Pickin' & Grinnin'

Maygan's the one...grinnin'

well, I must say that I have a smile on my face too

We went pickin' this morning, looking for treasures never expecting

to come toting home a Mini Rex.  Maygan has wanted a bunny forever so this was her pick of the morning at one of the sales.  She's in Bunny Love!

these are my picks of the day

and while we are talking about picking...I was serenaded last evening by the lovely sound of my

DH picking his guitar on the porch while I worked in the shade garden...music to my ears

School has been out for a week today, where does time go

Tuesday night we went on an overnight camping trip with Maygan's Girl Scout troop

Here, some of the girls are getting ready to tie dye shirts and pillow cases.  Maygan is wearing the shirt she made in the bunny photo today. 

What a great group of girls to take camping! 

oh and one honorary Girl Scout...Jay :)

On our way home from the cabin we stopped by Wildwoods Animal Park to take a tour and the troop made a donation to the animals with money they raised from their cookie sales.

Here are John & Pam with their newest addition to the park

a 10 week old cougar

The park holds an annual Native American Festival in the fall, I believe it's Labor Day Weekend.

My DH used to work with both John & Pam and has been friends with them for years.

In other news...  I am still doing work little by little to my Shanty, Maygan & I made a couple of cement Bee Skeps last weekend.  Been working on orders and am hoping to have a large handmade Facebook Update in a week or two.  I have about 42 handmades on my to do list of prims I want to make.  Haha, who am I kidding...it's summertime and I don't like to be inside this time of year :)

I will say so long for now..Maygan says it's time to check on Midnight (the bunny:)

Blessings,

Traci

Thank You All...more Shanty/Shed pics

Thank all so kindly for visiting my last post and all the wonderful comments!!

♥♥♥♥

Today's addition to the build site is anther Wattle Fence

...planted the fence line with ferns

Yesterday I installed the shelf on the north side

Laid the stones and decorated today

...hoping to get moss to grow between the rocks & am planning a lean-to roof over the rock area, just need to find some rusty tin roofing

These are the little babies in my garden birdhouse, they are house wrens

they keep me constant company with their little peeps as I'm working :)

Blessings...Traci

My latest build & a "Living Wreath" tutorial

Welcome back, my friends...this post has been a long time coming

It all started with a vision and a bunch of pallets

no plans, just an image in my mind

I say with pride..mission accomplished!!!

This is my biggest "do it yourself" project to date..

super excited to share it with you along with a tutorial for making

the below pictured "Living Wreath"

presenting my Lil' Primitive Shanty

I built it from the ground up...DH helped me with the framing, then I did all the rest.

It's made entirely of reclaimed pallet wood, the framing is wood cut from an old water bed frame.

The first door I've ever built and the first time I have ever put on a tin roof, I can add two more notches to my tool belt ;)

Cost for this project = Zero Dollars

Just starting to ~move in ;)

I have lots of plans...will share as they transpire

Now I would like to share with you how I made my "Living Wreath"

you probably know by now that I am a make-do kind of person, I use what I have on hand

So the base of my wreath is a jar rack from the inside of a canner, I happened to pick one up at a yard sale a week ago for $.25 with intentions of making a hanging chandelier with it, well plans change

Using scrap chicken wire and tin snips I made the cage to hold the contents of the wreath,

it doesn't need to be perfect...just bend the chicken wire up around the edges, snipping it where you need to, to make it work

Now, I'm lucky enough to call the big woods home so finding sheet moss is an easy task for me..just one big rock in the woods provided all the moss for my project.

If you can't find moss in your area...you can purchase sheet moss at craft/fabric stores in the floral section

Simply line the inside of your cage with moss...overlapping your pieces so it is covered completely with no holes

I then filled the inside with potting soil and covered the soil with a doubled piece of burlap

(sorry the picture didn't turn out)

then bend and fold the chicken wire into the center of the back..use the ends of the wire to secure it

This is what the front of your wreath base will look like

Then with your finger..poke holes into the moss between the chicken wire for your plantings

I used Red Petunias, Ivy and White Alyssum, can't wait for it to fill out

I added a couple of American Flags and poked some Cherry twigs into the moss

Using one of the "handles" of the canner jar rack to hang my wreath

Many more projects in the making...my mind is flooded

And while I should be working on other things..I'm sure you'll find me out back, tinkering with my

Lil' Prim Shanty

Blessings,

Traci