Love My Dremel

So, I'm getting lots of questions about my Dremel [another lovely surprise from Ryan when I mentioned I needed a dremel for a project].  So glad you are interested in dremelling.  We have my dad to thank.  He made his first lamp [similar to the one below] entirely with an electric drill, you know, when my mom mentioned they needed a lamp [can you imagine carving with a drill?].  I'll make you one, was his reponse.  And he did.  He has since upgraded to using a dremel.

This is the lamp of his I have to keep me company for my evening projects and reading.  Her name is Aunt Bee.  My dad loves a good play on words.

  Anyway, back to the dremel.  This is what I use.  It is a rotary dremel, not just oscillating.  

I've since thrown the packaging away for the tip I most frequently use for wood, but here is a close-up shot.  You can, of course, get many different sizes, depending how thick of a script you are going for.

I'm by no means an expert, but hopefully this might help you dive into your own dremel diversions.

Beehive do.

Quilting Bee.

Clever, eh?
I use her mini quilt as a make-do pin cushion on occasion, though this doesn't please Ryan when he goes to turn off the light and ends up with porcupine pricks.

Hair Frill Fix and Fix

My 5 girls inherited my kind of curly hair.  This means curly locks one day, 5 heads of unruly hair the next.  None of this wake up and go business for us.  This also means the hair accessories are abundant--mainly the ribbons.  I've tried having one big box of ribbons: nightmare when looking for that exact shade of jade green that you know you have somewhere in the salad of ribbons.  I've tried the cork board with ribbons pinned up according to color: yeah, right.  Which baby dill is going to hang their ribbon up after they've worn it on the appropriate pin?  Below is a hybrid of both methods:  disaster.  I'm embarrassed just looking at it.  Please scroll by it quickly and don't notice the big glob of toothpaste dripping down the side of the cupboard. 

I found these at IKEA, two sets of drawers.

I left the drawers in, did a coat of white spray paint,

engraved colors (or item) on each one and corresponded the paint 

of the script with the contents

I haven't decided yet if I'll use silver on: 

clip, stretch, brush, but I kind of like the subtle white of the bottom drawers

Order is restored in the baby dill bathroom.

Now, on to the rest of the world.

Personalized Garden Markers

Do you ever get that feeling as you're doing something that you shouldn't do it?  I'm not talking about breaking the law or telling lies, I'm talking about a fleeting thought that hardly stays long enough to make an impression in your mind.  When I planted my garden a couple months ago, I bought those plastic white garden markers and had the thought, "You shouldn't get these, even though it's your only choice here," but picked them up anyway, not wanting to make another stop.  Fast forward a few weeks.  I go outside to check on the garden and am pleased to see several things sprouting.  I check the markers to see what I had put where.  You'd think I had used disappearing ink!!!  Permanent marker gone.

So, I [of course] complicated the solution and came up with these.  

Materials:

Sheet Metal

Tin snips

*Patina

disposable sponge/brush

plastic gloves

Steel wool [not shown]

*patina is a chemical that reacts with the metal changing the color--it is not just a paint

Clean sheet metal with steel wool, followed by soap and water.

Apply patina, wearing protective gloves.  Do not let patina touch your skin!

Wash sheet metal with soap and water--some of the black will wash off.

Draw lines 1'' apart, cut using tin snips

Round corners if desired

i thought these scraps were beautiful

etch the vegetables/herbs/fruits you are growing with a dremmel (everyone should own one)

VOILA!!

and even though I'm not even growing any, I had to make this one

safety first: don't mess with a woman in goggles.

The Hooks?

Originally I put the hooks directly into the wall.  They were ripped out shortly after a few days of school loaded backpacks.  I had a friend with tools (we all need friends with tools, don't we?) route the edges of a plank board and I used my dremel to carve their names and painted the interiors.  This keeps us semi-organized with coats and backpacks in the same spot (located in the kitchen).