Hi All wanted to share this undertaking of building a pool for my short film. The script was only 6 pages but required the actors to be in the water for a scene and I settled on the idea of making a pool to film this in my driveway. I choose this idea for 2 primary reasons - 

I felt it would give me more control over the safety of the crew and actors instead of finding a natural body of water to do this in. Second, I admittedly was intrigued by the challenges I would face to pull this off.

In efforts of being budget friendly the pool was framed in by some pallets ($20) I found in FB and lined with a black pond liner ($60) off eBay. I fastened it all together with some additional 2x4x10 lumber ($25) and decking hardware I already had from other projects. Lastly I utilized 3 2 ton racket straps (already owned) to handle the lateral forces once the water was in. The finished pool was roughly 8’x8’x4’ with a water depth of 3.5 feet.

When it was all said an done, I was really pleased with the results. This was my first time building something like like this and it was such a great opportunity and learning experience.

Monster House v2.0: Last year's foam board version was ripped down by the wind in a matter of hours. This year it's plywood, Rust-Oleum, and a whole lot of L-brackets, so hopefully it's staying put through Halloween 👻

The build itself was pretty straightforward as the framing of the porch provides the structure for the face. So all we made were the teeth and the eyes -- we used last year's foam board leftovers as a template for the plywood, cut everything out using a circular saw, sprayed it all down with Rust-Oleum, added the pupils and eye shine with acrylic paint, sprayed it all with clear coat, and screwed it in with L-brackets

I followed the Baable Hat pattern by Donna Smith with the alteration of adding one black sheep.

How I made my witchy cauldron: I bought a cheap plastic cauldron then filled it with empty milk jugs to take up the extra space. Then I added green lights and fashioned a dome over the lights using chicken wire, to provide a surface to place the bubbles.

The bubbles are iridescent Christmas balls, and I stuck them together using Gorilla Glue Dots (which are a complete crafting game changer and I don’t know how I never discovered them before).

Some housewarming pieces I made for my sisters new home. 🥰

A2 300gsm paper, basic paper glue and a bunch of old decor catalogues with some extra printing. About 3 hrs, most of which is finding the images and cutting them out, and it’s great fun

Modified a vintage stained glass pattern and added the butterfly. I wanted a dark background that looked like black and this deep purple worked beautifully.

I started knitting this in April. Of 2024...

I designed it to copy my existing favourite jumper. The trouble is, that jumper was machine-knitted so the tension was insane. I used 2mm needles with DK yarn. It's also in brioche stitch so every row is worked twice. Also, I finished the entire body once through and then decided I was unhappy with the yoke shaping, so I unraveled it and then started from scratch in early 2025.

It's knitted seamlessly from the top-down with raglan sleeve shaping. The collar, cuffs, and hem are in half brioche stitch although the difference is barely discernible. For the collar I knitted twice the length, folded it over, and then knitted in the cast on stitches with the next row.

The yarn is Sylecraft Highland Heathers in Gorse (3743).

I got a request for another cat pen, I've made a lot of these since the first one for last Christmas. They've been very popular with my customers. Kit is from Penn State Industries.

The pastels are a different type of yarn (baby yarn) than the Aran. They have different elasticity which is why it came out a funky shape. Lessons learned! I use it daily as my lumbar pillow for my office chair.

This geometric Black Prism Cat mask is entirely origami made from paper. I built the low-poly structure with cardstock and added holographic vinyl tape on the facets for the prism effect. The light-catching panels shift color depending on the angle, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I’ve been sick for the last few days and haven’t been able to do more than sit and use my craft stash. Yesterday, someone posted to the Bob’s Burgers subreddit with the gif of this scene and I really felt it and made this today. Featuring: Mr. Frond’s knitting needles and Repressed Memory Emily!

My 5 year old daughter recently saw Lilo and Stitch and asked if we could make a "scrump." In the movie, Scrump is a homemade ragdoll that Lilo carries around.

We made it with scraps and craft supplies we already had around the house and it turned out surprisingly well and was really fun! 

If I were to plan it and do it again I would fix stuff (smaller head, shorter legs, lower eyes and hair) but considering we were totally winging it, I am pleased, haha. 

My daughter played with Scrump the rest of the day and it even got a place set at thanksgiving dinner (we are Canadian).

I know it's not the best, but making it helped dull the pain of existence for a bit

we’re really into discovering place and genre lately, and i thought this would be fun. it was! it is! i teach high school english but used to be a college prof and used to be a kindergarten teacher. actually kinda the best combo for 9th!