Combining Projects • Funky Birdhouses

I did two specific projects in April and it wasn't until June that I considered combining them.  Remember my Silhouette paper birdhouses? I constructed a entire community of them. And then a day later I blogged about my wheat grass centerpiece here. Well yesterday, I combined the two!

I was going to discard the wheat grass because it had gotten decidedly funky - kind of like a very bad hair day. But then I was uploading my birdhouse cutting patterns to the Silhouette Online store and I thought, "How about.....?"

I took some bamboo sticks from the garden shed, cut little x's in the bottom of the birdhouses, inserted the sticks up through the center and arranged them in the grass. Easy!

And now I have a new centerpiece adding June like color to my woodbox, which is closed for the summer season!

Get the pattern:

I have just uploaded the files for four of the birdhouses to the Silhouette Online Store.  You can get the following:

• Heart Bird House here.
• Double Decker Bird House here.
• Rounded Bottom Bird house here.
• Scalloped Edge Birdhouse here.

Previous Posts of Interest:

• Birdhouses • Create a collection
• Paper Craft • Bird's Nest Shadow Box
• Springtime Driftwood Bird's Nest
• Speckled Blue Eggs for the Nest
• Birdhouse Letters

© 2013 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy

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Sharing this post at some of these link parties. They are worth checking out for other ideas.

Motivate Me Monday, Mop It Up Monday, Alderberry Hill, Metamorphis Monday, Tuesday Treasures,Today's Creative Blog, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Not Just a House Wife, The Inspiration Board, Romancing on a Dime, DIY Dreamer, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Transformation Thursday, House of Hepworths, Craftberry Bush, Jennifer Rizzo, One Artsy Mama, Craftionary, Flaunt in Friday, Tater Tots and Jello, Show and Tell Saturday, DIY Showoff, I Gotta Try That, Kathe With an E, The Girl Creative

Orchid Shadow Box - and a New Lens!

The paper shadow box theme is one that I haven't exhausted yet. It is applicable to so many subjects and yesterday my latest file, 3D Orchid Shadow Box became available over on the Silhouette Online Store here.

My daughter and son-in-law gave me this beautiful orchid plant for Mother's Day, and although I doubt I will be successful in keeping it alive for long, it has certainly been happy for the past month as new gorgeous blossoms continue to open. I used it as my design resource for the new shadow box. It is such an exotic plant.

As with all of my shadow boxes I have written a tutorial post to assist with the assembly. The post for the orchid is located here at my other blog - Ashbee Design Silhouette Projects.

As I was taking photographs for the tutorial I needed close-ups and I just didn't have a close-up lens. I compromised and took photos and then expanded them to show the detail. Little did I know that David had a surprise coming. Yesterday, yet another Amazon box arrived (we get at least 3 a day!) and I opened it only to be surprised by a new macro lens! I spent the afternoon getting to know the new lens and re-did some of the close-ups for this tutorial, like this one of the paper orchid center...

And this one- showing the curling of the center. A little white balance issue here, but it is all in the learning!

 I made this shadow box in two different styles - one has the purple centers and the other is all white.

Which do you prefer?

This shadow box is similar to the apple blossom design from earlier this year. I used the layers of the shadow box for the stems and leaves and then emphasized the complexity of the blossoms with added on petal layers. Wonder what my next shadow box will be?

Previous Posts of Interest:

• Fern Wall Art - Paper Shadow Box
• Spring Crafts - Bird's Nest Shadow Box
• Apple Blossom Shadow Boxes
• Bamboo Shadow Boxes
• Birch Tree Shadow Boxes

© 2013 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy

********************

Sharing this post at some of these link parties. They are worth checking out for other ideas.

Motivate Me Monday, Mop It Up Monday, Alderberry Hill, Metamorphis Monday, Tuesday Treasures,Today's Creative Blog, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Not Just a House Wife, The Inspiration Board, Romancing on a Dime, DIY Dreamer, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Transformation Thursday, House of Hepworths, Craftberry Bush, Jennifer Rizzo, One Artsy Mama, Craftionary, Flaunt in Friday, Tater Tots and Jello, Show and Tell Saturday, DIY Showoff, I Gotta Try That, Kathe With an E, The Girl Creative

Raincoats for my Peonies

I love peonies - for a variety of reasons.

• The blossoms are glorious, huge and so easy to create contemporary flower arrangements with. 
• After they bloom, the deep green foliage looks great in the garden as a backdrop for the rest of the season.
• The deer don't eat them - ever!

But it seems that they bloom in full glory the day before a major rain event every year. And their full blooms soak in the water, catching it and holding it in the bowl shaped flowers. And then, one by one, the blossoms become top heavy and snap. After the storm, I am left with tons of flowers with destroyed stems that need to be picked, too many for bouquets.

Out of plain kitchen trash bags, I made raincoats for my peonies. Before Tropical Storm Andrea descended upon us with torrents of rain, I pulled the trash bags down over the flowers. And they survived.

And when the rains returned yesterday, I again covered them. My front yard looks like a ghost convention! But when the sun returns, I'll uncover the peonies and enjoy the flowers a little longer.

A simple solution for sure. And the trash bags are still intact and will be used for their intended purpose.

Previous Posts of Interest

• Naturalizing Daffodils
• Mid summer - Queen Anne's Lace
• Transplanting Wildflowers • 2011 Successes

©2013 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy