Hometalk Board

I am so excited!

I was asked by Hometalk to curate a board on Windchimes.

There were so many great ones to choose from.

I chose just a few favorites.

Here is what it looks like....

And here is a link to the board.

You can find me on Hometalk here.

If you are not familiar with Hometalk, check it out.

They are a very friendly bunch and the ideas are amazing.

I really love how you can ask questions and get answers. 

 I think that makes them special.

A lot of your favorite bloggers may be on Hometalk as well.

Head on over and snoop around a bit.

I bet you will become a Hometalker too....

Thanks for stopping by...

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...

Thrifty Thursday...Glass Mushrooms for the Garden....

A trip to the thrift store with my daughter yielded supplies for a quick garden project.

Thrift stores never seem to lack glass vases and glass bowls.

I picked up 5 of each.

I gave them a wash in the dishwasher.

It was a really hot, humid day when I did this.

You can see the glass steamed up when it came outside from the cooler house.

I used some of Beacon's 527 glue.

I put the bowls on the driveway and ran a line of glue around the raised edge of the bottom of the vase.

Then I just set each one in the bowl and let them sit until they were dry.

It took mine about 4-6 hours before I actually took them in the garden for placement.

I would recommend over night or longer just to be sure.

You may wonder why on earth I glued the vases that way...

I have a good reason.

I don't want them to keep tipping over.

I took a piece of rebar and pounded it in the flower bed with a hammer.

I slipped the mushroom on and we are good to go.

Even a heavy rainstorm or small animals running by won't tip these mushrooms over.

This would be a super easy kid's craft.

You could even paint the glass with glass paints.

I wanted the subtle clear look this time.

Since I made 5, I have plenty to go around.

I added a piece of rebar to the planter in front of the garage.

And the mushroom perfectly fills a little space there.

You may already have everything you need at home for this quick project.

Thanks for stopping by...

Linking up with these great blogs...

Finished Mosaics and tips and tricks for Mosaic-ing

This post will give you some of our best tips and tricks for mosaic-ing....


If you missed them, we showed you our mosaic-ing journey here and here.

We purchased some per-mixed grout and some sanded grout that needed to be mixed.

My daughter wanted to start right away so she opened the premixed grout to use on her coasters.

This did not go well.

She was very grumpy.

It was extremely sticky and difficult to spread evenly.

She used the word "HATE" a lot.

She grouted just a couple coasters.

The excess did not wipe off either.

To tile your bathroom, I am sure it is a great grout.

For what we wanted to do, it was just not working.

In the meantime, I was mixing the sanded grout.

I had to guess water amounts since I was not using the whole bag.

The grout I had calls for it to be mixed, then set for 10 minutes and be mixed again before using.

Pretty easy to do.

The spoon and spatula were purchased at the Salvation Army specifically for crafting.

We learned this is best done out in the grass.

My daughter added the seat cushion to the work station.

It was a great idea, although our dog tried to take it from her when she got up for a minute.

I really liked mixing my own grout so I could make it thicker or thinner depending on what was needed.

Here's the charger.

And the satellite dish.

The bottles were fun.

I prefer to just wear gloves and scoop and spread the grout with my hands.

Grown up mud pies.

Maybe that was why I did enjoy it so much.

Now, a couple tricks.....

Our grout recommended letting it sit for 30 minutes and then wiping it.

I did not do this with one batch.

It got very hard overnight and required using a brillo pad to scrub away the grout over the tiles and pebbles.

My daughter also did this with a batch of coasters but she is much more meticulous than I am so hers were already pretty clean and were not too bad to wipe.

I also preferred to wipe each item 2-3 times to remove the grit.  

I let them dry completely between wiping sessions.

I sprayed my finished pieces with Krylon Clear coat for some protection from the elements.

I gave each piece 2-3 coats of sealer. 

 Now here are the finished pieces...

The Bottles turned out great!

You can see I added letters to the empty strips.

The little tabs on the letters helped them to stick in the grout.

This bottle is my favorite.

It was the only one I did with an actual pattern.

These will make great garden accents....

My daughter's coasters turned out as well.

We did learn that all items need to be the same height or the glass won't sit evenly.

I love the pebbles....

Water anyone?

These are just too clever.

They will make great gifts for her techie friends....

These actually turned out to be some of my daughter's favorites when they were finished.

  The shells are another of my favorites.

They are all ready for drinks on the porch.

Here is the funny little bird that puzzled my husband. 

 He looks better now.

I am pleased with how the eggs turned out...

They will be fun to nestle in the garden... 

A hidden surprise.

The little gazing ball my friend gave me turned out...

And the idea that started the madness is actually one of my least favorite pieces.  

Go figure.

Excuse the crooked stump.

I did not want to run around looking for a shim.

Another tip that worked for us was to put the tile adhesive in a sandwich ziploc bag.

We just snipped the end.

Just a little bit.

This was actually too much.

Then squeeze the mastic out onto the piece being covered or the item being added.

My husband's suggestion...

We did learn something about what sponges to use as well.

The one on the left did not work well for us.

The cellulose sponge (green) worked well to wipe wet grout.

The fine orange one worked perfectly for the final wipes.  

I highly recommend having brillo pads on hand as well.

I would encourage you to give it a go.

It was very fun and addictive.

Thanks for stopping by....

We are linking up with these great blogs.