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Monday, September 24, 2018

Growing A Cottage Garden Part 2


Serendipity smiled on me this week and as a result, I ended up with some bonus mini time! I put it to good use and continued making flower kits. I stuck with the SDK kits since I was kind of on a roll with them.

First up was the Dandelion kit. I had two of them.


Each kit contains enough to make three clusters of three Dandelions. Because of my particular garden needs, I made one kit (almost) as directed, but opted to make some single Dandelions from the second kit. My gravel grout border on the paths is narrow, and fitting in a cluster of three might prove difficult. But three clusters in the cracks of each of the three outside fence planters should be perfect.

Once the flowers were made, I twisted them into groups of three, decided on the height I wanted them sticking out of the ground, then ran a bead of hot glue at that point.


Then, I cut off the excess wire, squirted a tiny puddle of hot glue onto my self healing mat, and pushed the Dandelion cluster into it - essentially creating a base for easier planting.




And I have six singles to be placed in the narrow path gravel or other cracks as needed.


Next I made the Ageratum kit. I made up some smaller buds based on photos I'd seen Googling. They are not the most beautiful flower, but I made two groupings and I think they'll make nice pots or fillers.



I really love Geraniums - probably because they were always the hardest flowers (in my attempts at real life gardening) to kill. Long after my over exuberant spring fever buying and planting frenzy had lost it's luster, and I'd forgotten to water too often, they were the last flowers standing. So, because they are such a forgiving flower, I thought the cottage should have loads of them. Exactly fifty-one of them, to be exact. But I only had one kit!


The kit makes three large and two small clusters using beads for the flower heads, then fifteen separate leaf stems. Very fun kit to make.


So taking my new found skills from the kit, I made forty-six more - twenty-four with 1/8" beads, and twenty-two with 3/16" beads. I knew I'd finally use these beads someday! I didn't want jewel colors to peek through, so each bead got a dip in salmon paint.



For the flowers, I used Rice Paper that I got from Pierce Miniatures a long while back. It has an almost translucent look, but is very strong because of it's fibrous nature. I colored it with a Cocktail Pink ProMarker, then used a blending pen to create a streaky, more natural and varied appearance.


I used my Punch Bunch five flower corner punch to make the petals. It comes with a removable corner guard that just pops off the bottom in case you don't want it for corners.




One issue I experienced was that the fibers from the rice paper wanted to catch and snag in the punch. You can see the badly cut flowers in the photo below. I remembered that the eBay seller had sent a handy How To sheet with the punches. It said to sharpen the punch, just use it on regular printer paper. So I experimented, and discovered that if I punched the rice paper and the printer paper at the same time, it cut almost perfectly every time. I also found that having the punch cut the rice paper first (so stacking the rice paper then the printer paper), I got a slightly better result. There was a lot of weeding the printer punches from the rice paper punches, but it was for a good cause!



Hopefully, fifty-one geraniums will be enough to make a good dent in seven small and one gigantic window box, plus a couple window sill pots! :o)


But there were still twenty-eight leaf stems to make! For those, I used the Silk Linen Paper, also from Pierce Miniatures. It is thicker and more textured than the rice paper, and perfect, it seems, for Geranium leaves! I used Botanical alcohol ink to color the paper, and my Punch Bunch Geranium leaf punch to cut out five leaves per stem.



Kris Compass over at One Inch Minis has a great Geranium tutorial, so if you can get the punches, go make some Geraniums!

And believe it or not, after all those Geraniums, I was still excited to start on the Daylily kit! The kit makes eight, but I purchased an extra set of leaves and petals.


The wonderful thing about Lilies is that you can make them in a gazillion different colors and have fun experimenting, which is exactly what I did!


I loved the one in the lower left, so I gave it a good try with the supplies at my disposal: ProMarkers and a blending pen.


First, I saturated the center of the Lily petal with the blending pen, then added a tiny dot of green, then blended with the blending pen to give it a soft and faded out look.


For the pink, again I saturated only the tips of each petal, added a dot of pink, then blended into the center of the petal.


They came out looking so lively, and I think all sixteen of them will make a nice impact in the garden! They were so much fun to do, I may just have to make an entire Lily garden one day and experiment with every variety!



