Best Laid Plans

 I know one thing about myself-I work better when I am working off of a list. If I am working off of a list I seem to be more diligent about getting everything done. And so, after a week of appointments and errands and not a lot of just full on down time, I made my list for today. And, even though it was going to be HOT, all of the things on the list were outside chores. I figured when I got hot I would just hop in the pool for a few minutes to cool off. And that was how my Friday was ending...until the phone rang and it was my son-in-law. I knew my daughter and grandson #2 were once again up in Maryland for a lacrosse tournament but I didn't know that grand daughter #5 also had a tournament in St. Augustine. And, my son-in-law was calling to see if the digs could come spend the weekend with me. I love those dogs so that was a no-brainer and by the time I turned around they were here!

I have no problem with that except that my list would now have to get shelved again. It is nearly impossible to work outside when the puppers are visiting. It is actually too hot for them to be out for an extended period of time but if I try to leave them in the house, they will bark until I give in. If I were to have them out with me, Bruno (the labradoodle) will either play with my rake, hose, etc. or he will head to other areas of my yard where I can't see what he is up to and he can find trouble anywhere he looks. Lol

And so, it was just easier to scrap my plans and try to make new ones. I don't have any more autumn ideas just yet so I decided to make the Christmas image I had on hand. It was too small for the canvases I had so fortunately, I had 2 small pieces of wood from the $Tree. No matter how I laid out the image, the wood would need to be cut and then made into a pallet. Out came my trusty friend, the miter saw, and I got busy.

Because the wood is so thin I could get away with just using wide popsicle sticks to put the two pieces together. I usually use wood glue and nails but this time I could get away with the wood glue and a bit of hot glue to give it an immediate hold until the wood glue dried. Then, I painted it with a layer of Waverly antique wax, hit it with some green and red and then painted over all of it with an off white.

While this was drying I water ripped the edges of the image and then decided that I didn't want this to be yet another "shelf leaner" so I got out a candle holder from my stash and painted it with cream and then distressed it. I also made a "messy" bow with cream colored silk ribbon and found some greenery and red pip berries. At this point I wasn't sure where I was going but I thought this might work out.

And, it looks like it was at this point that I stopped taking pictures. I sanded the board a bit to reveal just a little of the red and green. Then I ModPodged on the image and distressed the edges. I pushed a bit of floral foam in the opening on the candle holder and glued two short pieces of dowel onto the bottom of the back of the pallet. I stuck the dowels into the foam and glued on the bow, greenery and pip berries. I like how it turned out and I'm excited to see where it will find a home.

And so after all of that and taking the puppers out a number of times and then cleaning up, the day is pretty much done and I am headed to sit down and think about dinner. I don't know what tomorrow will bring because I don't have a list. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.