Broom Pole Bird Houses.

Stood in the kitchen, a few weeks ago, I saw a movement outside the kitchen window.  Mr.Cobs was out there and up to something.  Hmmm.  [thinks to self:]  I thought I just saw him . . .   or did I?  Was that a . . . ?  Did I see him just . . .?

When he came into the house I asked him:

“Did you, by any chance, just throw a long bit of wood into the bin?” 

“Yes” came the reply, “the broom pole (handle) has broken, so I was throwing it away.  Why?”  “

“Nooooooo!” I said (wide-eyed).  “Oh, please don’t throw it away.  Can you get it back out again?”. 

“Well yes, course I can,  but why?  What the heck do you want it for?”. 

“Well, …  I don’t actually know right at this moment ….  but I will know.  At some point.  There’s something inside my brain cell which is trying to send me a message.  I know I can use that broken broom pole.  Please save it for me?  In the shed perhaps?  Can you?  Pleeeease??“  (I said in my sweetest voice).

So, bless his beautiful heart, he went and rescued the broken broom pole (for folks outside the UK – we here in the United Kingdom tend to refer to the handle of a broom as a broom pole), and put it in his shed.  Last week I finally received the message from HQ (aka: my one remaining brain cell), and the message was ….  Make Bird Houses!

I showed Mr.C a drawing and gave him a rough measurement, with the instructions:  “They don’t have to be perfect, in fact not perfect would be perfect  – but can you just cut 3 bits off the broom pole to *this* size, and once they’re cut, if you can give them to me I’ll draw where I want them cut again so that it will make the slope for the roof. Thank Yooooou!”  [said in a singy songy way with a sweet, smiling face].  And, God bless his wonderful heart, he cut the wood bits for me, gave them to me and . . .  I could tell by the look on his face that he thought (not for the first time) that I was bonkers.

However …  he now loves what I did with those three bits of chopped up broom pole.

Let me share them with you, one by one…

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  Showing you the wood stained miniature bird house, with the Red Hot Pokers growing at the base.  This bird house measures just 8.8cm – or 3.5inches.  It’s just stopped raining – and you can see the puddles of rain on the stepping-stones at the base, and rain drops on the roof of the bird house.

Each bird house stands on a ‘slice’ of dried wood, which I then decorated to give it that ‘garden’ feel.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  A side view of the little Blue stained Bird House.  This Bird House stands 9.8cm tall (or 3.85″ inches).  It has Ivy growing up around the pole which the Bird House stands on, and the Ivy then winds its way around the black tiled roof.

Each slice of wood, which the bird houses stand on, is of a slightly different size, so that there was nothing matching about any of them, other than they were tiny bird houses, a little wonky perhaps,  but all of them were stood in a charmed, magical garden,  … somewhere.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  A slightly angled view of all three bird houses so that you can see some of the details of the ‘ground’ on which they stand.

As I look at each of the bird houses I try to decide which one is my favourite, and I’m finding it quite difficult.  Mr.Cobs, however, says his favourite is the wood stained one, with the Red Hot Pokers growing around the base.  Right at this moment, I think my favourite is the Copper Roofed bird house – simply because I love that copper roof.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  The Copper Roof Bird House – stands 12.2cm tall.  (which is just  4.80″inches).   This bird house stands right at the edge of a small pond in which three golden coloured fish swim happily.

The Copper Roof Bird House has its own Box Tree in the shape of a ball, stood in a teeny tiny (but real) terracotta pot.  There’s a waterfall – which aerates the water for the fish, and a rock sited within the pond which is for any passing frog to sit on and spend a little time there.  The pond is surrounded by slate stones.

I REALLY enjoyed making these delight filled little Bird Houses.  They were so much fun and yet again …. they’re in my favourite size to work with …  LITTLE!  Hope you like them too!

So … that’s the crafty bit over and done with so now it’s time for coffee . . . 

…  and  …  time for me to make you smile:

These are the jokes folks:

❤

Surely every car is a people carrier?

