The Shed ~ a bit of landscaping?

Well, I must admit, I finished the shed yesterday and straight away listed it on Ebay. I am so pleased with it, that I had to list it quickly just in case I changed my mind about selling it! I really enjoyed making this one :0) So, here is the next part on how I made it all up.....

After getting the inside of the shed just right, it was time to start on 'landscaping' the outside. First off though, I needed to make a vine or a tree, so I gathered my tools and some thick guauge wire, sat down and let the wire take its shape. Here's the shape it decided to be.....

 

I then covered all the twists and turns with brown florists tape, adding thicker areas and wood staining the lower parts. When I was happy with it, I put it in place and built up a 'soil mound' around it using Art Mache. I mixed the Art Mache and then stirred in some emulsion paint to colour. It's the first time I have tried this and it worked!

 

After building up the mound of 'earth' I used my bear making pliers to hold it all in place untill the glue and art mache dried!!!! Don't worry, they cleaned up lovely, the bears won't notice!

When it was dry, I carried on and made a bumpy surface all over the base to hopefully make it look like a muddy garden.

 

After all that had dried, I decided the 'soil' wasn't dark enough, so I added a coat of dark oak woodstain... much more realistic!

That evening, I sat curled up on the sofa and made some fimo pumpkins... my favourite bit ;0)

I just love pumpkins... did any of you notice? hee hee

Most of these will end up in Gertie's garden ;0)

So, there is my little shed, nearly finished.... just the garden to dress now and ok, I will part with some of my pumpkins ;0) 

I willl pop the final pics on tomorrow, but if you can't wait that long, to see the finished shed, if you click  here  you will go straight to the shed's Ebay page.

Well, thats me done for today, I'm off to sit and stitch witchy shabby cats now! That's after I have read any Miniatura reports from fellow peeps of course :0)

See you tomorrow, have a good day,

Julia xxx

News on 'The Shed'

I have been doing the odd hour here and there on the shed since I bought it and I have heaps of photos stored up to show. So I thought I might as well make a start, seeing as I have been instructed not to move off the sofa this afternoon!! Roll on monday, when he, who is not to be obeyed is in work, hee hee!

I stained the whole lot with Jacobean Oak Wood stain, after hubby had made me a base and cut out the 'shiplap cladding' for the exterior walls. Then I started to glue everything together. The glue oozed a little between the side shed wall and the base, so I grabbed the opportunity to push some 'grass' sprinkle along the wall base.

Then disaster struck, whilst I was waiting for it all to dry, I knocked it off the table and it bounced across the garage floor, which, thankfully isn't a concrete floor, its laminate as it is connected to the house, but the shed didn't survive unscathed all the same!

It broke my window glazing.....

But, after gingerly picking it up and swearing a little.. ok a lot.... I don't think its too bad.... in fact, I think it adds a little bit of character which I couldn't have done myself no matter how hard I'd tried! What do you think?

So, after that little drama and after it had dried peacefully overnight, I went in the search of something nice to use for the floor. I tried some wood planks, but it all looked a bit too 'woody' and then I found the hidden box of Hywel's handmade tiles! I wondered if he would mind me 'borrowing' some, but well... he was in work, by the time he got home, they would be painted, aged, glued down and looking fabalous and he would say 'see, I told you they would look good in there' as if it was his idea in the first place!! ;0)

The tiles are made from Terracotta and I stained them using a dark Oak wood dye, but they take on a different hue to the wood dye because of the terracotta colour and absorbency. Though, I think a couple of plaster of paris tiles sneaked in too!

After an hour or so, they were dry, so I covered the base of the shed (inside) with a layer of Art Mache and then sunk the tiles into it. This gave me a good look of worn grouting between the tiles. I then added some patches of soil and that was the floor laid :0)

Then hubby came home from work and was so impressed he went straight into the garage and made me a potting table :0) I had to cook the tea though!

So there is the shed coming along nicely, I hope you like it. Can you see the viney thing through the window?
I will show how I made that and how I have 'landscaped' the outside in my next post.

Now, I'm off to escape from this sofa, too much sitting is giving me a numb b... :0)

Julia xxx

Halloween Shed ~ Part 1

Well, I have made a start on the shed, getting all the 'stand up to do' bits out of the way. I did a dry run to make sure that everything went together ok and hubby found some nice thin wood strips for me to use as the shiplap cladding on the shed exterior.

Once that was sorted, I nagged for a nice base which hubby routed to give me a nice bevelled edge. Then out came the tin of super dark wood dye! It's darker in RL!

The wood dye is 'Coloron Indian Rose Wood' and I applied it to the unsealed MDF with a 'fat headed' artists brush. I didn't seal the MDF so that the wood dye would soak in really well and give me a darker, older finish.

I've started to dirty the windows too and I have a couple of old rusty buckets, one has a little mouse nest in it at the moment ;0)

I know exactly how I want the shed, but I can't decide whether to have a vine or part of a tree growing over the shed, I think I will just make a start and see where the materials take me.

But first, I will nagging hubby to make the shelves and potting table for the inside and I have to age and fix the shiplap cladding to the outside.

 

So there's my little start on my 'halloween shed.' It's not very halloweeny yet, but it will be when it's finished!

Not long now till my 'little hospital visit', so I don't know how much I will be around over the next couple of weeks or so, I may be incrediably bored and manage to be here every day, driving you all nuts or I may just be curled up on the sofa with the TV remote. If I'm not around, I will take pics of the shed as I go along and do a very long post of how I did it, when I'm feeling better.

See you all soon,

Julia xxx