A Scrap Wood Valentine's Day Letter

Here's our next stash-busting scrap wood project. It's an easy craft, and you don't even need a laser if you buy the hearts instead of making them.

First, we found two similar pieces of wood, and then we put two coats of white craft paint on them, back and front.

  

When the paint was totally dry, we added an X from corner to corner with a black paint pen.

Next, we spray painted a piece of 3mm scrap plywood red and cut two hearts out of it with initials burned in. You could just write the initials on if you buy the hearts at a store.

All you have to do then is glue the hearts to the center of the X and give your envelope to your favorite valentine! If you do have a laser, or nice handwriting, you can also engrave the other side of the wood with a Valentine's message, and maybe a stamp.

 Good luck making awesome things with your scraps. Post a comment and let us know what you made.

Journaling for Health, History, and Fun

 You might not think you have time to keep a journal, but a journal can take many forms. Sure you can write a traditional day by day account of your life--which is great!--but there are ways you can tailor journaling to your needs to help with your health, record your history, and make other strides in your life.

So why should you journal you ask? 

Numerous sources, including the National Health Institute and the American Psychological Association, say journaling is a good way to relieve stress and anxiety, improve productivity and creativity, and even improve your relationships. Improved memory, a greater likelihood of accomplishing goals, and increasing your motivation are also on that feel-good list.

Adapt your journaling to your life.

Not everyone likes to write. Lean into your skills to decide on how you are going to keep your journal. Here are a few different ways you can try.

1. Indulge your wanderlust and keep a travel journal. You can write about places you want to go and sights you want to see or places you've already been. Include photos, postcards, mementos, tickets, anything you want, really. Or keep a video journal of the same things. 

2. Have an attitude of gratitude when you keep a gratitude journal. This can be as simple as a daily list, or you can go into more detail if you want. Gratitude journals can increase our joy in life.

3. Junk journaling is a good way to collect random thoughts, feelings, and items in one place. Junk journals can be as messy or as organized as you want to make them.

4. Scrapbooks are great for people who love to design. They take a lot of work, but it can be enjoyable. There are so many scrapbooking sites out there to help with either paper or electronic scrapbooking.

5. Food journals are a good way to keep track of your day. We all eat, right! You can record what you ate, write restaurant reviews, keep menus. The possibilities are all delicious. This type of journaling can encourage healthy eating too.

6. Do you like to read? Keep notes on the books you read in a book journal. If you like to read scriptures, keep a scripture journal. Just record your thoughts about what you are reading and how it affects you.

If these ideas don't work for you, find one that will. You could use an app on your phone, an old notebook, or a planner that you already use daily. Record your runs, your goals, your dreams, your frustrations, whatever you want. The health benefits are undeniable, so journal away!

Scrap Wood Sign Project

We've been working on busting our wood stash. Here's this week's project from the scrap pile.

We started with some lath scraps and an old art project. The paint couldn't be sanded off easily, so we created a new surface for a sign by wood gluing the lath to the painted side of the wood. We weighted the glued parts down well for a few hours to make sure they stuck.

We ended up with this nice, rustic blank to work with. 

After sanding and measuring the board, we put a light coat of white spray paint on it  and let it dry before designing our sign in LightBurn.

It only took about an hour to burn it in our X-Tool laser. The effect was interesting since the lath boards weren't exactly the same height, but we liked the look of it.

After that, we used a band saw to cut off any extra lath edges that were hanging over and sanded the sign.

And voila! More scrap wood projects will be coming up! Leave a comment if you have a question or email us at bisonandbobcat.gmail.com.

4 Ways to Discover Your Roots

No, we're not talking about those gray hairs. Or those weeds that keep popping up in your lawn. We're talking about your family!

Next Monday is National Roots Day. A day to look back on your ancestors, to share stories with family, and just gather to discover your family history. The holidays are a great opportunity to do this. We've compiled a a few ideas on how you can find and share your roots. Family trees and histories make great gifts.

1. Family Search

There are few apps you can use to record your family history. The most user friendly one we've found is FamilySearch or familysearch.org. Not only can you search for ancestors and keep track of them, you can also share what you find with others, make keepsakes, and store photos and stories all in one place. And the best part? It's free! Also try the sister app, FamilySearch Memories where you can do more creative projects to preserve your family history. These make great gifts.

Ancestry.com is another good site, but it's not 100% free.

2. All About Me

Have each family member fill out an "All About Me" sheet before a family gathering. You can compile them into a book or digital file as a gift to your family. Use the free download below as a starting point. You'll have so much to talk about when you get together.

3. Make a Time Capsule

Find a container that will last for a while and put items or letters in it that you can look at in 5 to 10 years. You don't need to bury it in the back yard, but put it somewhere out of the way, maybe with your Christmas decorations. When you open it, it will be a great present from the past.

Some good items to include are: a letter to your future self, photos, a printout of the day's big news stories, predictions for your future, a recording of your favorite song, and a selfie.

4. A Real Photo Album

Take the time to print out some of those digital photos and create an album or book that you can share with family members this Christmas. It doesn't have to be fancy or cost a lot. The point is to get people talking about experiences and memories. Services like Snapfish, make this super easy.

Good luck finding your roots and then sharing them with your family!

Laser Engraving a Christmas Countdown Calendar

So, in early November we had an idea. Why not try to make a Christmas countdown on our laser? It would be easy. We could post it on our Etsy shop and people might even want to buy it!

