’m totally going to pretty up all the rest of my toys with her)

Feeling extra Namey? Your in luck, I have a more toys.

(as in naming my tools is a bonus, no incentive, prizes or bribery for these boys): my tool collection- Boys for sure, they take up tones of space, don’t always work right, but are there when you need them:

Ridgid Miter Saw, Wagner Paint Crew Spray Gun, Husky Air Compressor

Hitachi Nail Gun, Skil Jig Saw, Workforce Wet Tile Saw

Black and Decker Drill, Black and Decker belt Sander (was my FIL, but I “borrowed” it, and since I do all the household handy work it’s kind of defaulted to me!)

So that’s it, those are my toys! Let’s here your names, and next week I’ll pick the finalists!

Filed Under: blog business, craft supplies, crafts, dremel, giveaway, home, me, pictures, silhouettes, tools

Dremel etching glass votive’s tutorial

October 26, 2010 24 Comments

Remember my glass votive’s from last week? Well enough people asked how I did it so I made some more and took pictures of it so I could give you a tutorial!

here is another picture from before, I made all these Calla Lily votive’s for a bridal shower I threw for my cousin 1 1/2 years ago. I used the same tutorial I’m about to show you. You can see that they are all very similar. Once you get started you can actually go pretty fast.

Okay, start with an image. Pick what you want to etch onto your votive and print it off. Mine measures about 5 inches by about 2 inches.

You want to cut it out and make a tube, put it inside the votive. now mine didn’t fit too good because the votive is angled. I actually ended up going back into Photoshop and angling my image (kind of like a cupcake wrapper) but I forgot to take another picture of it! That way it fit better into the votive.

Next I took a diamond drill bit and outlined the pumpkin. It’s easier to fill it in if you don’t have to deal with the image distortion through the glass so I just outlined. But if your doing a smaller image that doesn’t need to be outlined, like the calla lilies, it sometimes helps to close one eye. It helps the distortion from the rounded glass that way.

So once you take out the paper it leaves just the outline. Then I took out a larger diamond bit and filled in the pumpkin! It looks nice, huh? But it needs the rest of the pumpkins I think.

I put the paper back in, outlined ALL the rest of the pumpkins and filled them in. Isn’t it cute? Each head is different! I love how well it turned out. Each face is different too. It would also look good with just one head, larger, in the front.

I was inspired by all the amazing bat crafts out there. So I decided to try my hand at bats. I picked this image and planned on doing the whole thing (notice how well the image fits into the votive? That’s the cupcake-ish shape I mentioned before).

For this one I used the smaller diamond bit for the whole project. I ended up stopping before I did the image all the way around, I thought this actually looked really great in the end!

Filed Under: crafts, dremel, glass, tools, tutorial

Pinewood Derby Green Alligator Car

My new (and old) toys need names!

Dremel etching glass votive’s tutorial

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