Fairy Garden Additions

With some neglect happening to my fairy garden, I was feeling guilty. A trip to hobby lobby with a Christmas gift card quickly changed my rut. I was wondering around with my son when I stumbled into an isle filled with 30% off fairy/gnome garden accessories. 

Hot damn.

There went my gift certificate. 

I bought this tiny, cheap birdhouse. (A couple of them, actually) and began to think of designs. A little inspiration from Pinterest, and supplies i (mostly) had on hand, and I whipped this baby out in 24 hours. 

Last year I attempted to build a stone stacked cottage. It was a mess. I used unsanded grout hoping to get a mortar look, but it just looked sloppy. I then let it sit in my craft room for several months until the boy knocked it over and broke an entire wall. At this point I said F* it and dismantled the whole thing, which was far easier than putting it together. 

Anyways. I had my heart set on a stone cottage. After having (or obtaining, I don't  remember) the idea of a birdhouse base, the domino effect of ideas consumed me. 

The variety of inexpensive birdhouses surprised me. There were bird barns, gazebos, wrap around porches, double deckers, castles, etc. I almost got carried away, but remembered the funniest part is being thrifty and creative. Not just painting a birdhouse. I may still upgrade later on to a 'fancy' barn. ;)

Here is what I chose. (Minus the hanging rope, this was a stock photo as I forgot to photograph my own :( )

I chose three. 

Simple. 

I only had plans for one, but knew I wanted to do more. I have space for a while village sectioned off. 

As for supplies I asked my husband what glue he thought best. Wood glue came to my mind, silicone to his. Silicone was awesome. 

I had the rock on hand. I have several bags of varying sizes for the fairy garden already. 

I had no idea what to do for the roof. I entertained the idea of black river washed rocks, same rocks as the walls, or pine cone shingles as I had seen on Pinterest. I left it open for suggestions. As for a grout look I pondered dirt, unsanded grout, and settled on beach sand I acquired from our vacation to Oceanside last year. It turned out great. 

My husband cut the bottom bird hole into a door for me. (He's so handy!)

I got started on my stone laying as soon as I washed some rocks and fetched the silicone, thinking I'd only do a wall a night or something to let it dry. Nope. Finished all four walls within 3 hours. 

I silicones the crap out of each wall (one side at a time) and laid the rock out. It was similar to a puzzle, but easier since you could make it up as you go along. I was glad to have so many shapes and sizes. Once done laying I sprinkled the beach sand into all the cracks. It only took about 20 minutes each side to dry enough to move on. 

Once all four walls were covered I brushed off the extra sand with a painting brush and let dry over night. 

This morning We went out for our daily walk and I planned to keep my eye out for inspiration, and gather pine cones, just in case. 

The park turned out to be a Mecca. I gathered up some 'itch ball' tree bark and other materials and headed home. The bark did a great job as roofing shingles. The wood was thin and curvy, but not unmanageable. It took a lot of silicone to get it all to fit tightly. 

While that was drying I co templates the door. Several ideas later I settled on Popsicle sticks. The rocks were a bit in the way, (should have done the door first!) so I couldn't really get a sense of how to make it fit just right. Then, I remembered that this was just a fairy garden and I doubt anyone would care if the door had a gap or was not level. 

I cut the sticks, glued them together, painted it red and stuck a upholstery tack as the door knob. The fight to get it inside the frame was not as bad as i had anticipated. the rocks were a little bit flexible on the silicone. I added silicone to known contact points of the door and house and shoved it in. 

Dun du nu Na nah!!! 

I then couldn't contain myself and ruined a small portion of  my carpet by wood staining the next bird/fairy house while trying to fit too many projects in a day. 

But that's another story....

Atlantis, Bahamas!

My husband is a good man. He is a kind, selfless, good man. He let me go on a girls trip to the Bahamas! And leave the child with him! Eeek! 

Flying over Florida

I felt really guilty going without him, but honestly, we couldn't afford for both of us to go (really even one of us) but with my ticket being half paid for, I really couldn't decline either.

 It was glorious. 

(Except the part where I got the stomach bug for the first 24 hours and was bed ridden, in paradise. I felt so awful and missed my loving husband who would have taken care of me :(  )  Other than that, It was amazing. I had to really pack in the fun those remaining two days. 

We stayed at a 'sister hotel' of the Atlantis resort. Our hotel room door was about 50 yards from the front door of the resort. 

Very cute hotel. I think it was the Comfort Suites. Hardly anybody was in the pool at any given time. They had a bar and a good breakfast and great security. 

But the resort.......

Lawdy lawdy, it was beautiful! Breathtaking! Magnificent! Glorious! Enchanting! 

(That's all I got) 

The artwork was amazing. The sculptures and statues and fountains and ponds! Oh my!

Really, it was magical. I did not have enough time to venture into everything, but I'd love to know how much I walked in those two days. 

Did I mention the day I got over my stomach bug, my companion got sick? Yeah. Sucky. So, my second day was really all just exploring by myself........ 

Cue the song.....

It wasn't bad at all though. There really was so much to explore that I otherwise would not have seen. Like the aquarium! In the hotel. Ah-mazing! 

Remember the commercials? The guests riding down a water slide through a tunnel, inside a shark tank?!? 

 Yeah, I went down that! There are actually two tunnels here, one is a free fall and the other is a tube slide. The free fall scared the snot out of me. Seriously. My bathing suit was wedged up in places it shouldn't have been, and my stomach was in my throat. There was no looking at sharks in that one. When I went over the edge I briefly saw a beautiful view that was quickly thought to be my last. Then it was over. I definitely preferred the tube slide.  I feel old. 😞 However, the tube slide also allowed for pictures of the sharks and the ability to slow down and watch them swim past you. 

