A Ten Minute Tree!

I found these Halloween trees at Dollar Tree Yesterday.

They are the fastest trees on the block!

I released on from the card and bent it's branches this way and that until I liked the way it looked.

If I were going to use it for a regular tree right now, I would have painted the branches and everything brown, but I need it for the Halloween party, so I left it black.

Then I went to the foliage box and grabbed a sack of Lichen or Reindeer Moss. 

This was just for illustration purposes only.  I could also cut out leaves or use various other materials for the greenery. 

If I had been making the tree for real, the glue would be in use for the next step.

I am purely doing this for those that have a Dollar Tree store nearby.

My greenery is precariously perched on the branches to show you how nice it will look when I do it for real.

I am certainly going back for a couple more of the tree forms.  These are worth the money.  If I made them myself, they would take a while and lots of materials. 

Thank you Dollar Tree for saving me a lot of work and a lot of waiting for the glue to dry.

After Halloween has passed, I will be making a few of these for real. 

Back to work now.  I just finished cleaning my closet and changing it from summer to winter.  I am going back to see if I missed changing anything.

See you tomorrow.

Creepy Crawllers...

That's what Tessie is calling the trees that I am adding... Don't get me wrong.  She likes them, but she says that they are creepy...

I did convince her that the bathroom needs to be camo-ed.  All I had to do was prop one of the branches  against the wall... She suggested a LOT of shoulder high scrub brush!

I really need to paint those two last trees.  Then I can get to the interior walls and floors that need finishing.

I added some Nandina and other small natural branches of stuff to the window side.  I am liking that a lot.

The fireplace will be on the blank wall in the center.  The floor for the entryway and the kitchen will be the height of the bottom of the door and the living room will be sunken to the height that it is now.

This is the back wall, as I see it.  The window wall will be the front. I don't imagine that it will be shown much, but it still needs camo.  It is going to be flatter than the other three sides.  It only has about a 3/4" lip on that side.  Not a lot of space to put things.

Anyway, that's about all that is new for today...

Back to the grindstone.

See you tomorrow. 

A Little More Wildlife, Please...

 I had to go gather more Rosemary branches this morning. 

Tessie said she wanted the cottage camouflaged on all four sides... She asked for it!

I have just about enough to cover our house as well as the cottage.

These plants have had almost 20 years of growing!  They are really more like small trees...

I also found that the Nandina is ready to be harvested.  Just in time! Another different kind of foliage. 

I managed to sneak in more branches of the Rosemary behind Tessie's back.

When she turned around and saw it, she demanded that I get it out of there. 

Nothing was fastened down.  She thought I was going to cover the bathroom opening with them. 

I don't think that is such a bad idea.  As it is, it is wide open to the forest.  Every Peeping Tom, Dick and Harry could be lurking in the underbrush!

I didn't argue.  I moved it.  I think that she will re consider after I tell her about the audience!

Anyway, I am on a roll!  Back to work!

See you tomorrow.

OK! Don't Nag!

I know that I still need to do a lot of painting on the walls.

I just was more in the mood to play in the dirt this morning.

This first photo is more true to the colors.  I am not sure why the other two look faded.

The dirt is from our back yard.  The stones are from Amare and April's Mother's Day box.  The greenery is train stuff.

I had to work around the Terrible Two plus One this morning...

They wanted to help... How is sitting and yelling instructions at me, any help?

I have both layers of the front yard done now.  Rocks, dirt and scrub brush. 

And yes.  I can paint over it.  I figured that this would give me a better reference of the colors to use.  They need to blend in with the foreground. 

I am like the Little Engine That Could... I think I can... I think I can... I think I can.

The walls definitely need more yellow and ochre.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Barking Mad!

Oops! I forgot the roots on two of the trees.  And I didn't gesso them either!

So... Back I went to the string and gesso.

I finished painting the other tree on that side and then reversed my direction.

I am very pleased with how the trees are looking.  I still have to do a lot of shading, but for a first coat, this isn't bad.

The nice thing about this technique is that I can go back in and add more anytime.

I am still not sure if I want to add two more trees. One on each side of the sliding door... Thinking about that...

The three sticks that you see laying on the front edge are contributions from Amare.  I am definitely going to find a home for them somewhere in the landscaping...

Meanwhile, I should get back to swimming in gesso and paint...

See you tomorrow.

Stop Barking!!!

I need a break.  I have been  barking about two hours...

This was the first one that I did.  It definitely looks like wood.  So I shall keep going until I get all the way around... With a few breaks.

 This is the pallet that I am using.  Black, white, terra cotta a light brown that is no longer made. Burnt umber, red iron oxide, another unnamed red color, and trail tan Ceramcoat. That is circling the black and white. Going counter clockwise.

This side is a long way from being finished.  I am going to try to make the building disappear, with the exception of the bathroom window....

This should be interesting if I can do it. 

Wish me luck.  I am going to need it!

Back to the painting.  See you tomorrow!

A Tiny Bit to the Right...

OK.  I decided that one middle tree would suffice. 

I finished that this morning.  Then I had to go to Walmart for more glue.

Making string trees takes a lot of sticky stuff.

After I got back and started working again Tessie showed up. 

She started with adjusting branches here and there... By that time they were pretty well dry, so not much adjusting needed.

When that didn't work, she grabbed a few of the branches that I pulled from the back yard and started putting in what she referred to as underbrush...

Just a little bit ahead of the game... The wall still needs to be painted.  The foundation stone that I just put on needs to be painted... The dirt needs to be put in ...Etc. Etc.  Etc.....

I have to go now and pull up the weeds that she planted and get back to work.

See you tomorrow...

Lycopodium for Christmas

First of all, before I say anything else, I have to send out a Thank You! to Karin Corbin.  She did a Black Friday drawing over at her blog http://karincorbin.blogspot.com/ and Tessie won a micro mini town that Karin designs and sells on ETSY. They are Wonderful... But, I ask you... Why do I enter and somehow Tessie winds up winning the town???  Anyway, Thanks Karin!


OK, I dug out the lycopodium this morning.  I also found four bottle brush trees...
I want them to look more like natural, outdoor trees.  I can trim them later to make Christmas trees.

This is what you look for in the store right now.  This size is priced at $1.00 at Walmart right now.

I am starting to feel like one of those old fogies that starts every sentence with "I remember when..."  These silly things used to cost less than a quarter a piece... Now not so. 

Anyway, I pulled out my tub of lycopodium and went to work.  I got my supply about five years ago at Hobby Builders Supply.  I don't know if they still carry it or not.  I am running low.  I don't think that I have enough to finish these four trees.  Some may stay as is.

 If you decide to try this, this is how you do it. The greenery comes in branches that have branches that have branches,...

They are fan like and I just pull them apart.  No cutting needed.  It is a bit messy, but that's the fastest way to get it done, as no two branches are alike.

Then you simply start at the bottom of the bottle brush, dip your branch end in white glue and shove it in.

At the bottom of the tree, you try to get them perpendicular to the ground and as you go up, you start sticking them in in a more upwards manner.  That's how the real trees grow.

The tree in the photo still needs to be gone over and branches added here and there.

I may trim it a bit to give it some shape.  These are going outdoors.  They don't need to be perfect Christmas tree shape.

 I got some snow added here and there this morning too...

I am liking the natural look so far... OK.  So the crystal trees aren't exactly natural... We have to have some decorations here and there.

I am not finished with anything yet.  I will add stuff as I find it.  Somehow, last year, everything got put away helter skelter.  Not a good way to do things.

I am still hunting for more trees and bushes...They are probably at the bottom of the barrel...  Somewhere out in the garage. 

Back to hunting... Someone tie a string to my ankle.  I am going back into the garage!

See you tomorrow...

Adjustments...

OK. The ground is dry.  I used a couple of shades of brown and put a green/brown wash over it in spots.

I am leaving some bare spots in the dirt, so I couldn't paint the whole thing green.

At the same time, I decided to fix the windows in the kitchen.  Foam core will do the trick.

I simply cut pieces to fit in the bottom of the windows and glued them in.

Lucille said yesterday, in the comments, "Why doesn't the manufacturer think of these things?"

Of course, a lot of people would do what I was going to do originally.  Put an eating area there.

Anyway, not a problem.

I simply put Model Air over the foam core and extended it into the rest of the stone.  Then I textured it and drew the lines.

I used some railroad foam for the little hill beneath the windows. 

I want the yard to look wild an unkempt.  That works better than any of the grasses that are around.  I left a hole in it for dirt...Real dirt.

I went out into the back yard and scooped up a trowel full of gravel.  I spread on Elmer's white glue.  It is thinner and easier to work with for landscaping. Then I sprinkled the finer dirt over the hole and placed a few larger rocks in the corners.  They would be there.  The rain washed the dirt away from the rocks and then leaked downhill from there.

By the way.  An excellent texturing tool for the stone wall is exactly that.  I grabbed the rock that you see in the bottom left corner and pounced it against the Model Air.  I didn't want to hunt for my stencil brush.

I was in a hurry.  We are going to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" this morning.  So much for minis!

See you tomorrow.

The Blue Jay Has Landed...

My friend Joan gave me a blue jay in mini, from a show a few weeks ago...He has now found a home of his own.  He didn't show up very well in the trees at the craft cottage.  Here, he is a stand out.

