Decorating in the Woods… a Fairy Tale in the making?

 

I wish I could say it’s been a wonderful time landscaping in the woods.

But NOooooo… no, I can’t.

Let me just tell you why!

Like all fairy tales… there’s good and then there’s EVIL!

With excitement in my heart…

I go out… innocently… to landscape/decorate a part of our wooded back yard…

Imagining it would be like Snow White…. singing with the birds,

talking to the squirrels and chipmunks and

rabbits hopping all around my feet.

Chit Chatting with the raccoon and deer.

All thanking me for making their home a little bit nicer.

Maybe something like this:

and something like that:

Ahhh (sigh)…. Joy.

Ohhhhhhhhh…. but nooooo…

INSTEAD…

Yes…Instead,

I get this…

EVIL CRITTERS that lurk to destroy me.

Ticks!

YUCK>>> YUCK>>>YUCK!!

These things have decided to crawl on me each time I go out there!!

I’ve even brought them inside with me!!

YUCK!

Can someone please make Frontline for Humans???

Pretty Please?

And then there are these…

Oh… how they love me… swarming me in the hopes to land, stick their horn in me and suck my blood…

Those mosquito vampires!!

And when they can’t get to my skin (because of clothes or repellent)…

they buzz around my ears… taunting me.

YUCK>>>YUCK>>>YUCK!!

I mean… even grandpa (The Munsters) doesn’t like ‘em!!

Oh…

AND…let’s not forget these little guys…

Every time I turn over a rock… they seem to crawl out and stare me down…

as if they want to take a flying leap onto me and bite me for disturbing their home!!

I just want to make it prettier.

That’s all!

Now, I feel like I have things crawling on me all day long… UGH!!

BUT WAIT…

Oh… Oh… Oh… no…I’m not done…

NOOOppppe!

Ready for the GRAND FINALE?

I’ve also encountered this….

OK…OK…

Maybe not this kind of snake but who cares???

A snake is a snake is a snake in my book!!

I even turned to my pals on Facebook telling them how I reacted!

Wahhhhhhhhhh!

Why do they want to hurt me so?

I just want to make their home look better… update it a little bit!

So the conclusion?

My hubs found a tick on him at work.

And after all the ones found on me…

He called me and said… (sweetly and with humor) “you are not going out there anymore”…

I said… “OK… I won’t”.

WHY you ask????

because it’s just too dangerous out there people!!

(SIGH)

Well…

I’m now back to this…

So maybe…

my hubs will come home and be like this??

Maybe??

A girl can dream can’t she?

Sooooo… what’s the plan…

you ask??

Well…

When fall gets here and cool temps steer the evil critters away…

I’ll get back out there…

and all the sweet animals will gather around and thank me for their beautiful home!

The End

Or is it???

After writing this post I went outside to find this…

Freshly planted Monkey Grass “thrown” onto the path…

 

the hole is pretty much covered back up!

WHA????

Let’s just say…

I don’t want to know!

The End

wait…not yet…I know, I know… longest post ev-uh!

Just wanted to share with my peeps…

Sunday is my Birthday… yep (sigh)… the ol’ 38er is approaching.

BUT…I will embrace it,

I will own my 38… because folks… life is precious and I’m happy to be 38!

So what are my B-day plans?

I had planned to work out in the woods this weekend…

Now… I don’t know??

Got any ideas for me/us?

The End… really!

 

Making A Decorative Dress Form

 

Ok… so this is probably random…but yes… I made a decorative dress form.

Why?

Because I’m crazy like that…

I have one of those minds that tell me…

“you can make that”

My creative ambition is an endless battle… so I just go with it…

And here is how I did it…

First… I started out with one of these…

You have to have some sort of mold to try this.

I wrapped it in saran wrap.

  At this point, you’ll need cardboard, newspaper and glue.

(I used wallpaper glue and at times… elmer’s glue)

I glued lightweight, wet/soaked card board to it at first to give it a sturdy shape.

Then, I glued strips of newspaper all over the cardboard.

It will look something like this…

(this is the first one I made… it still looks like this)

And the second one I made…

I let it sit for a couple of days to dry.

Next, I took my scissors and cut a straight line up the back.

NOW…

Here is where you need to use your imagination…

I didn’t take pictures of the whole back cutting/seam taping process… sorry!

Bad… I know! 

Anywho…

I took the paper shell off the form.

Then, I taped the seam up with some kind of cloth tape we had laying around the house.

After I had her taped back up… I glued some more newspaper over the taped seam.

For the bottom and top of neck… I cut out foam core, doubled it up, and hot glued it in place.

You may even have to hot glue some of the inner cardboard pieces back down.

Now, here was the fun part… I ordered this…

It’s a paper-mache/clay mixture.

Sooo…

I mixed it with water and applied it to my paper shell …with my fingers…VERY MESSY.

In fact… you may want a mask… (glue and pulp dust flies in the air as you are mixing)

I put it on thick so it had to sit awhile (out in the sun) for a few days to dry.

Next, I sanded… again…VERY MESSY.

I used my hair dyer to blow the dust off of her.

Then, I skimmed it with joint compound to try and smooth out the surface some.

And… sanded again.   Blew the dust off again.

And now she was ready to decoupage.

 Here we go AGAIN with lack of pictures…

I didn’t know if this would even turn out so I didn’t take pics for all the steps.

Finally, I glued pieces of scrapbook paper all over the form.

Eerrrrrrrr…. stop the car… back up…

Ok… so, are you wondering about a base… maybe???

This is still a work in progress… but here is the gist of it…

Table leg from my local ReStore.  Wood plaque from Hobby Lobby.

Drilled a hole for the table leg to fit in, gorilla glued it and painted it black.

Then I cut a hole with my jigsaw in the bottom of the form to slide down the base.

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten with that.  Trying to figure out how to secure it to the base so it’s not wobbly.

Almost there…

But in the meantime, here she is in her decoupaged glory.

I used a French Toile theme.

I think she looks…very “Boutiquey”.

Soooo…

The modeling paper clay says you can nail in to it?  I don’t know… too scared to try.

Maybe… I will try on the next one before I decoupage it.

Ok… one more time…

sporting a ruffled cross body purse I have been working on!

I must say… making her was a messy and lengthy process but if you have the patience…

it can be a fun project.

 

Thanks For Stoppin’ By!

 

Working In The Woods… Landscaping

 

Well…

spring is here and the weather is beautiful this week.

Sooo… what am I doing?

Working in the woods.

I have a wooded hill behind the house.

I always imagine a little park like scenery back there

but never have attempted to do anything with it.

So… why not get started?

The goal until the mosquitos start swarming is:

Rock paths and establishing flower beds (well… leaf beds for now).

We have lots of natural rock up there to stack for paths…

I may incorporate some cut tree logs, too.

The plan:  use the land to create.

It may take me a year or so to get everything established but I’m on my way!

Sooo… if you don’t hear from me in a week or so…

know that I’m out working in the yard or woods…

weather and mosquitos permitting of course!

Is it spring in your area yet? 

Got any yard/landscaping projects this year?