That tube behind the shark is the aforementioned slide of death. 

Here is a gorgeous panorama of the beach. This was a public beach in Nassau with zero people on it. It was gorgeous and quiet and peaceful. The resort beach was crowded and busy and had a steep slope to the water. It also had lots of people trying to sell stuff. Necklaces, jet ski rides, swimming with dolphins etc. I preferred this quiet little beach. An aquaintance  of my friends took us for a joyride around the east side of the island. There was some celebration and parade that kept us from touring all of it. We saw some of the nicer neighborhoods, politicians homes, along with the mayors, and also the jail. Lol 

A hermit crab a little boy found and stopped to show me.

I also got stung by a jelly fish. It was a tiny little thing and I can hardly say 'stung by it'. It definitely touched me and I got a little itchy rash from it. My friend said jellyfish here don't sting, but I am allergic to many strange flaura and fauna. 

I'm not much of a gambler, but as I was passing the casino I looked through a window and saw a slot machine that I had to play. It was a Dia De Los Muertos themed slot machine! I went inside and tracked it down only to find it was out of order, and the only one like it there. Argh!

I really can't wait for my son to be older and bring him and my husband back here. Incredible guilt, experiencing all of this and not being able to share it with them. It was a great place for families. 

You really would never have to leave the hotel if you didn't want to. Everything is there. 

On our last day we did leave the resort and went into downtown Nassau. We took a ferry across the channel and had a great little tour by a charming lottle old toothless man. We did a little shopping but the shopkeepers were pushy in trying to sell stuff I was not interested in. I really dislike that. We tried to hit up one of the markets (my favorite!) but they were closing up as we got there. A few ladies in Yates their booths and let us look around and I bought souvenirs from them. We then took a bus to the bridges that crossed the channel. Instead I've going over we walked underneath them to a little row of shacks. 

(Image from google) 

This was, apparently, some of the best food around. It was here I tried my first bite of conch. Just writing about it makes me crave it. It was delicious. 

I had fried conch and my friend had conch soup. The moon was full and amazing over the beautiful waters of Nassau. We chatted with locals and enjoyed a few beers before our long walk back to the hotel. (It was actually not that long, but walking up that bridge was close to torture. It was so steep!) 

(Another google image, it was too dark for any of my own pictures) 

Illness aside, this was an amazing trip. I wish I had more time, and can't wait to take my family back there. I highly recommend you go. (Did I mention there is a lazy river?!?)

Calaveras- A Pop Up store

In downtown Albuquerque the 'Downtown Action Team' is offering some empty office space to small online businesses for free in an effort to fill space. The idea is to let the artist or business owner get a feel for life with a shop, and if they choose to stay open the space manager will give them a discounted rent for the first 6 months to get started.

My mom signed up to open a Day Of The Dead shop. Her and my brother had been collaborating on some clay skulls he was making and she was painting. At the same time, and unknowingly, I had been making these lavender sachets out of super awesome fabric I had picked up at a quilt shop. 

We talked about including my sachets in the shop and I was excited to participate. 

I'm not quite sure what the goal was in the beginning, or what she was expecting, but at the beginning of October, she realized the shop being open was in direct overlap of her trip to Europe. Around that time she was also having a hard time getting ahold of my brother and getting any solid commitment from him as to what he was putting in the shop other than skulls. Fairly quickly this became my 'thing'. I was the only one with time enough to make things to put into the shop. My mom bought me many supplies to get started and I began to, rather frantically, make Dia De Los Muertos themed items. I made pillows and earrings, necklaces and sachets. T-shirts and banners. I made a LOT of product.

The day came to start readying the little shop space to make it our own. Luckily the resident prior had some good taste and left the walls with a teal top and chalkboard bottom. That made it easy for me since it fit right in with our theme. With the help of my husband and a great artist friend we began to transform the empty space into our own. This was absolutely my favorite part. My friend Alyssa ( http://instagram.com/chillehott ) did beautiful chalk art around the walls and painted the Windows. 

I painted burnt orange designs on the teal top.

(Most of the pictures are dark since I could only go in the evenings, sorry) 

We hung the paper banners sound the Windows and it added a nice shop front touch.

 I used my cricut a lot for this project. It was very handy! 

The main walls we had to leave white. We put up large pieces of sheet metal and metal lath to hang magnets, key chains, earrings and necklaces on. 

We blocked a doorway with string and made it a place to display t-shirts. (All the artwork on those shirts is Alyssa's)

It's amazing that I was able to create enough product in less then a month to fill a small shop. My brother did provide his clay skulls and a few necklace. 

One of his friends also provided some of her art. They were little wood minting or display boards with animal skulls painted on them. I did not get any photos of them. 

The final artwork. She did such a wonderful job! I loved writing descriptions and prices on the walls! That would really be an awesome display strategy for a small shop. 

Lavender sachet display. 

Wallets next to the sachets.

Hand painted and battery operated LED lanterns.

Pillows and a display. 

Purses and the main display.

I can't find my pictures of the front window art. But I will continue looking and post when I find it. The shop was a lot of fun to put on. Although, the location was not the greatest. There was not a lot of foot traffic. I could see scores of movie goers walking down 1st to their cars but I was 3 shops in the street and they hardly looked my way. I wouldn't say it was a success, but I had a lot of fun producing it. In the end, I had a ton of product left over and I quickly signed up for a few holiday craft fairs. I had always wanted to do a craft fair, but never had the stock to sign up for one. Noes my chance!