Neil the Tortoise on the cover of the Wall Street Journal!

Neil the Tortoise was on the the FRONT PAGE OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL!!!! This has been such a great day - one I will never forget. 
 

When I was contacted by the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, I had no idea when/if it would really run. I hoped it would, but I wasn't sure. When I saw it on-line yesterday, I was surprised it was on the webpage. Today, when I went to buy the newspaper, I didn't even look at the front page as I figured it would probably be a little blurb on the back of the back section. I looked through the paper four times and couldn't find it. I actually put the paper back on the newsstand as I thought it wasn't in there. I picked it up one more time, just in case, and looked at the front page and there is was. I never, ever, ever imagined my name or our tortoise being on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. 


I showed the checker the paper because I was so excited and had to share! I went to another store and bought the last four copies. I again showed the checker. The people in line behind me overheard me talking about it and asked to read it too. We stood in line reading the story - it was a cool moment! Then I went to Starbucks and yes, I bought another copy and showed everyone there too. I asked a random customer to take my picture holding the paper - and she did. I then posted it all over facebook. Sorry if I broke the internet with the constant barrage of the Neil the Tortoise story, but, I figured this was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I was going to enjoy every minute! Plus, this happened on my birthday - what are the odds? I don't like to make a big fuss over my birthday, so this just made it awesome! Today was crazy in the best way possible. The cover of the Wall Street Journal. THE COVER OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL! I have to let that sink in for a 
few.  

Here are five of the six copies I bought! :)

Cindy Breninger
www.etsy.com/shop/DeerwoodCreekGifts
‪#‎NeiltheTortoise ‬‪#‎TortoiseHats‬ ‪#‎DeerwoodCreekGifts‬ #TheWallStreetJournal #Starbucks

My Workshop - Deerwood Creek Gifts

A customer asked me what my "workshop" looked like. My workshop? I had to think for a minute as my workshop is in an overcrowded one-car garage.  The customer thought I had a fabulous workshop where I made my orders. I think she was imagining Santa's workshop where it was clean and sparkly. (I wish!) Well, I wouldn't exactly call this fabulous, clean, or sparkly, but it is a great place to work and I love it. Here are two pictures.

These pictures were taken on a rainy day. The rain makes it pretty "cozy" as I have to squish all the tools and logs inside the tiny one-car garage instead of spread out on the driveway.  But, as small, dusty, and dirty as it is, I love being out there. 

Other than that, here are a few random pictures to show a bit about me.

This is me about to make some orders.

Ah the rain. Gotta love when my goggles fog up. ;)

A new pile of logs. This makes me happy.

This picture has nothing to do with my business, but thought I would put up a picture where I wasn't covered in sawdust or wearing goggles. 

And this is Neil. I love this little guy.

This is me having a discussion with Neil telling him to quit running in the house. ;)

Take care all. I hope your workshop is fabulous and it is somewhere you feel creative. Please feel free to leave questions or comments. :)

Cindy Breninger

www.etsy.com/shop.DeerwoodCreekGifts

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www.twitter.com/DeerwoodCreek

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Hypertufa Update

 Hypertufa update. I am still making it and still loving making it. :)  Here are a few things I have been working on. Enjoy! Oh, here is a new picture of me working with the logs. Have a great day!

Cindy

Hypertufa update. I am still making it and still loving making it. :)  Here are a few things I have been working on. Enjoy!

Neil the Tortoise gets his first Halloween costume

I made Neil the Tortoise his first Halloween costume. He is thrilled. Have a great day and I will leave you with this: What do you get if you cross a tortoise and a porcupine?

A slow poke.
Cindy
 

Making My First Clock - First of Many!

Having never made a clock before,  I never realized how much work actually goes into making them. I thought I could buy the anchor, buy the clock, insert the clock and whaaa-laaaa! instant clock. Nope.

The anchor turned out to be too thick for the clock to fit through, it did not come with a hole drilled in it nor did it have the back cut out for a place to put the clock mechanism. Off to the garage I went. 

First, I measured how much I needed to cut out from the back of the anchor so I could insert the clock mechanism. Then I drilled a hole all the way through.

After I measured what I wanted to cut out to fit the clock mechanism, I figured I would drill out as much as I could and then use the dremel to sand away the extra wood. (I don't have a router, so my options were pretty limited.)

I was going along just fine with the drill when I heard a sound I didn't want to hear. Snap! Part of the anchor broke off. But, as Bob Ross used to say, "There are no mistakes, only happy accidents." Bob was right. Having that part broken off actually made it a lot easier to cut out around the circle where I drilled.

At I first tried to cut out the extra wood with the jigsaw, but it was too powerful and almost broke the wood even more. I then took the dremel and sanded it. It got to the point where the wood was smoking from the heat from the dremel, so I put that aside to let it cool down.

I then took off the other side of the anchor, as it was much easier to sand that way.

I didn't have a way to cut the ends off the anchor as the dremel was too hot and the jigsaw was too powerful,  so I went and got a good old steak knife from the kitchen. It worked like a charm!

Thank you steak knife! I then cleaned up the wood, brought it inside and glued it. It is now sitting in my kitchen awaiting me to finish it. Going to paint it, add some customized words and some rope. Should be really cute when it is done. :)

I love making things when I have no idea what I am doing. It is fun to figure out. Makes me appreciate clocks a lot more, that's for sure.

