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Streamline Creative Small Batch Custom Production | Woodworking • Merch • Laser Engraving

Going to try and take a photo dump every Sunday. Hopefully it will encourage me to take more photos.
10/18/2026

Going to try and take a photo dump every Sunday. Hopefully it will encourage me to take more photos.

10/17/2026

You land a dope project and suddenly everything is great. You’re busy! Business is good! Life is good!

So you stop looking for work because you’ve got work. Then the project ends, the work dries up, and you’re scrambling to find the next thing.

Guilty as fu***ng charged.

I learned the hard way thar if you own a business, doing the work isn’t your job. Finding the work is.

My job isn’t to make dope s**t. It’s to find people willing to pay me to make dope s**t.

And unfortunately, that job is way more important.

So never stop doing your job just because you have work.

This sign is just one of the ways to keep doing my job while I’m busy doing the work I actually enjoy.

Because being busy today doesn’t mean s**t if you’ve got nothing to do tomorrow.

Create or Die

10/14/2026

Apparently, a midlife crisis comes with some new shop rules.

I’m calling this the second chapter of my life. And while I’m probably still very much in the middle of that crisis, I’m trying to change some old habits along the way.

First up: my lifelong inability to throw away a piece of wood.

New rule: scraps get 72 hours to find a purpose or they’re going in the trash. No more saving a 2-inch piece of walnut because I might need it in 2037.

Today’s survivors are now a tiny frame for a vintage Vicki Vale Batman trading card. Kim Basinger deserves better than the scrap bin. She was my first crush after all.

Not all heroes wear aprons. I own an apron… just don’t wear it. Yet, I’m a fu***ng hero.

Create or Die

10/10/2026

Everybody loves handmade s**t until it’s time to pay for it.

We’ve gotten so used to cheap mass-produced junk that we’ve completely lost touch with what it actually takes to make something. I mean s**t. I can make most things but still buy junk from time to time. Can’t beat the price!

People will spend $200 on dinner without thinking twice, knowing they will be hungry again in a couple hours. But tell them a handmade picture frame costs $150 and suddenly you’re out of your fu***ng mind.

Four hours of work. Years of experience. Thousands of dollars in tools. All to make something that somebody will compare to a $19.99 frame at Target.

People still appreciate craftsmanship. They just don’t seem to appreciate it with their wallets.

And that’s why making things for a living is a terrible fu***ng business. But it’s a great way to live.

Create or Die

Business cards are pretty much dead. It’s a digital world now baby. But creating cool s**t will never die. If you make a...
10/08/2026

Business cards are pretty much dead. It’s a digital world now baby. But creating cool s**t will never die.

If you make a living being creative, why the hell would you hand someone something that isn’t?

Standing out is a good thing. Being memorable is even better.

So I made my own 1987 Topps baseball cards. I need to network hard, and these cards can do some of the heavy lifting for me.

Four designs. One complete set. Collect ’em all.

Create or Die

10/07/2026

This one means a little more to me than just opening a shop.

This year has been fu***ng hard. Real hard.

I moved across the country and basically hit reset on a life I’d spent a long time building. New city. New routine. New business. And for probably the first time in my adult life, a whole lot of time alone with my own thoughts.

Turns out, I don’t always enjoy that idiots company. 😂

There were some pretty lonely days. Challenges to overcome I never expected. Growth to be had I didn’t think I needed. Some anxiety I’d never really experienced before. A lot of it actually! A few moments where I genuinely had no fu***ng clue what I was doing or what the next version of my life was supposed to look like.

I wish I could say I’m fully out of this portion of my life but I’m not. Still figuring a lot of that out.

But one thing I’ve learned through all of this is that starting over has a funny way of showing you what and who actually matters.

When things got tough, some really good people showed up for me. Some old friends. Some new ones. Some great brands. Some checked in. Some gave me an opportunity. Some provided me with what I need to do what I love. Some helped without being asked. Some simply reminded me that they believed in me at a time when I needed it.

I’ll tag a few of those people here because they deserve to know that the little things weren’t little to me.

Wes Curry The Hescott Project Mike Coffey Harvey Industries Powermatic

So yeah, technically this is a post about opening my new shop. But for me it feels like the beginning of the rest of my life. Chapter 2: Mini Loops

I have absolutely no idea what happens next. And for the first time EVER, I think I’m okay with that. One loop at a time.

Create or Die

08/28/2026

Sneak Peak!

I want my new shop to be a place I don’t want to leave. A place that at the end of the day when I get an idea I say f**k it, and stay late to get after it.

And for whatever reason, the places that have always made me feel the most comfortable were never the polished ones.

I liked hanging in the old bowling alley when I was a kid, before they went all neon. The with the arcade in the corner and a s**tty little bar where pitchers were flowing and problems were vented.

I like those dark wood paneled basements with the orange shad carpet that’s has seen a flood. Where all the furniture had wooden arms and yellow in the cushion pattern. The one with a TV console bigger than a Honda. Down there, anything could happen!

Those places just felt good.

So that’s my vision for this space.

Not some pristine, perfectly organized Instagram workshop. Tools displayed like a museum. I want personality. Weird colors. Old s**t. Loud music. A bar. An arcade! A place that feels lived in before it even is.

Basically, I’m building a shop that makes me want to hang out in. Even if I don’t feel like working.

And that starts with a giant stripe on the wall. It’s amazing what I little paint can do to a room.

Create or Die

08/26/2026

Just make the thing.

Despite what the average framer in the comments might tell you, sometimes you can just make the damn thing.

This is a non-load-bearing partition wall. My stud placement was intentional because I know what I’ll be mounting to it, and I’ll eventually tie it into the block walls to stiffen everything up. I had to stick build it because I had no floor space to build it on the ground and I used screws because I plan to take these materials with me when the lease is up. (I plan to, but you and I both know I want 🤣)

But that’s not really the point of this reel.

People should be able to post something they’re proud of. Especially something they’ve never done before, without a bunch of professionals lining up to tell them how much they suck. I see people post things about their kids, that they are proud of, and from my vantage point I see room for improvement! But I’m not up in their comments telling them they are s**tty parents.

If you know more than someone, help them. Give them a tip. Encourage them to keep going.

Everybody was a beginner once.

And if all you need is a wall… just make the fu***ng wall.

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1099 N Corporate Circle
Grayslake, IL
60030

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