A Dress Form from Old Chicken Wire...

A couple years ago, I saw some ghostly dresses for the lawn made from chicken wire.

They were enchanting and I was totally smitten.

I have wanted to make some for two years but have been worried about how hard they might be to shape and form.

A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning an area I call "the annex".

It has an old truck camper that I am planning to use as an alternative studio.

It is behind my round two-story shed and has a workbench.

It also has storage things like bricks and rocks and cans with Christmas decor for outside like lights and wreaths and garland.

Under the camper was a roll of chicken wire we removed from the chicken enclosure after the chicks were full grown.

I clipped off a length and started to fold the ends over to make a cylinder.

Then I squeezed and pinched the wire to make my first chicken wire dress form.

I was in love.

I made 2 more from the length of chicken wire I had.

  I turned 3 basic shapes out in about 30 minutes.

Here is one.

Once I made them, I was not sure how to display them.

My brilliant, artistic friend suggested tomato cages...

PERFECT!

Two of them  were stacked so the (normally) top ring rests on the ground for stability.

Then the other one is turned over so the 3 prongs/stakes are touching the other tomato cages'  prongs/ stakes.

Then the prongs are bent to lock the cages together.

This one is sort of ghostly.

She is hard to see with the vegetation behind her.

If you look close here, you can see how the chicken wire ends from one side bend over to lock on the wire.

Another photo so you can hopefully see better.

I have not "dressed" her yet.

I am thinking I want them in my flower beds as surprise focals...

This sweet girl is dressed.

I bought two tutus a few years ago at the thrift store.

They have been hanging in my laundry room since then, waiting for inspiration.

I think I found the perfect place for this one.

I wanted to accent the bust line with some flowers.

First I tried gluing them on with hot glue. 

 Not good.

So I pulled them off and glued them to a strip of fabric.

Then I used more short strips to tie it to the dress form. 

 I tied one strip between the flowers.

That worked better and I can remove it when I am feeling like giving her a change...

Then I tied a scarf around her waist.

The tutu has a bottom like a pair of underwear so I just slipped that over the base of the chicken wire dress form.

Then she sits down in the tomato cage and the tutu over the top holds her in place.

And then there is this sweet girl.

She was actually the first one I dressed.

She got a skirt from some sheets I tore in strips this summer.

I just tied a long strip in each hole along the bottom of the form.

Then I tied short ones in between.

She, too rests on a tomatoe cage base. 

 Her skirt is long so she needs a tall base.

I wanted to give her a flower accent too, so I made a little rose from stained cheesecloth.

I glued a piece of lace on the back so it can be tied on or taken off.

Here she is taking a little swing.

I think she would be awesome, hung with fishing line from our curly willow tree. 

 She would look like she's floating and dancing in the breeze.

For the post, I moved her all around.  

Below she is in our wildflower strip.

We planted wildflowers each year for three years in an area where we could not mow.

Every year, it looks a little different.

I love it though.

It takes no upkeep and I pick lots of flowers for the fair and bouquets from here.

I just love these girls.

I could not be happier with how they turned out and how easy they were.

You can tell from the photos that I have not decided on the perfect place for each of them yet.

So they live in my garage right now.  

I am not ready to put them outside permanently and let the elements take their toll.  

Maybe next summer.

I am thinking you may see some more this fall dressed for the season....

Thanks for stopping by...

We will be joining these great blogs...

Books Transformed to Pumpkins, Apples, Cats and Snowmen...

My first fall show is coming up in a few weeks.

My booth has been an eclectic mix for the past 18 years.

Primitive holiday accents, wool candle mats and runners, reinvented purses, handmade cards, scarves fashioned from t-shirts, fabric, fleece and yarn, banners, and lots and lots of quirky jewelry.

 Last year I made some book pumpkins.

I also made a few other shapes but they had been stored flat for a year so I wanted to fan the pages out.

You can see them all  lined up on my old toolbox bench here.

I love the cat and have never seen one other than this one I made.

He still needs a pretty little bow for his neck and a witchy tag.

Maybe he needs a witchy little hat too...

My snowmen are some of my favorites.  

