EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT

A few weeks ago I received an early Christmas gift from my sister and brother-in-law, Steve.   I was so excited because I had seen something similar at their house a few weeks before and had gushed over how much I loved it.  That phenomenon is not all that uncommon given the many cool things at their house, many handmade by Steve.

Steve is a retired trim carpenter by trade, but in reality, he is an artist who not only can reproduce about anything  he sees in wood, but also comes up with many unique ideas on his own.   He has incredible vision and can go out on his wooded acreage, pick up a downed log and carve it into something spectacular.  On that particular visit to their house, I fell in love with the Dough Bowl replica that was sitting on their kitchen table.  A dough bowl was used many years ago for bread rising before it was baked.

Here is the gorgeous hand carved bowl I received as a gift.   At first I just put a few simple candles in it.

Then I decided to put my fruit in it.

I had also thought about arranging evergreen sprigs with some pine cones but did not get around to it for this Christmas season.  I have lots of ideas for other centerpieces and cannot wait to try them out as the seasons change.

Steve has just opened an ETSY shop called WOODSTALK and has several other items available, including this cutting board,

And this spoon rest which I just love.

Here is another rustic dough bowl which happens to just look like ones being sold on Pottery Barn for up to $250.00.

He even has a firebrand on the back to identify his work.

Steve has created many things for me over the years including shelves, bookcases, filing cabinets, tables, and even all the trim in one of our houses, but I think this dough bowl is my all time favorite.  I love the idea of it starting as piece of wood from his backyard and hand carved into this wonderful piece of art.

Check out his ETSY shop by clicking here.