Well, first of all, it wasn't easy. And second of all, we never did get it right until it was too late to post it on our Etsy shop this year. No one wants to buy a countdown calendar after the countdown is supposed to have started.

We finally did get it right though, so look out for it next year! Here's the process we went through and what we ended up with. Hopefully it will be of help to you in your own maker process.

We started with the premise that we wanted something colorful and Christmassy and also easy to use. Then we asked ourselves, what could a laser calendar be that other calendars couldn't?

Our first iteration wasn't too bad. We spray painted the back board green, and the wood for the numbers white. The "Days Until" was burned in and the "Christmas" was cut out and super glued on. The problem with this was the green spray paint looked okay, but not great. Also, we cut the holes for the dowels at the top the wrong size so we had to shave the dowels down to make them fit. Gluing the "Christmas" on wasn't too hard, but it was a little finicky. Also, we loved the ornament we burned into the bottom center and thought that would be a good place for personalization.

The other issue was how we were going to get this guy to stand up. We tried one of the stands we use for some of our other products. Just slide the board into the stand. This was okay, but the sign just seemed too upright. We wanted it to lean a little. We also wanted storage for the hanging numbers.

Enter the box! Next we tried to make a box stand for the calendar. The box is one we already use for the dice towers we make. We just had to resize it.

Unfortunately, the problems with the box were numerous and varied. First of all, we used the wrong size plywood, so the box didn't fit together right. That error aside, it just didn't feel right.

It would be hard to package and ship. And even though it had storage for the numbers, it was just a little clunky. Add to that the too-slanted and too-big notch for the board, and this idea was a no-go. It also used a lot more wood than other versions, as you can see in the LightBurn screenshots below.

We had much more success with this stand that we use for some of the signs we sell. It's an easel-type stand that can pack flat and the tilt was just right for the calendar.

Another redesign later, we fit the whole calendar, sans stand, onto one sheet of 4mm plywood to reduce waste. We also ditched the color idea because we just couldn't get it to look good. (We even tried a vinyl backing that we burned into on one version.) Instead, we opted for a dark stain/light stain look that was more true to the products we normally make.

We also made all the words and the personalization coin separate cutouts to make them stand out more and be easier to glue on, and put guide lines on the backboard to help us to place the cutouts. The numbers went into a drawstring cotton bag for storage. Much simpler, and we already use those bags for another product we make (the Plan of Salvation set.)

Here is the whole thing fitting on one sheet of 4 mm 12x12" plywood. You can see from the LightBurn settings on the right, the numbers we used to burn and cut the project. It only takes about an hour on our 20 Watt X-Tool diode laser.

Just a few tweaks later, we came up with this beauty. It probably still needs some work, but it checks most of the boxes we wanted. It's easy to mail, customizable, fits on just one sheet of plywood, is quickly assembled, and is a good representation of our work. 

And now we'll have them ready for the Etsy shop for next Christmas!

Texas Proud

  The saying goes, "You don't just move into Texas, it moves into you," and that's definitely been true for our family. From our children saying y'all to our love for TexMex, we have settled here both physically and in our hearts. 

One thing we've learned about Texans is that they love their state. They put the shape of the state on everything and they have fierce Texan pride. Here, the Texas flag flies side by side with the American flag, and everyone proudly claims their home state wherever they go.

Since we love Texas too, we have been making some Texas themed items we want to show you. We also want to share some of the other Texas things we've seen.

The Texas waffle maker is ubiquitous at the hotels here. They probably taste better than regular waffles, too.

Even the stamps on the eggs are Texas shaped!

We made some Texas magnets for out last craft fair.

And we don't want to forget the Texas Tic-Tac-Toe.

So many businesses have the shape of Texas in their logos, it would be hard to share them all.

Some other things Texas is famous for: Longhorns, armadillos, the Alamo, Bluebell Ice Cream, delicious barbecue, pecans, bluebonnets, and football! If you ever come to the Great State of Texas, be ready for some hospitality and lots of state pride. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

One-Liners for Laser Engravers

Looking for some great one-liners to put your your laser engraved items? Here are a few we haven't seen very often to get you started.

For Water Bottles or Mugs

If there is magic in this world, you will find it in water.

Have you heard the joke about dehydration?

No? That's because there's nothing funny about it.

HIJKLMNO

Water = H to O

Blood is thicker than water (with a vampire graphic.)

Life is Brew-Tea-Ful

Steeped in Happiness

A Few Sips of Serenity (or Sereni-tea)

For Pet Items

My cat Fluffy ate a ball of yarn. She had mittens.

No Pupperazzi, please

The Weiner Takes it All

Don't let my cat use the TV remote. She always hits paws.

You're My Pup of Tea

Don't stop retreivin'!

Come to the Bark Side

About Kids

Our child has a great deal of willpower—and even more won’t power.

I'm more of an Amazon Prime mom than a Pinterest mom.

I tuck my kids in at night and say "See you in the morning." And then we all laugh.

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." -JFK

"Little boys should never be sent to bed. They always wake up a day older." -Peter Pan

 “Play is the work of childhood.” – Jean Piaget

For Teachers

Big hearts can shape little minds.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

I'm not yelling. I'm speaking in italics for emphasis.

"Nine-tenths of education is encouragement." –Anatole France

Teaching: the only profession where you steal things from home and bring them to work.

Dude. Show your work.

Please do not wipe your tears on the exam paper.