❤

What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?   One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.

❤

When Clowns divorce – is there a custardy battle?

❤

I usually meet my daughter at 12:59,  because I like that one-to-one time.

❤

My cat is recovering from a massive stroke. (think about it for a moment …. the penny will drop!)

❤

I have a friend whose name is Fin.  Which means it’s very hard for her to end emails without sounding pretentious. 

❤

Smilin’  now?   😀

Well that’s me done and dusted.  But what about you?  What have you been getting up to this week?  Had a birthday?  Planning a trip?  Started Christmas shopping?  Crafted something?  Feeling poorly?  Cooked something new and exciting?  Or … has someone been really lovely and/or displayed some kind of kindness towards you?

Do share with me,  and tell me what’s going on in your corner of the world.

In the meantime …  I send you my love and very best wishes.  I hope that life is treating you kindly, and that you know that everyone here cares about you very much.  

Have a truly blessed rest of your day.  Much love from me  ~

 

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Pixie Wallow ~ Pixie Crafting with Little Cobs

At my Grandsons, Little Cobs, school they have a ‘project’ which involves a teddy bear called Barnaby.  Each child in the class gets to take Barnaby the Bear home with them for a few days, and Barnaby gets to spend time sharing the family outings, games, toys, meals, visits etc., and the children (with the help of parents, guardians, grandparents) write the story of what Barnaby has been doing while he’s been staying with them.

Little Cobs Daddy (Son in Law) told me about Barnaby, and suggested that perhaps Barnaby Bear would like to come with Little Cobs to visit Grammy and Grandad, and maybe Grammy could do some crafting with Little Cobs and take photographs, print them out and they could then be included in the story book of Barnaby’s time spent with Little Cobs and all the things he did.

And this is the [mostly pictorial] story of how Barnaby Bear came to visit Grammy and Grandad and joined in with some crafting with Little Cobs and his Grammy.

I’ve made little tiny things for years (and years and years – more than I care to own up to).  I love small detail.  And ... I used to make little houses, paint and attach them to various items and used to sell them for just enough money to cover the costs of actually making them.  Now about a month ago, Pinterest (that well known joyful time-waster) sent me an email with pictures of things it suggested I might like.  Among those photos were some little Fairy Houses which reminded me of the Fairy homes I used to make many years ago.  This gave me an idea for what I thought Little Cobs, and Barnaby Bear, might like to make, and the following photographs show you what happened, how it happened, who made it happen, and how it all turned out in the end.

Once upon a time, two and a half weeks ago, there was a boy, a bear, a mug and some clay….

I showed Little Cobs how to make a tiny Pixie House using clay.  My bright little chap got the idea first time and, using just two fingers, he made two perfect little houses, while Barnaby Bear watched and learned.

The little boy then made some Mushroom Caps, and held them up for Barnaby Bear to pass his expert eye over.  Barnaby, as it turned out, is an expert at all things Fairy and Pixie.  What a stroke of luck that was!

Progress  …  Two expertly created Pixie Houses, and two miraculous, magical, Mushroom Caps.

We put the newly made clay pieces to one side and filled the chosen mug and fixed moss in place, to give the feeling of being in Fairy/Pixie Land. (see the Mug Garden over to the left of the photo).  Next came PAINTING!  The little boy – aka Little Cobs, is pretty expert at using a paint brush now and I’m wondering if perhaps I could get him doing a bit of decorating around Cobweb Towers.  Free child labour – and at my favourite price. lol

As you can see, Barnaby Bear was definitely taking his job as Quality Control Bear, very seriously indeed!

It’s a really pretty plate – but not one we use for food.  It just sits around waiting for some passing crafter to blob paint onto it in order to give it a use.  

Once all the paint was dry, and after the artist had had an afternoon snack and a bit of a play, Little Cobs placed all his beautiful handmade pieces in the places he wanted them to be so that he could check for position.  Once perfect, he gave the go ahead for everything to be fixed in place.