This little guy needs a homespun scarf and a felt hat.

The pumpkins I draw freehand so each one is different.

Some get a black bath for the page edges.

Some get an orange dip.

He has his bow but needs a spooky tag.

The apples are my favorites.

The perfect fall accent or teacher's gift.

There are several great things about these book shapes.

Each uses the pages from a discarded or damaged book.

I use the covers for other projects.

They store flat until the next year.

Just pinch the pages so they are flat and keep in your holiday box.

There is a trick for the best way to plump out the pages....

Several squirts of a water bottle on the pages and then some time to dry in the sun. 

 Repeat as necessary....

I have one of these in the Etsy shop and may be adding more this fall.

We will be linking up with these great blogs.

A Ceiling Tin Memo Board for the Dorm...

Early this summer while junking together, my daughter found this ceiling tile.

I bought it for her so she could turn it into a memo board for school.

She has scrubbed it several times with a brass brush to remove the loose paint.

I liked it the way it was but she was determined to add some color to it.

Here is the back...

It is gorgeous too.

Krylon Paint sent us the paint and sealer to complete the project.

We used the Color Master Cover Max Paint and Primer in Sea Glass.

At first she was worried she might have to go buy another can, but as she added her light coats, she liked how it was working.

You can still see some of the flaking paint looks loose.

She scrubbed it several times before painting.

She changed her angle often because there was so much texture to the tin.

I tried to take a picture after each coat.

I believe she did 3-4 light coats and let them dry 10 minutes to an hour between coats.

We set it up an a bucket so the overspray did not get all over the grass.

Once she was satisfied with how it looked ( we actually have some left in the can), she sprayed the whole thing with Krylon Color Master Clear Flat.

She is really liking the whole chalky finish look right now.

I was not sure how it would turn out, but it looks great.

Those loose paint flakes are not even noticeable now...

She took it to school with her and her Dad hung it over her bed. 

 The tile had little holes along the edge where it was originally attached to the ceiling so he just screwed it to the wood wall strip above her bed.

It looks awesome and it should not fall on her in the night....

What a great dorm decor project for my BoHo girl....

Thanks for stopping by....

Linking up with these great blogs.

Workbench Wednesday....

Happy Wednesday!

I am ultra busy this week with my day job but wanted to show you a glimpse of what is on the workbench.

Those two little dress forms are waiting for little fabric skirts like the one got here.

The skirts are done...

They just haven't made it to the dress forms yet.

Hmmm...

A hairdryer. 

Nope.

I am not getting ready here for work...

Just using it to melt off glue webs from the Sheet Rose Bracelets...

You can see a couple stacked on the jar.

You will be seeing more of those soon...

My parents came for a visit recently and brought a beautiful bouquet of Oak Leaf Hydrangeas...

You can also see some embroidery hoops from a recent thrifting adventure.

Here are those Sheet Rose Bracelets...

These are just started...

A couple done.

You might remember my daughter dying sheets in the yard.

She used them to make an awesome Shaggy Rag Rug.

She let me have some of the leftover strips.

These little bracelets were created while watching tv....

Thanks for stopping by...

A Wooden Box Beachy Redo....

I believe this box was in the throw away pile at school.

It had some stains in the wood but I thought it just needed a little makeover.

If you visited our mosaic series, you might remember it from here:

I never did show it to you all finished up.

This was it before the final grouting.

Here it is after.

Do you notice a problem?

One of these things is not like the others....

My daughter noticed right away when I said that to her.

One of the corner shells fell off before I grouted it. 

 So I put it back on. 

 I did not notice the problem until it dried.

Now I am just going to pretend I did that on purpose so it would be easier to lift the top....

The inside and outside of the bottom of the box got a couple coats of Americana Chalkiy Finish paints in Escape and Primitive.

I am loving tan and beachy blues together right now...

The stains are all gone...

Here is the back of the lid.

I added a little Sea poem from a discarded children's poetry book with Americana Decoupage.

Now it's ready to hold treasures.

A pretty good makeover if I do say so myself...

Thanks for stopping by...

We will be joining as many of these great blogs as we can.