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

Good Bye Allis

Allis's final ride...the ending of an era

How is it that one can become attached to iron & rust?

Last Friday, Allis took her final journey, taking with her a piece of my rusty heart.

This old broken down tractor was a big part of my life growing up, even with her seized up engine and rusted rims...she was still a beauty in my eyes.

You see, when I was a little girl, Dad & I made many a trips to the fields on this tractor.  Whether it be to spread manure or mow the hay.  Dad would be in the seat, me perched right beside him (my butt was a lot smaller then and I could fit between the fender and the seat)

We would stop on the way home in the early spring to dig leeks, wash them in the stream and eat'em on the way home.  Once, while hitching a ride in the front bucket I was accidentally dumped out, luckily I didn't get ran over & no broken bones :)  

This is the first tractor I learned to drive...you had to have skills in shifting down as I can't remember Dad ever having a tractor with working brakes.  Even way back then, your hands would be blackened from the steering wheel after your drive.  Mine looked just that way last Friday while helping to steer her onto the flatbed truck.

Allis sat "at home" for years after Dad passed away with no attention.  It came to live on the mountain years ago with hopes that we could "fix her".  Too many years of neglect had proven fatal for Allis.

So, Allis sat longer, waiting for the day I was ready to let her go

...so let her go I did...

My Tribute to Allis

and the love a little girl at heart has for her Daddy