Mannequin Guts & The Big Furry Hole Digging Beast

This is my latest creative project.

It is in it's beginning stages right now.

At the moment it sort of reminds me of something out of a" Tim Burton" movie.

She is my creation.

I think I'll call her Hortense.

(It's an old Victorian Era name.)

She's been asleep in my basement for many years.

I've awakened her to live forever in the FLOWER FOREST.

(or at least until she falls apart)

The brads and brackets look like eyes to me.

So you see: ) her eyes are in her neck because she has no head or you could say, her neck is her head.

The burlap bow, her hair.

The chicken wire behind her is the collar of her dress.

THESE ARE THE GUTS OF HORTENSE!

Hortense has a dress made of chicken wire.

I am developing a plan to cover her wire dress with moss, sticks, and other beautiful things from the forest floor.

She will then be named "Hortense, Queen of the Flower Forest"

She will stand proudly among the budding blossoms.

The vining Clematis will wind itself around her dress in a proper fairy tale manner.

Her job will be to protect FLOWER FOREST from this:

And here he is again. The hole digger extraordinaire.

He can dig out a flower before you even know he's there.

He seems to be afraid of the old dress form, so let's hope it works.

Anyway, this is what he (Jack, our dog) thinks of the whole thing:

And this too:

He's actually yawning (that's what he does when he's nervous) and not throwing up as the picture implies.

He's a little worried that Hortense is taking over his kingdom of endless holes and dead flowers.

It's entirely too hot to work in the FLOWER FOREST today.

Hopefully, I'll have pictures soon of a finished creative garden.

Hope I made you smile!

Big hugs from Hortense and me.

Jack doesn't care.

Karen





Making My Own Spring

I've heard so many of you mention this week that you are tired of winter and I'm right there with you.

It's cold and snowy outside my window and I'm just not going out there.

Instead, I'm playing with my plants indoors and trying to create a sort of Spring garden look in my dining room.

Of course it's still a mess as I sort through tons of stuff, trying to decide what to keep, what to get rid of, and what I can use in another room to change up the look a bit.

Here are some of the keepers.

 The bell jar was a Christmas gift from my daughter and I just love it. There's a little pot of ivy in there, a clay bunny and a little birds nest. It is sitting on a beautiful silver tray that was a thrifted find from a few years ago.

The mercury glass candle holder was a remarkable thrift find from last week. It was a 50 cent item and I just love it too.

The silver leaf was a gift from an old friend and the wool acorns are something I made after purchasing a few from Lisa at http://www.lilfishstudios.etsy.com/.

 I've had this old stick wreath for years and just can't part with it. The little ceramic bird hanging in the center was something I picked up at an art show a few years back.

 This antique print was a thrifted find too. It reminds me of spring. Can you see the little bird at the bottom of the print?

This old cherub statue has a place at the top for a plant. Now I just need to get a small plant to put there. 

 Another bird nest under glass. You can never have too many bird nests!

 Another thrifted antique print. It has the most beautiful frame.

This little garden girl was a gift from my mom a long time ago. She's a little chipped and weathered, but I love her just the same.

Wow! After writing this I realized that most of the things I love enough to keep are thrifted finds and gifts from people that I love.

Well, I'm not finished cleaning and decorating the dining room yet, so I better get back to it.

Keep thinking Spring.

It will be here before you know it.

Hugs,

Karen