Featured Friday - The Wooden Bee

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Oh my! I have sure been on quite the hiatus! Going to start a few things back up (yay!). I will be changing the posting approach to "Featured Friday" so that only one shop will be featured a month. The shops coming up will be a mix of some left over interview's from last year, as well as a chance to get to know our Team Leader's who help put together and manage our Etsy Page.

This Friday's interview is with Bee, owner of The Wooden Bee

Tell me a bit about yourself and what you sell:

Hello! My name is Bee, a nickname from school that stuck. The Wooden Bee sounded like the perfect name for our reclaimed wood business, when we opened three years ago. I try to stay as involved as possible with our Florida Etsy Street Team. They are great resource of artist and info for an Etsy shop like myself. I specifically help out with FEST Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Favorite piece you have made- and why?

Oh this has to be the hardest question. I love all the things I make. My husband often asks, "Is that for you or a customer?" when eyeing a new custom piece in the workshop. One wedding anniversary we made ourselves a reclaimed wood frame. It is probably my favorite. Beautiful cherry wood and salvaged glass, frame a bee printed on antique paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 What inspires you?

The wood. It still amazes me how much BEAUTIFUL, unwanted wood is out there. 100% of our wood would have otherwise found itself in a landfill. We drive all over Central Florida collecting quality hardwoods for our shop.
CHECK OUT PIECE TO LEFT

Favorite part about living in Florida?

The weather. We can spend 365 days outside... gardening, playing, and enjoying mother nature here in the sunshine state!

See yourself in 5 years?
Gardening, playing mom, and upcycling wood. I love my life, so I hope too much doesn't change.
CHECK OUT PIECE TO LEFT

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
Lots of fruits and vegetables. If I'm not growing them, I'm getting them from a produce coop. My newest thing is flavored water! There is always a bottle in the fridge. Just add some lemon, cucumbers, herbs, or whatever you like to filtered water. It's so refreshing!

If you could have any pet what would it be?

If you could have ANY pet, what would you have (why and name)? I want chickens! lol I dream of the day that we have a little backyard coop with some hens and fresh eggs! Do you name chickens? Maybe something like Hattie, Clover, and Flo? :)
CHECK OUT PIECE TO LEFT 






Thank you for letting me interview you and all the hard work you do for our team. Remember to go show The Wooden Bee some love <3
-Chelsey
As it comes, it goes

Hot-To: DIY Wall Vase Tutorial - made from reclaimed materials

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Over the summer we made 20 wall vases for baby shower favors! Today I wanted to share how we created them. You don’t need to make twenty, but inside one or two can make beautiful wall sconces filled with candles. Or place a wall vase with fresh flowers from the garden by your front door. There are many ways to use these eco-friendly vases.

Materials Needed: 

wood 

saw 

gloves 

outdoor stain, and rags

drill stainless

steel clamps

lath screws

any medium to large glass jars

wall hanging hardware 

First we cut some wood rectangles. We decided to use some curved reclaimed wood molding we had saved. Any size wood will do, but the idea is to have the wood wider and longer than the glass jars that you want to use. We cut two sizes of rectangles for two different sized jars: one 8.5″ by 5″ and one smaller 7.5″ x 4″.

 Next I sealed the wood with outdoor deck stain. We prefer Sikkens but any outdoor stain with sealer will do. After the wood dried, I added wall hardware to the backs. Then my sweet husband drilled and secured the stainless steel clamps to the wood. There are many different size clamps. We used clamp size #56 (3 1/16″ to 4″). They can be found in the plumbing section of your local hardware store. We used a lath screw and a drill to hold the clamps to the wood. Lath screws are great all purpose fasteners. The exact screw label: truss washer lath screw 8 x 9/16.

To add the glass jars, I used a screwdriver to tighten the clamps around the glass. You can use all sorts of recycled glass jars. Wide mouth pickle and salad dressing glass jars are a favorite, if we’re not using mason canning jars.

I added some pink flowers (it’s a girl) and then packaged them up with an ultrasound picture of the baby. The mom to be loved them!!! If you have any questions when trying our tutorials please feel free to email us: thewoodenbee at gmail.com

Happy Creating, Bee
The Wooden Bee