I think the next segment of "gardening" will be the herbs and leafy plants. I have a whole Camellia tree to make, but that is going to be a project in itself! I'm watching tree making videos, reading posts from awesome and experienced bloggers, which hopefully, will give me the confidence to just jump in. Until then, leafy greens!

Hope you're enjoying the change of seasons, and all the special things that brings!

xo xo,
Jodi

41 comments:

  1. I'm detecting a coral pink theme in your grand garden scheme Jodi! The geraniums and the day lilies are Lovely and the dandelions slated for in- between the pavers, is going to look GREAT especially with their yellow heads sequeing in with your Fab sunflowers -What Fun!!! :D

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! Coral, Salmon, and Melon are truly some of the colors in a real life garden that make me ooohhhh and ahhhh! For the flower boxes, I wanted to pull in the house colors but not compete too much with them, so thinking orange-y-pink and off-white might be perfect. For the rest of the garden, wherever the specific flower colors lead me is where I'll go. I have very little of the arrangement figured out at this point, so wish me luck in finding a cohesive balance!

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  2. Oh my! So pretty! Your garden is going to be wonderful. Now I need to go get dandelion kits for my WQ garden. I remember reading that Dandelions aren't native to the Americas, they were brought over by settlers as salad greens and became a highly invasive problem. So my WQ would definitely have some.

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    1. Oh yes, Sheila! Dandelions would be a wonderful addition in the Wicked Queen's garden! And I think you'll really enjoy doing the kits - they are so much fun and very satisfying!

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    2. I got the last Dandelion kit! I'm excited.

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  3. These are great Jodi. I’d never thought of colouring the paper with pens like that; they look really fantastic. And every time I see those inks in bottles, I can never figure out how you’d use them. Now I know! Thanks for the infor, I will squirrell this away for future use. X

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    1. Hi Shannon! There is nothing more fun than experimenting with new art supplies, and I think you'll enjoy the alcohol inks for many things! I have even used them to dye wood furniture and flooring - such a wonderful faded effect! I think they could be amazing on fabrics, too, though I have not yet had the opportunity to try. But when I do, I'll share how it goes...

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  4. I love those lilies!!!! What a beautiful job you did. I had never heard of a blending pen before. I will have to make a pilgrimage to Blick to see if they have one. Also, how funny is it that you are making weeds for your yard? :-) Well, that will make it very realistic! Your geraniums are lovely, too. I really love making geraniums myself, and that salmon pink is my favorite (in miniature and in real life).

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    1. Thanks Deb! Lilies are so much fun to make! I have done both SDK kits and Bonnie Lavish Lilies and both are really satisfying!
      You will love the markers and the blender. Depending on how you apply the blender, it will fade/washout or chase the marker color away, so it is so much fun to play with!
      When researching plants and flowers good for Bees & Teas, I was surprised to learn that Dandelions can be made into tea! So though considered a "weed", I thought it would be fun to include some of the persistent little things!
      Salmon and Coral are also one of my favorite colors in a real life garden!

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  5. Love all your flowers. It's going to look so pretty. Can't wait to see them planted and watered.

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    1. Thanks Megan! I am excited to get to the planting stage, too! And coming up with a good watering system is also on the To Do list! I have an idea for a handy helper so that my little cottage resident can easily get water to all those flower boxes!

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    2. Sounds fascinating, can't wait to see. It's the unexpected details that make a scene come to life.

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  6. Your garden will be fantastic with these flowers!

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    1. Thanks Fabiola! I am so excited to see the garden completed!

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  7. Será un jardín espectacular y muy colorido, todas las flores te están quedando genial:-)

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    1. ¡Gracias, Rosa Maria! Espero que todo se vea bien juntos cuando todo esté en la cama, ¡jaja!

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  8. Hi, Jodi - I'm absolutely loving the flowers that you're making, and I think those salmon geraniums are the prettiest that I've seen! I'm so excited about your cottage garden. Thank you again for sharing your experience (and your list of supplies!) I learn something from each of your posts, and I always appreciate the new information.
    Marjorie
    Marjorie

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    1. Thanks Marjorie! It is a long haul to make so many, but such a great feeling when the last one is finished! The geraniums have been one of the most labor intensive in terms of steps for each one, but I do love the color and delicate petals, which my camera fails to convey. I am happy that my experience is helpful, and I hope you can put it to good use on the Nebraska Sod House!

