Today's DIY Art Project - Light-Up 2D Christmas Tree

Here's a project I created last year for our new house, a flat Christmas tree to hang on the wall.  Here's the supplies and tools I used:

Parts:

• Three-foot long pieces of doweling (x3)
• Small bolts (x5)
• Wingnuts (x5)
• Small piece of chain
• Small cuphooks (many)
• Christmas lights (not pictured above)
• Kitkat

Chain is usually sold in 1' sections.  Get the size you need and when you get to the front and they try to hassle you, just tell them what the price was for the full 1' section.  

Tools:

• Drill, drillbit
• Saw
• Vice or clamp
• Eye protection

Here's what was left over when all was said and done - one bolt and wingnut, a bunch of cuphooks and a small section of doweling.  If I were doing this project this year, I'd go to Lowes instead as me and this company have had a falling out over the political comments of their CEO.  I sold my stock and stopped shopping there.

Basically, lay out the tree shape.  Add about eight inches to the base.  Cut off the excess.  Then cut the piece in half.

Drill holes into all of the pieces at the ends.  For the bottom pieces, overlap by 3-4 inches and drill a second set of holes.  You're going to overlap the bottom piece of the frame for two reasons: you can remove one bolt and fold up the tree if you want, plus you need to make up for the thickness of the doweling as I'll explain in the next step.

Begin fitting together.  The left pole goes on top of the right pole and bottom pole.  The chain goes between the two poles at the top.  Insert the bolt and secure with a wingnut.  Because your bottom pole is in two pieces stacked together, it goes above the right pole on the right side.

The basic tree.

Hanging on the house.

Finally, add lights.

Happy Halloween!

Warning on Valentine’s Day festival

GULF-TIMES.COM -- A Qatari scholar has warned Muslim youth against celebrating the Valentine Day saying that it is an un-Islamic holiday which has nothing to do the with true meaning of love.

“Under Islam, any forms of celebration of the Valentine Day are prohibited. It is a pagan holiday when the Western youth give free rein to their sexual urges and indulge in promiscuous activities,” Sheikh Ahmed al-Buainain said at the Al-Wakrah mosque in his Friday sermon.

Al-Buainain has also criticised what he called the shopping spree and propaganda which he held responsible for creating such festive atmospheres accompanying the holiday. “It is the shopping spree of the Valentine items which promotes such holidays and make it more popular among people,” he said.

Al-Buainain also warned against being deceived by such fake festivals saying that Muslims have only two festivals, namely Eid al-Fitr and the Sacrifice Eid.
“Muslim dealers should not participate in such holidays which are always rife in adultery and promiscuous acts,” he said.

The scholar said that “There is no other religion which encourages people to love and be friendly with one another like Islam. But Muslim are prohibited to share with the infidels their holidays. This holiday is only meant for promoting profanity among Muslim youth,” he added.

Staff Reporter // Published: Sunday, 11 February, 2007, 08:27 AM Doha Time

(My friend living in Qatar tells me that all the shops are decked out all festive-like in red and selling Valentine's Day products)

Feb. 1

A new month. And then some. I feel so old.

Zoom, Zoom

A little late, but pretty cool. Enjoy.

I can't wait for Christmas

I was walking Barkley tonight, enjoying the weather. It was in the high 40s, no wind. The moon was large and the night sky speckled with clouds. I was wearing shorts and my heavy ski jacket. The air smelled of pine trees and made me think of cabins in the woods. A song I've loved for a long time, a song that used to give me the chills every time I heard it, a song that will never grow old, came on my iPod, "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" by Amy Grant. It was off the last Christmas album she did when she was still a Christian artist before we jumped over to sap-pop and before she realized she stunk at that any anyone who liked her Christian music was boycotting her and she came back to Christian music. The song is basically from Mary's perspective as she's travelling to Bethlehem on a cold night, asking God how He could possibly think she was up to the task of being the mother of Jesus. I didn't listen to the words as closely tonight because the song made me remember hearing it years ago when I would talk walks late at night in school. And how the weather then made me feel closer to the song, imagining what the weather might be like. I didn't walk much in L.A., and certainly not alone. When I could get out for a walk, it was with Lori, so we would talk. But I'd never hear that song while out on my own where I could think about it. And tonight I did and it got me excited for Christmas. When Christmas comes this year, it will be cold. It could rain, it could snow. We will be inside watching the weather outside, but we will be inside, toasty and warm. We may have a fire in the fireplace, we may be holding mugs of coffee or hot chocolate. Friends and family will surround us and the warm light from the room will spill out onto the dark front lawn.

The affair is over. To anyone I ever told "I'm a native Southern Californian accidentally born in Seattle," I apologize. It was a lie. It's like that period of time when I thought Lowes was better than Home Depot. I fell in love with a place I could not afford to enjoy. Only now that I don't live there will I be able to enjoy it again. Trips to Disneyland will be more magical, traffic will the minor inconvenience while getting between destinations, not the norm of life. The heat, the smog, the pouring rain, it'll all be something I won't be able to see again through the palm trees. We'll say "I miss the area." and then we'll fly home and say "Nah, I don't miss it." Maybe someday, San Diego. But I can't imagine ever calling Los Angeles home again. It has a beauty, a hope, a promise, but it's better seen on the silver screen than lived by the general masses who inhabit it.

This is home.