The "I Can Make That! Part 2" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was up to no good again. We had returned from Annapolis yesterday where we had been for the weekend. Love looking in all the shops that are near the waterfront in the city. We saw a really neat book shelf that was shaped like like a rowboat and sat on the floor. Carol said she like it, but she didn't want anything that was on the floor like that. If they had one that fastened to the wall she would REALLY like it. So, I told her I can make that! It used to be in our family room, but now occupies the space next to me in my office. It is attached to the wall and stands over five feet tall. Holds all my Caribbean Travel and Life magazines, my Islands magazines, my photo CD album as well as family history in photos. About three feet wide and has 5 shelves. The fish net and buoy draped across the top give it the beachey look. All I need yet is an oar! Hey, wait a minute. I have one of those on the front porch which I can sit next to it. Will have to do that today. When we moved into this house in the late 90s I made a toilet paper fish for our guest bathroom. Sits on the floor and the legs of the small stool hold a roll of toilet paper. Bright colors make it really stand out. Carol saw something like it in a catalogue so ........ I made it. Same thing for the bench and chair that I made. Ideas came from a catalogue! The bench sits inside the front door while the chair is in one of the guest bedrooms. Add that touch that make you feel like you are on vacation. On Carol's dresser sits a light that has a lampshade that looks like a beach umbrella. The bottom is a beach chair. I must admit I didn't make the beach chair. That was purchased at a gift shop and sat on an end table for a year or two and then was stuck in a cabinet when we found something better to occupy the space. Found it one day and decided I could use it to make a lamp for Carol. One time we visited Alexandria, VA at Christmas to see the boat parade and while there we visited the Torpedo Factory which is an old large warehouse that was converted into small shops for artists to display and demonstrate their talents. Saw this really neat idea in one shop and came home and made the same thing. The artist metal bottle caps, the kind you find on beer bottles, and painted VERY SMALL pictures in them. Put them into a grouping and framed them. I did the same, only with small photos from our cruise we had taken the yea before. Turned out so neat I made one for our daughter Brynn and our son Derek which held family photos. Now, they are real conversation pieces. Many thanks and an apology to the artist for her clever idea. Carol told me she needed a light over the sink in our kitchen so I put a light up and it looked too harsh so I designed a cover for it which duplicates the stained glass light in our dining room which we purchased at the shore. Looks exactly like it. I work at a frame shop for a guy I has as a student in high school and get to so many unusual framing and matting jobs. When work is slow he gives me the freedom to design items that would sell in his gallery. One of those items was shadow box that featured cutouts for 4"x6" photos with the word seashore cutout under it that would accommodate seashells. Turned out so neat that I made one for myself. Another item is using an entire photo as both the photo and the mat. Really adds some depth to the photo. I have quite a few of these hanging in my house, but the largest is over our fireplace in the family room where I made a 40"x16" photo of one of our favorite beaches in the Caribbean. Many other ideas that I started either found their way to the trash can or only got as far at the tip of my fingers. I love to add some creativity to my life with the items that I make. Hopefully they add some color to the life of others along the way. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.