A few small resin flowers were added, just for artisticness, (not a real word but it’s so ‘juicy’ that once I’d made it up I simply had to use it), a couple of teeny tiny pine cones and some general florestry bits – just to make it feel like home to any passing Fairy or Pixie who might be looking for a place for the summer.

Barnaby Bear suggested that the whole scene needed a name, so Little Cobs and I came up with Pixie Wallow, and Grammy built a name label on the computer and printed it out for Little Cobs to fix it to the outside of the cup, so that everyone knew what it was.

I’m reliably informed that Barnaby was very happy with Pixie Wallow, and it passed the Inspection Test with a gold star!

It’s ready for a close up, Mr. Demille …  (those who’ve watched Sunset Boulevard will get that one).

All the painting is Little Cobs own, apart from tiny bits where I showed him what he needed to do before I handed over the paint brush, and two spots on one of the Mushroom caps, just to show him how to get that magical ‘dot’ in the right place, in the right size.  He made the houses, the mushroom caps and was the ideas man for how the whole scene was to look.

Little Cobs, Barnaby Bear and myself had an absolutely great time making this.  Lots of laughs and lots of stories about who would eventually live in the Pixie Houses, and who would come and sit on the mushrooms and play in the garden.

Before I go may I share a surprise that I had a couple of days ago.  I got sent an Anniversary Achievement by WordPress . . .

…  four years!  FOUR YEARS I’ve been blogging, and yet if you’d have asked me I would have guessed about…  maybe 2 to 2 and a half years tops.  I can hardly believe it.  Four years,  and I’ve loved every single day of it, and that’s because I’ve shared it with you.

I’ve made so many lovely friends via my blog and have and am enjoying so many blogs which are owned by others.

So thank you, dear reader, for filling my last four years with joy and fun.  I’ve loved getting to know you and hope to continue doing so, and also hope to get to know all the new people who join The Cobweborium Emporium,  or that I find in blog land.

Thank you so much for coming today and sharing Pixie Wallow.  Have a truly blessed rest of your day.

 

 

 

 

Once upon a time . . .

Are you sitting comfortably children?  Then I’ll begin . . .

Once upon a time …  when I was a little younger than I am now,  …  not much younger you understand,   just a little, … I was watching daytime TV when all of a sudden what should appear on the screen than some darling little houses.  Just for a flash.  A moment.  The longest, they were on-screen was about 3 seconds.  BUT … I saw them and that’s what’s important here.

I tried to find the little houses on the internet, by doing a search for the TV programme on which they made their momentary appearance, but, sadly, it was not to be.  I discovered that they were never featured within the programme, so they were just there in the introduction as a colourful addition to the film sequence which ‘introduced’ the programme.

BUT ….  I’d seen them,  and once seen, they could never be forgotten.  They were imprinted upon my brain.  Well … my one brain cell had drawn them on a  post-it note and pinned it to the wall of my brain so that I remembered them.

They were on the ‘back burner’ of my mind for the longest time, when one day, some weeks ago I mention\ed them to Mr.Cobs. 

Mr. Cobs has a collection of scrap bits of wood – off cuts of this, that and the other which he cannot bear to throw away.  As a crafter I can fully understand this behaviour.  I ventured down the garden, pretending to look for one of our cats, but I was sneakily peeping through the windows of his Man Cave.  He caught me at it!

A voice boomed from somewhere and made me jump:  “What are you up to, young lady?”.  I gasped, audibly.  Was that God speaking to me?  A ghost maybe? (because we’re pretty certain we have one – along with many ghosts of cats).  I looked towards the house but could see no one there.  Again, the voice asked “What are you doing?” … only this time I knew where the voice was coming from.

…..  “I was just looking in the shed windows.  Y’know….  like y’do.”  I said, feeling that would be enough of an explanation.  But it wasn’t.

Mr.C wandered into the conservatory and I instantly knew I was ‘in trouble’.  He was putting on his gardening shoes, and that meant only one thing . . .  he was coming out!  I’d been caught in the act, and I was going to have to explain myself.

