When You Argue With Yourself, Who Wins?

I have to be completely out of my mind. That's all there is to it. You see, I just finished the garden shed. I have a partially constructed flower shop to finish, not to mention a soap shop that has been sitting idle since November. I have the Creatin' Contest kit just waiting to be started (December: tick, tick, tick) and an advent calendar that kinda needs to be done by December 3rd. Yet instead of working through these projects, I do this...

The kit has been waiting three years
for it's turn...

New parts, new possibilities!

Parts list - so OCD satisfying!

Right now this is exciting but
 at some point I am going to hate painting
pieces.

I know better than to argue with myself. Might as well just save time and go with the creative flow!

I love fresh wood, glue and nails!

Kitchen cabinet mock up.

I have the perfect size plywood for the divider wall.

First floor dry fit. I'm full of ideas...

I can cut this opening...

And cut this one...

And fill this one...

Oh trust me. I have asked myself some tough questions... "What about the space it will need to be displayed properly? Where will you put the garden shed and the flower shop/s? Have you forgotten about poor Alki Point? Are you aware that you have two large builds already in your bedroom?". And to myself I say...

See that computer hutch? Those built in shelves?

You've got plenty of space.
You just need to get creative!

And let's not forget my hunky handy handsome husband. The one who brings home tools and shelving material as early Mother's Day gifts and offers to double my display space.

An automagical nailer!

Purdy melamine wall shelf, brackets and lovely edge molding!
My drawer tops will only be for storage now and the shelf for
displaying completed projects!

See I can argue with myself all day but I always, always win.

Real Good Toys New Orleans dollhouse - let's do this!

Hope you're winning all of the arguments, too!

xxx,

Jodi

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

Farewell... Again

I come from a gigantic family. My maternal grandparents had seven kids, and my paternal six. And that's only my side! At times the holidays are insane. Sometimes you don't even get a chance to talk to everybody. This makes for a long procession of goodbyes all down the front hall. When it's cold it tends to speed things up a bit. There's nothing like cold air coming through the open door to send folks quickly to the warmth of their heated car seats. But mostly, goodbyes lead to more conversation, and when you actually enjoy the people in your family, the goodbye process goes through several stages. What's my point you ask? Well, I am bidding you all a farewell... Again...

You see, Russ wanted to build (yes - he is also a maker, but his toys look more manly. Like welders and stuff) a trailer to tow behind the Jeep on our anniversary adventure. Then he worked out of town from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, eve. Then on January 2nd, he started another job that was supposed to last only two weeks. It turned into five (through no fault of his own - cabinet and counter top manufacturing delays). This left only six days to build a trailer, get it licensed, pack all of the camping gear, an oh - get new gearing put into the Jeep. Well, I may have asked him if we should have a contingency plan in case the trailer could not be finished in time. What Russ heard me say was "I bet you can't do it! Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! So guess what he did?

It looks just like his sketch!

Isn't it just adorable?

In only four days... Oh the power I yield over that mere mortal amazing man <insert evil laugh here>!...

So suddenly, I had all this garage widow time on my hands. I tried to use it wisely. I cleaned out my closets and arranged for a local charity to come pick stuff up. But then. that idea happened. You know, the one from the last post. I fell right into creating and it felt so good! So fun! So fulfilling! Like my whole life had been leading up to this moment!!!

Screech! Alright. It wasn't that good. But it was close.

So anyway, back to the whole point (if you are still here reading - thank you for your patience! I get so excited ((duh)))...

I made some egg carton stones for the floor...

With the gray set of Windsor & Newton Promarkers...

And they turned out so amazing...

That I had to tell you NOW! <insert Madeline Kahn singing "Sweet Mystery Of Life" from Young Frankenstein>  I could not let it sit until I got back from vacation! What if you are planning to make bricks or blocks or stones before I get back?

And then I Mother Nature'd some "clapboard" (1/8" x 3/4"), painted and installed...

And now, in the most bittersweet way you can imagine, I must leave my inspired yet unfinished garden shed and say farewell to you, kindred friends, again.

Until next time (which, truthfully could be sooner than you think).

xoxo,
Jodi