I have been taking part in a crafting initiative that my cousin, Kelli Sweet, started. Her challenge to all of her acquaintance was to do at least 15 minutes of crafting and post on it every day for the month of January. While I have not quite managed to keep up with the daily nature of the challenge, I have been getting into the craftshop consistently, and I have started and completed several projects.

One of my favorites was a stool that I made out of corrugated cardboard.

It is 14" tall; I designed it for the younger children in the Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club where I work. I started with the carton that my daughter's Christmas present came in. It was a double layer of corrugated cardboard--about as sturdy as a box can get.

I used a broken old self-healing mat for my template.

It took a few hours to cut out the legs of the stool. I started with a craft knife, and I managed to tear the skin on my finger before Chip discovered me trying to cut double-thick cardboard with it. He immediately went and got a box cutter for me. I love my husband!

Once I had them cut, I glued the pieces together to make two laminated legs.

The pieces that I had cut out of the center of each square made excellent supports and spacers for the center of the stool. Next comes the seat.

I glued multiple strips of cardboard together to make a laminated block. The center piece that I installed the day before held everything in place with the glue dried.

The only thing left to do was try it out! Here is Anna, age 17, trying out the stool. It is rock-solid and much more comfortable than it looks.

I took it to the Club the day after I finished it. The children there have been vying for an opportunity to use it, and I have several requests to make more of them.