Now Mr.Cobs is a ‘stamper’.  Not a crafting stamper you understand, but a  ‘BANG HIS FEET DOWN ON THE FLOOR AS HE WALKS BECAUSE HE A HUGE BEAST OF MAN’  stamper.  He’s on the other end of the scale when it comes to ‘Ballerina’. In fact … he’s totally off that scale.  Think more Sumo Wrestler – but slimmer.  He’s a tall chap, and does carry a little more timber around the middle than the Doctor is happy about, but he’s not huge.  However …  he’s going to totally stuff up the internal ‘shock absorbers in his legs’ with the way he walks.  He can’t do anything light-footed.  He can’t creep, and I swear to Dog that he can’t walk gently.  He  S.T.A.M.P.S  his heels down with the heaviest feet in the whole wide world.

He exited the conservatory.  The ground was shaking as he approached.

“You were looking for something – I saw you.  What are you looking for?”

“I was just gazing in the windows.  Just, y’know ….  gazing”  I replied.

“So you weren’t hoping to go into the shed to find something and remove it then?” he said as almost an accusation.

“Uhm .. well, no, not quite  ….  not now you’re here.”  I said, grinning,  and feeling the warm glow of guilt coming to my cheeks.

“Oh, right, well then I’ll go away.“  He said, pretending to turn and walk away.

“Well … actually….  since you are here….”  I ventured, in a cajoling tone…. 

He turned is body back around and lent his head to one side, in a questioning sort of angle – his eyebrows raised, clearly (voicelessly) asking … “What?”

“….  I saw something on TV a little while ago, and I would rather like to make some of them”

“So you WERE looking for something then!”  He said, accusingly, but with a laugh which also showed as fun on his face.

“…..  Welll … Yes  …   I was really.  Sort of.  I need some little bits of wood”.  I said in my most Sunday best, angelic voice that I could muster.

“Bits of wood?  What for?  What do you want to make and what size of wood are you hoping to find?”.  He was warming to the subject matter, I could tell.  Bits of wood are Mr.Cobs ‘currency’.

Lifting my hands to demonstrate,  I said:  “Well, I need three bits ….  around this sort of size”  … (making box shapes with my hands).  “I want to make some little houses”.

“Little Houses?”   He repeated, while his brows furrowed….

“Yes.  Simple, rustic looking little houses, out of cut wood, and I will paint doors and windows on them!”

He’s that used to my hair brained ideas for crafting things – I’ve been a crafter all our married life, so he’s used to me now – that he didn’t flinch or give me one of his  ‘Are You Totally Mad, Woman?’  faces that he can do sometimes.

“Ok…  I think I can do that.  But … what about the roofs?  What are you going to do for those?”  He asked.

“Uhmm … ….  paint them I suppose.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Ok.  Give me a little time.  I’ve got to finish getting the garden in order and  . . . ”  … he reeled off a list of VITs  (Very Important Things), and ended with:  “…  and then I’ll get to your wooden houses.  OK?”

During the weekend just gone he presented me with three little blocks of wood.   I took my pencil and drew how and where they’d need to be cut in order to give them a roof.  He took the blocks of wood away and a few minutes later he presented me with these:

Three almost but not quite little houses.

I painted them with an under-coat, and as I did so, Mr.Cobs appeared back in the craft-room and asked me again about the roofs,  telling me that he had some ‘slates’ left over from when we built our porch.  “I could cut you some of those slates to the right sizes, if you’d like Slate for the roofs.”  He said.  I jumped at the chance!

He measured up the little houses and went away humming to himself, and a little while later he came back and gave me six individual little pieces of slate – all cut to the right sizes for each of the houses, and with little holes in them, so that they could be fixed in place!  And this is what they now look like:

Little Pink Painted House

 

Little Yellow Painted House (a farm-house, maybe?).  You can see, over to the left as you’re looking at this photo, a steel rule which is showing (as best as can be) the height of these houses. They’re measuring at roughly 4″ tall (or 10cm)

Little Blue Painted House.