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Trying Something New

With working full-time and raising two kids, life can get pretty busy. With that said, some days I am not sure where I find the time or energy to head out to the garage to make some new items.

I wasn't feeling very well this weekend, but I had a few things in mind that I wanted to make. I kept telling myself that I would hang out on the couch, relax and get better; however, I kept having this little nagging voice telling me it wouldn't go away until I made what I was thinking about.

I slowly got up off of the couch and lugged myself to the garage. I ended up making 16 new things this weekend! Even though I wasn't feeling well, I would have felt worse sitting on the couch with all those new ideas floating around in my head. Hours went by when I was sure it was more like 20 minutes. The time flew!

I came up with some new items for my shop. On a whim I bought some chalkboard paint. I had never used that before, but I love it!

There are so many different things you can make and they are fun and easy and practical. I can't believe I had never heard of this before, I was missing out. I ended up using a glass square vase, painted it with the chalkboard paint, and now I have this cute four sided chalkboard table number centerpiece. I also painted different wood shaps and made those into tags that can be used for a wishing tree, table numbers - the possiblities are endless!

My son and I also made a bunch of log drink coasters. Usually we put a waterproof clear coat on them, but I am going to see if people would rather have them completely natural. We have both so it will be fun to see which they prefer.

I also made a personalized log wedding guest book pen holder which can or, if you want, it can also be used as a custom rustic toothbrush holder as we burn your initials or a word you like right on it. I am trying to branch out and find new things to make. I think I want to try log napkin rings and personalized log slice cake toppers. Something new for me so that should be fun.

I hope you try something new today. Please feel free to share what you are making. I would love to hear about it!

Cindy
www.etsy.com/shop/DeerwoodCreekGifts
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Deerwood Creek Gifts and where it got its name.

I was reading how different show owners have come up with their shops names. Some of the stories are pretty funny, some very interesting, and some are unusual - but they were all fun to read about.

I came up with Deerwood Creek Gifts as thinking back to when I was a kid, I lived on a street called Deerwood Street. Behind our house was a ditch that my sister and I used to find lizards and bugs and we would play along the ditch. As a kid, I thought it was a creek.

When I was thinking of a name, I thought of that house and the "creek" behind it and the name just popped in my head. Since we sell gifts, that part was a given. If you have a name of a shop, I would love to read how you came up with it!

Take care all.

Cindy
www.etsy.com/shop/DeerwoodCreekGifts

The link to the four candles in the picture is:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94728974/square-tealight-candle-holder-wedding
Deerwood Creek Gifts and where it got its nameDeerwood Creek Gifts and where it got its name.

The kids and I have started an online business!

In January, I bought my son a saw and a drill. We went to a firewood place and got some wood. When we got home, he went to the garage and started cutting away. I asked him to make me a log tealight candle holder. After several tries, he made one! I loved it and he made a few more.

Later that night, my daughter and I made two fleece tie blankets. A co-worker saw them and suggested we put them on Etsy.com to sell. I had never heard of Etsy, but once I looked into it, I knew it was where I wanted to sell my things.

On Etsy, you open a "shop" and sell your items. It is .20 to list a new item, so it is pretty inexpensive. We listed the fleece blankets and then the log tealight candle.

A few days later I opened my e-mail and there was an e-mail from a lady in MA who wanted us to make 60 log tealight candle holders for her wedding. My son and I were speechless. At first I thought maybe it was a spam e-mail - 60 candle holders? We had only made five EVER! I couldn't believe that someone wanted to use something that we created and wanted to use them in their wedding. It was a great feeling.

To be honest, I never imagined anyone buying more than three of our candles, so 60 was huge! My son and I went to the firewood place and bought a lot of logs. After cutting about 20 of them (on the neighbor's borrowed table saw) we realized that there were worms in the wood. No way was I going to send a bride for her wedding wood with worms!

We ended up giving all the wood to the neighbor to burn for fires and back to the firewood place we went. We came home and started cutting, drilling, sanding, cutting, drilling, sanding...it is exhausting, but a lot of fun! Also, very messy. I often came into the house with wood shavings in my hair, in my shoes - that stuff gets everywhere.

The only mishap we have had was my son walked into the house holding his pants leg from the inside and the drill bit sticking out of this leg! Apparently the drill had a malfunction and it caused the drill bit to slip loose and it went into my son's leg. I took him to the ER where he ended up getting seven stitches.

The next day I found him in the garage where he was plugging in the drill. I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted to get the candles done for the bride and he was going to work on them. I asked him about his leg and he said it hurt, but we promised to make the candles and that was exactly what he was going to do. Finish the job.

We have now had a few more orders and I love selling what we make. It is a great feeling to know that something I made makes others happy. I have a regular full-time job, but once I get home, I love to create things. I love the time spent in the garage with my son sawing, drilling and sanding. I love being the house with my daughter and making up new wedding centerpieces. She is very creative and has great taste, so it is a lot of fun. They are great kids and this is something we are doing together.

If you would like to see our shop, please stop by.
http://etsy.com/shop/DeerwoodCreekGifts

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92509520/peace-love-happiness-centerpiece-log
http://www.etsy.com/listing/94513364/blue-and-purple-wedding-centerpiece