Long Lake

 A Mother's Day picnic.

 a black bear cub there was another cub but he ran off into the bush so I didn't get a picture

Pacific Dogwood

Vanilla Leaf

not sure

Star-Flowering False Solomon's seal

arctic star flower

Common Garter Snake who must have been quite cold as he let me photograph him very close

Pacific Bleeding Heart

Long Lake

Oregon Grape Flower

He's hard to see but there is a willow grouse in this picture

a couple does I think this is a mama and here baby one was licking the other a lot

Bunchberry

..
Well Happy Mother's Day and thanks for stopping by!

Lace Stepping Stones, Chandelier Crystals and More Flowers.

The other day I decided the stepping stones in our back yard that go from our deck to our garage where way to boring so I decided to paint them...

here they are I didn't take a before but they where just plain grey pavers.

I spray painted through lace

 Now these aren't quite as nice as I'd like them to be. I tested painting through the lace on a piece of cardboard before I sprayed the stones and the cardboard took the paint a lot better than the cement so I thought I'd only need one coat on my cement, so I pulled my lace off right away after I spray painted without checking first and my paint was a bit mottled and once you pull your lace of entirely it's impossible to put it back again. I'm okay with the mottled look but I think it would have looked better if it was more solid. But anyway here is what I did

I found it easiest to first surround my stone with cardboard and weight it down

then I layered my lace down on top of the cardboard and rocks and then pulled the rocks out one at a time and weighted my lace down over the stone, then I painted using Krylon Indoor/Outdoor in Regal blue

in between stepping stones I laid my lace over a Rubbermaid bin to dry it was quite a hot day and I found by the time I got my cardboard laid down my lace was dry enough to use. I did every second step so I wasn't laying cardboard over wet paint and by the time I  got to the end the paint on the first stone was dry enough that I could go back and do the skipped stones.

Okay I hope that all made sense I feel like this project really gave my stepping stones kind of a bohemian garden feel.
   For my next project I picked up a small bag of Chandelier Crystals at the second hand store for 50 cents they're actual glass, I was so exited when I found them they usually cost an arm and a leg so I snatched them up quick and decided to hang them outside in my little tree like I seen here via pinterest...

i hung one in a plant on the deck as well

They look so pretty when the sun shines through them and makes little rainbow patterns.
I also helped mum with her fairy garden

and i went for a walk on Thursday I took some photos...

Honeysuckle

Thimbleberry Flower

Cow Parsnip

Arctic Starflower

False Lilly of the Valley

Pacific Dogwood

Yellow Flowering Locust Tree

Hooker's Fairybell

I love to visit this guy he's such a cutey

Mountain Ash Flowers

Well That's all for now, Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

More Fairy Gardening

Hello,
   I've been working on my fairy gardens the last couple of days and I thought I'd share what I have so far...

fairy house

my little pond with a lily pad for a fish tank

I'd like to make this overturned stawberry pot into a second fairy house but I'm not sure how I want to go about it just yet

acorn birdhouse

wire wrapped lantern

this lantern method is much simpler

and the whole thing it's a bit sparce at the moment but I've planted some ground cover plants which will hopefully spread

Now if anyone is interested here are some photos of how I made things I'll start with the house...

I started with this section of tree I found on one of my walks

and popsicle sticks from the dollar store and 2 half marble stone things which I didn't photograph

next I used a pencil to trace around my half marbled for the "windows" and measured my Popsicle sticks and marked out my door.

then using a pairing knife I started carefully cutting out my holes

finished window hole I kept testing my marble in the hole until I had a nice snug fit

and the door hole

I used e-6000 to glue in my half marbles

and white glue and finishing nails to attach my door I painted on the strips with gold paint and found a little charm in my broken jewelry stash for the door knod which I glued on with e-6000

So in hindsight I should have done this step first but oh well it all worked out...

for my "green" roof I first drilled a bunch of holes with this circle drill bit in the top of my stump then..

I knocked out all the leftover bits with a wood chisel and a hammer now I have a spot for my moss

After this I placed my house in my garden and bought 2 plants in the ground cover or rock garden section of my garden center broke of half of the roots and placed them on my roof.
   Next the acorn birdhouse which I seen here and here and decided I could make myself. So one the thing about acorns is if you leave the seed in your acorn will go moldy so you have to take the seed out.

So first off using a small drill bit drill a hole near the bottom or top of your acorn well the seed is still in it. The reason for drilling your hole well the seed is still inside is that acorn shells are delicate and I figured out that to do it after the seed is removed you'll just crack your acorn to bits. Also don't push very hard on your drill.

Next cut you're Acorn in half with a sharp Exacto knife being careful not to crack your shell to bits. Then remove the seed.

The next step is to chose an acorn cap the will fit nicely on top of your birdhouse and super glue it on. I then super glued my birdhouse to a golf tee and walla your done.

Next up the acorn cap and marble lanterns which i seen here, here and here

First drill 2 tiny holes in your acorn cap

next thread some thread through the holes I used heavy upholstery thread

loop a pencil or something about that circumference through the loop so when you tie the knot on the other side it won't pull tight.

Tie your knot remove your pencil then finish off by glueing in your marble I used E-6000 agian.

If you want to make a wire wrapped lantern glue your marble in your acorn cap first then wrap the whole thing in wire a few times and loop over the top. I didn't like the wire method as I've mentioned before I'm really bad when it comes to bending wire and I found it really difficult to wrap the wire around the marble as it kept wanting to slip off.
    Well I think that's about it I'm working on a couple other projects but until then Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!