I did the landscaping this morning.  I won't go into all of the details, because I did a lot of that in the craft cottage yard.

I will tell you how to make a mole hill out of a mountain though.

I started with a block of dry floral foam and got what is in the corner, covered with white glue...Yup.  All of the green stuff is leftovers....thus the mole hill...

I painted that white to keep all of the sand the same color and then smeared it with lots of white glue.  I sprinkled on some of the sand and shook off the excess.

Then on to the landscaping goody bag.  I used the heavenly bamboo, Nandina, for the branches of the tree.  It turned out kind of mesquite looking...

I used clumps of the railroad, reindeer moss for the foliage.  Then I went to the backyard supply house for rocks.  My back yard is full of desert stones and I don't think I am going to have to buy stones anytime soon.

I had cacti and other vegetation left over from the craft cottage, so that was done in no time...

Then Tessie got involved.  "It needs life!"  I knew that she wouldn't let up, so I told her to go find some...

I thought that would keep her out of my hair for a while....Wrong-O.

She was back in a flash. She had a salt shaker in one hand and the blue jay sitting on the mesquite tree, just as nice as you please....

I asked her how she did it and she replied, looking down her nose at me, "Honestly!  Didn't you ever hear that the way to catch a bird is put salt on his tail?". 

I looked a little closer and saw that the poor bird was just covered with salt...I doubt if he could lift his wings to fly away...

The last time I looked, Tessie had him in Eskiaga's patio birdbath.  He seems to have survived the ordeal, but the birdbath is now a salt water vessel and no self respecting bird but a sea gull is going to use it again.

I am off to supervise the cleaning of the birdbath....I see Tessie sauntering that way with her toilet brush....Gotta go now!

See you tomorrow.

Icky First Coat....

Day Two.  This could mostly be done in one day.  I used to teach this class in three or four hours and a lot of people went home with it mostly finished.

OK...Here we go.  I used the infamous Walmart sand, from the floral department.  With the Craft Cottage and this, I haven't even used a half a sack. 

I first sat the box and lid where they would be on the board and traced around them.  That was to determine where the sand would be. 

Then I took the box and lid off and did what you see in the first photo.  I used plain old tacky glue, straight from the bottle.  Then spread it around with my fingers.  Then sprinkled the sand on and patted it down so that more of it would stay.

 If you are new at this, I would suggest that you do about a quarter of it at a time....

But first, I spread the glue around where I wanted it on the edges.  I had to go back and do the left back edge that isn't covered in the first photo...Yup.  I forgot it.

The only part I didn't do is where the tile is going to be.  That's the curve in the foreground of the second photo.

This is kind of messy, so work on news paper or paper plates.  That way you can dump the excess back in the sack.

If you are using good (like Elmer's) foam core, and a good thick glue, you shouldn't have any problem with warping...Sometimes it is essential to spend more than a dollar for foam core.  I do use that too, but not on something like this.

Next, you glue the bottom of the box in place and follow that with the lid, trim pieces and the outer wall.

I use an exacto clamp to keep the lid and box in line.  That assures a square corner also.

When I got the clamp on, Tessie showed up with a pile of tile paper....I vetoed all but a couple. 

She seems to think that she is going to get her pick of the decor in this one.  I like both of these.  If I use the bottom one, I will cut off the boarder and use it along the edge of the floor curve.

The blue and white one will have to be faked as tile.  It is really 20 year old wrapping paper...Yes...I save everything.  I have used this for floors and walls several times.

I kicked Tessie and the tile to the curb and did the first coat of gesso.

Tessie's only comment was, "Icky first coat."

Hey!  The first coat just had to cover everything inside and out.  The pretty part comes later.

I have to stop now.  The Wednesday Witches are meeting today.  Not here, thank goodness.

I have a kitchen table full of books and other stuff from the big bookcase.  One of the shelves broke the other day and I am in the middle of patching it.

It happened once before and I fixed that one with silicone sealant...It has held up pretty well.

I should know by know that you can't load glass shelves with books...and more books, without them breaking.  Actually, it wasn't that.  The back panel came loose and dropped the light bar down so that it wasn't supporting the shelf like it is supposed to.  Oh well.  It will take a day or two to set it right.

I need to go get ready for the witchy meeting.

See you tomorrow.

Closer and Closer...And Closer still....

The landscaping is finished....If I don't decide to add some vines to the first side I did.

This morning I raided the Rosemary bushes in the back yard again.  I only take the dead branches from underneath.  They are the most fun for trunks of trees and gnarly vines.

Tessie helped me glue and tape the branches to the house where they touch the walls.

