Chair Swing

My daughter found this cute chair swing on Pinterest over the weekend.  We modified it from the original design, so it would be more comfortable to sit.  Such a cute idea.  She and her dad had it whipped out in no time.  Simple and fun!  Now she has the perfect place to swing and view the fairy garden.

Fairy Garden

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope you have had a great day!  I know I have!

My daughter, Maisie, has been wanting to make a fairy garden for several years now.  We had problems finding the right plants, but were finally able to find some this year. 

It was a special thing to do with her this Mother's Day.  I'm glad that she still likes to do these things with me.  We had such a blast!

I have a thing for galvanized metal wash tubs.  I love to plant my flowers in them.  We had an extra one hanging in the shed, so we used that as our container for our garden. 

We made a trip to Michael's to find a few things to decorate our garden.  We found a birdhouse that was perfect.  Troy worked his magic and sided the house with barn wood. 

He roofed it with some extra copper flashing we had in the garage.  He also made a fence out of the barn wood.   It was the extra special touch we needed!

We used the following plants in our garden:

Irish Moss

Brady's Duckfoot Coleus

Ferns-2

Chicken Gizzard

Hypoestes Red

Hypoestes White

Sheff Arboricolainini

Violets Elfin Thyme

Kay Kay's Angel Vine

Viola's Cigar Plant

Then the fun began.....all the fun details!  We found some black stones and river rock at Michael's  We used the black stones for the path up to the house.  Wooden spools were the perfect choice for the table and stools.  We used the river rock for the  "patio" floor.  We had dad cut a table top from a log we had in the firewood pile.  We also had him cut some logs for stepping stones.   We have acorn tops for "teacups".  Michael's had some cute fairies in the plastic toy section. Troy cut a log to use as a stool for one of the fairies to sit on.   Maisie had dad paint her Polly Pocket Pool black for the pond.  She added river rock to the bottom.  Perfect!  We added Spanish moss for extra color and texture. 

It's so AWESOME!  A special memory we will cherish always! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Michelle

Mixed Media Sewing Cards Frosted Designs Challenge

I was so excited about this week's Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Frosted Designs.  This week we were challenged to create a card, project or layout using "lacing". 

When I think of "lacing" my mind immediately wanders back to childhood.  I spent hours "sewing" the outlines of objects on those punched out lacing cards.  In the Winter 2012 issue of Sew Somerset, Taryn Reece, wrote an article entitled "Mixed-Media Sewing Cards".  She created her own version of sewing cards using an old Sorry game board.  Genius!  I knew this was just what I wanted to use as inspiration for this weeks challenge. 

While in Las Vegas last month I found a Sorry gameboard from the early 1970's.  I packed it in the suitcase and brought that baby home!  My husband graciously cut the gameboard down into 6- 6 x 9 in rectangles on his tablesaw.  I sanded the edges to clean them up.  I then gessoed the entire surface allowing some of the gameboard designs to peek through.  I traced my design and drilled the holes with my husbands bench drill press.  I then added the painted details, collage, doodles, etc.  I laced the bird sewing card using black waxed linen lacing (found in the leather isle at your local craft store).

The butterfly and flower pot sewing cards were laced using colored jute cording.

I will likely use them as covers for journals in the future.  I had lots of fun making them.  I hope this inspires you to try your own lacing project!  Don't forget to link it up over at Frosted Designs!

21 Secrets with Aimee Myers Dolich

I started the 21 Secrets workshop on April 1.  I am having fun "Getting Lost" with Aimee Myers Dolich.  She encouraged us to recall a time in life when we were lost.  After much thought, I kept coming back to the times when I have been "spiritually lost".  Throughout my lifetime I have taken many detours.  Many of the detours were of my own doing, but some were the affects of other's around me.  It reminded me of the scripture Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."