Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Oh my! Time does fly! I'm not trying to jolt anyone into reality here, but - 2017 is 1/4 over already!!! It's been more than two weeks since my last post and I am literally shocked at how fast the time has gone by! What have I been up to? Well, I'll tell you...

Remember the garden shed I started before vacation? When we got home I thought I'd get it finished up before I proceeded on the flower shop. I was brimming with ideas and enthusiasm and wanted to strike while the iron was hot. It was small, so it would take only a couple days, right? Um, no. Although I have dedicated the better part of each day to it's many, many little side projects, it is still not quite finished. But I am sharing the progress anyway.

This is what I started with - an idea in my head which probably sprang to life after looking at loads of mini gardening photos online surveying for ideas on the flower shop. I drew out a rough idea of the framing and decided I'd figure out all the issues as I went along.

Rough framing and floor. Extra window from the 2013 Creatin' Contest kit.

The above photo is where I had to stop just before we left for vacation. It was a good thing because it gave me lots of "windshield time" to consider how I was going to do the roof.

At first I was going to just add a piece of corrugated cardboard that I had left from the Greenleaf Ashai Teahouse kit (now Alki Point). I figured I'd paint and rust it then glue it on. A little voice told me to wait so that I could more easily reach inside the structure. I'm glad I waited...

While that was marinating I turned my attention to putting together all of the kits and making the printies. I spent several days on that part of the project. It is amazing how much stuff can go into even a little structure!

I did a lot of ageing and rusting to everything using layers of chalk paint and antique wax. I experimented with galvanizing paper, rust techniques, and even added some tiny nails. I wanted the shed to look as though it had seen many, many years. I may have gone overboard, but I just love the way it turned out!

I had a package of these Darice Moon Lights in my electrical drawer. I got to looking at the battery pack, wanting to make it accessible but not take away from the look of the shed. Suddenly, I saw an electric meter box!

Just add rust, a straw for the wires, a cabochon and a meter printy and there you go! The lid snaps open for easy access to the batteries! I carved channels out of the wood beams for the wire to lay through.

The lights themselves were really bright LED's. I toned them down a bit by painting the bulbs with a little yellow Gallery Glass paint. Now the light looks more ambient and airplanes won't try to land on them. I wrapped them around an unfinished metal circus wheel and hung that from the ceiling beam with wire. It's rustic, but purposefully so. You can see I also changed my mind about the corrugated roof and went with the skylight windows instead. I'm glad I did because the extra light and being able to see inside is nice.

Here's what the outside/front side is shaping up to look like. I made some hanging baskets and more planters, and I still need to add moss in the floor cracks. But I'm getting close to Ta-Done!

As many of you are painfully aware, flowers and plants take a looooong time to make. And I made a lot of them. Some were cheater snips from larger "fake" greenery, two of them were kits, and the rest were made from punched paper petals and leaves. Knowing how long it took me to fill up the garden shed, I certainly have my work cut out for me on the flower shop!

Below are some of the interior photos. To make the decor I utilized a number of mediums: a lot of printies for milk carton seedlings, books, galvanized pots, seed packets, artwork for the walls, bulb paper bags and labels. I made a few things like a radio, birdhouses, planters, signs, baskets etc. with wood and precious scraps of what-knots. Every "store bought" piece was lovingly bashed, aged, dirtied up and rusted. It was so much fun to get messy!

See the mouse next to his hole?

If any of you would like the patterns for the milk cartons, galvanized pots, wall art, seed packets or book covers, I am happy to share. I am also happy to spill the beans on how I made the punched flowers and plants, what I used for rust and galvanized metal and any other secrets I know. Just shoot me an email: jodihippler(at)gmail(dot)com.

Now I need to clean up and reorganize my work room. The flower shop is calling, as is the as yet unopened Creatin' Contest kit and the advent calender I'd like to finish this year. Better get a move on - it will be December again before we know it!

Happy Spring!
Jodi