I had already done the ground plantings on this side...She gad to be very careful where she stepped.  Bare feet are not always the best in AZ.

I wear flip flops most of the year, when in the back yard.  Just to be safe...Not her...She is brave or foolish.  I won't say which.

After the branches were dry, I did the same thing that I did to the one in the front.  Reindeer moss and glue.

Please excuse the mess in the front yard.  Those are decorative trim for the roof peak.

Here, you can see a little different angle.  I continued the ground plantings across the back of the house also.

Tessie seems to ignore the fact that there should be a wall on that side.  She is used to living in an open house.

Don't ask...She is watering the cacti with a Styrofoam cup full of tap water.  That will keep her occupied for a while...It's a small cup.

A little better view of the back or the cottage.  Looking at it from here, I think that the first side needs some vines or trees to balance it out.

Just a couple more days of finishing things up and there will be a housewarming party...You are invited.

Here's a close up of the tree out front.  You can see how I sort of wrap the moss around the branches. 

I like leaving a few of the branches bare, so that you can see the form of the tree.

This is a terrible photo of the woodpecker, but since I have woodpeckers that live in my back yard in real life, I had to have one by the cottage...I forgot the squirrels.  Yet another thing to add.  Or maybe I will just dig a few holes and say that they are sleeping.

I am off to finish the landscaping and clean up the mess.  And I do mean mess.  It is amazing how much stuff it takes to landscape a two foot square board.

See you tomorrow.

Potpourri Jungle...

I needed a break....So, I came to type for a while...I have been hacking my way through this jungle.

I thought I would show you what you can find in plastic plants and potpourri from Walmart.

That's what I am using to make up for the parts that I can't find in the back yard.

This first photo is plant parts.  When I look for plants to use, I don't usually worry about the flowers.  I like the filler and greenery.

The lighter green is from the calyx and stamens of flowers. I don't remember what kind.  The nice thing about them is when I took off the silk flower petals, the two pieces fit together and looked like a yucca plant.  All I had to do was add some white shredded foam to the ends of three of the calyx and I had instant plants. 

Most of the other stuff has to be painted.  I put a coat of Wedgwood green on the darker ones and now they look a lot less shiny.

I used the as is for the plants on the roof of the Clockwork Caravan and they looked fine there.  I wanted something more subtle for this.

At the left of the second photo is some of the stuff that you can find in potpourri,also from Walmart, if you look closely. They are different kinds of seed pods that can be painted green and turned into cacti. 

Don't mention the little pineapple looking things at the top left to my family....Not only can you find them in potpourri.  You can look down at the pavement in the parking lot of Knott's Berry Farm theme park in California....There they are by the hundreds.  Or there were...It was about 20 years ago.  I don't know if they are still there or not, but there were trees planted there that were dropping them.  Madwoman that I am, I grabbed a large soft drink cup and started gathering them... Everyone in the family tried to pretend that they didn't know me...  Oh well... I did get a goodly supply of them...I still have a few left from that trip.

After you get the pods painted, you have all kinds of interesting cacti.

The "pineapples" make wonderful barrel cacti.  As you can see, you can find all kinds of cactus in the bags.

Here's a plate full of after painting.

Now for the cottage front.  I went back and filled in the tree some more.

I also have some barrel cacti and some yucca by the front door.

I am just getting started.  I should be able to finish the rest of the landscaping today.

No more break time left.  Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Wednesday Late...Again...

I had the witches here today, so nothing got done in mini before they came and very little after they left.

You may have noticed that the bay window on the side had a gap between the ground and the bottom of the window.

I didn't worry about it.  I just filled in the space with sheet moss.  You can't really tell that  it doesn't go all the way to the ground.

The flowers are some dried ones that I got from Sue when she was cleaning out her stash.  I have no idea what they are, but they sure are nice to just snip off and stick in among the moss.

I started one tree in the front.  I like it, but the wind seems to be blowing to the left.  I will have to do something about that.

I don't like the one branch sticking up above the others all alone.  Instead of snipping it off, I am going to add a couple of other branches and see if I can just make it a taller tree.

The woodpecker seems to like it.  It is made from three branches off of my rosemary bush and some reindeer moss.  You can get it at Walmart, in the floral section.  Lots of the craft stores and train shops carry it also.

If I move to the left, you can see what I mean about the lollipop branch at the top...I am not liking it at all.  I just had to see what would happen if I left it there.

After getting ready for five witches to come and join me today, I am too tired to mess with it any more tonight.

My real back yard is a mixture of all different types of plants...That's how this is going to be.

Next,  I will add the rest of the landscaping. Cacti, and other greenery will be added.  I have to go out and hunt for small boulders.  

See you tomorrow.