I painted the backs to look different from the front ….

The backs of the Little Houses

…  so that you can compare the fronts and the backs . . .

The fronts of the little houses

And that’s how the adventures of the Little Houses began.

They’re not Fairy Houses, and they aren’t houses which go in the garden.  They’re rustic, little cottagey type houses – the type of cottages found by the seaside here where I live in the South of England.  They’re just for decoration inside our cottage.  To look sweet on a shelf somewhere, or on a table or bookshelf.  These three are going to sit on my coffee table.

I’m already planning to make some more…. only the next one’s will be a bit different to these.

Thanks for coming and spending some time with me.  I love your company.  But  then …. you know that already.  ❤

Be good to yourselves this month.  Give yourself a smile in the mirror every now and again.  A REAL smile.  One which reaches your eyes.  And …  don’t expect so much of yourself.  It’s great to have goals and ambitions, but sometimes, a body needs to know it’s loved.  Love yourself. Because if YOU don’t love you, how can anyone else be expected to love you.  (But please always remember that I love you in spite of yourself! lol)

Sending love, from me here in my corner, to you there in yours.

The Fairy Wish Tree ~ a handmade card with a difference.

What would you wish for if you were stood under the boughs of a Fairy Tree?  Only one wish.  That’s the question I asked myself as I was in the middle of making this card.  I still haven’t actually come up with an answer that I’m happy with.

The Fairy Wish Tree. ~ the tiny white dots, aren’t white dots at all …. it’s very fine glitter.

I have to admit, that this card was one of those cards where I liked the idea of what I’d planned … then began to make it, and found that I fell out of love with it. So I put it on one side and began something else.  Then, a few days later I told myself that I’d ‘made it that far, so you might as well get on with it’ … so I picked up where I’d left off and continued with the plan.

Three times I fell out of love and three times I tried again, and again, and again … until I’d finished it.  And I’m SO glad that I did because now … I love it.

Where the front is more ‘quiet’ in colour, the inside is a riot and has colourful flowers, bird houses and dragonflies with multi coloured wings.

The little Fairy sat under the tree, is a very lightweight material – almost like a paper/wood mix.  I was making an order, on-line, and added her into my basket simply because I liked her.  I had no plans about what I’d do with her at the time.

The tree is a Tattered Lace die (I don’t own too many of that range of dies as I find them a little too fussy).  Cut out of white card and coloured by me.   Once I’d had the idea of putting her beneath a Fairy Wishing Tree, my next decision was that I wanted the card to have two ‘looks’.  One for day, and one for evening …. so I ‘built’ the card with a window, then put a little piece of shimmery stuff – I think it may be a plastic type of thing – which I bought years ago from Hobbycraft, in one of their sales.  I’ve used bits of it every now and again until I now only have a teeny piece of it left.  But it worked so well for the magical shimmery look I wanted to the opening  (see photograph above) and for hiding a battery operated T-light inside the card.

The T-light makes the glitter inside the card twinkle merrily too.

The card is a 6″ x 6″ plain white card,  which I die-cut to the size of the Fairy sat in the oval.

I’ve left the front without any sentiment so that I can be creative with the card and use it for any occasion what-so-ever.  Birthday, Anniversary, Thank you, Cheer you up,  Hello, ….  all sorts of things.  The design is such that it will ‘fit’ many occasion.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  I love to see you and chat with you.

I make a wish that your day goes well – or went well for those of you who live on the opposite side of the world,  and will go well for those of you who are just waking up and about to go out into the world.

What ever you’re going to do today, do it with joy.  Even if you’re not really enjoying it,  find the joy  –  and then the task will be much sweeter …  and will be over with a lot sooner than it would if you did it in a grump.

Go bravely into the world and smile.  For the World becomes so much easier to deal with if you’re in a smiley mood.  May your God go with you.

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