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  9. Goodness, just reading about all those flowers made my hands sore. They look fabulous.

    Off to add a blending pen to my amazon cart....

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    1. Thanks Keli! Losing feeling in my right hand has become a normal sensation during this process, but I let myself whine just a little then keep going! :O)
      You'll love the blender - your artistic skills are going to make magic with it!

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  10. 51 geraniums from one single kit - you're a magician! *LOL* They look stunning and it was interesting to see the effect of the markers you've used. I also admire your beautiful lilies and your interesting ageratum which is not so well-known in my part of the world. But I must admit I liked the dandelions most, they will look terrific peeping out here and there in your gravel. I like dandelions very much, almost nothing speaks so much "spring" to me than uncountable yellow dandelions on a fresh green field.

    Hugs
    Birgit

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    1. Thanks Birgit! I am thrifty by nature, so getting 51 flowers out of one kit feels like a great victory! :O)
      I am happy that you like all the flowers, especially the Dandelions! They really do compliment gardens everywhere on Earth! I had never known about Ageratums either, and didn't even remember buying the kit, but I hope they'll be a nice filler in a pot! :O)

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  11. Jodi, your flowers are coming out beautifully! You make me want to abandon my build and go straight to gardening! LOL! Will be coming back to these posts for information and inspiration. Thank you for sharing and I'm looking forward to seeing these plants "planted".

    Hugs,
    Teresa
    beaconhilldollhouse.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Teresa! I know what you mean! Every time I see a mini garden I want to make one, too! You'll have plenty of space around your gorgeous Beacon Hill build for a lovely garden, thanks to that ingenious basement addition! I hope my posts will help you, and am happy to answer any questions at any point in the future, too!

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  12. I have made a few flower kits and love doing it so I can see how you can slide into mass production. They are all absolutely super duper - it will be a lovely garden.

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    1. Thanks Marilyn! The kits are so much fun, and it's so nice to have so many options and varieties available! It's also great to discover that you have the supplies to make more than what comes in a kit! I hope soon to begin the "planting" process, to see if I've made enough!

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  13. Todas las flores están fantásticas. La escena que realices será maravillosa y llena de color.
    Un abrazo

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    1. Gracias Marion! ¡Estoy feliz de que te gusten las flores! ¡Es sorprendente cuántos necesitas, incluso para un pequeño jardín!

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  14. Fantastic work Jodi, you are a very talented (and patient!) lady! I can't wait to see your finished garden, it's going to be wonderful.

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    1. That is such a lovely compliment, and coming from someone very talented and crafty like you, even more so! Thank you! But I have to give credit to the SDK kits - they are so nice to work with and give beautiful results!

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  15. Gorgeous flowers! I love all but the geraniums are my favorites. Oh what fun it will be, planting them around. Thank you for sharing the procedure. I bought your way of temporarily installing a bunch in a drop of hot glue.
    Hugs, Drora

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    1. Thank you, Drora! The Geraniums were a lot of fun to make! I am glad that you found the hot glue stand idea useful! I am so excited to get to the planting part and see if the birds and the bees like them!

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  16. Wow - busy bee! You make me feel positively slacking! :D They all look so marvelous.

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    1. Thanks Brae! I don't think there is a slacker in you! :O)
      I'm just focusing all my energies in one direction, and really enjoying the flower/plant making process much more than I have in the past!

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  17. El tipo de plantas y el colorido harán un jardín espléndido.

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    1. Thanks Isabel! I hope they will look cohesive together once they're all planted, but it really is fun to explore all of the color and variety!

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  18. You make it look so easy! I have that punch but can't tell how they got from the punch to the beautiful flowers!

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  19. :O) If you go to the tutorial from One Inch Minis (link in the post), you just use the flower punches instead of her circle punch. They are fun and easy to do, so I hope you give it a try!

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  20. Hello Jodi,
    I was impressed with the dandelions...then I fell in love with the geraniums...and then my favorite so far is the Lily. Lilies are one of my absolute favorite flowers and the ones you made are incredible. What amazing color.
    Big hug
    Giac

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    1. Thank you, Giac! It makes perfect sense that Lilies are your favorites, because they represent friendship! I'm so happy you like all of the flowers!

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