DIY Yard Games

My sister is getting married and I've been working on a few DIY projects! Today I'm sharing the oversized tic tac toe game and dice I've made for the festivities!

With the help of my father and all of the tools, we cut out Xs and hearts from an eight inch wide plank of pine, sanded them smooth, and I dipped them in a dye bath. The board was made by gluing rope into pvc connectors. A very easy project that turned out pretty cute.

The dice were even easier! We cut cubes from a 3x3" length of wood, sanded them smooth, then I spent a bit of time trying to perfect my circle painting technique. I could still use a bit more practice. They all turned out good and I can't wait to see them in use next weekend!

Bigger Plants

Everything has gotten bigger since last time! The sunflowers are now about four feet tall, and are starting to bud! The pumpkin plants are getting long vines and have little fruits starting! The corn has sprouted and are nearly a foot tall! On the opposite side of that, while I was away for two weeks, the weeds took over! I am slowly trying to get their growth under control so my flowers don't get choked out by the morning glories. Some tomatoes even popped up in the pathways from some smashed tomatoes from last year, I'm kinda hesitant to pull them out.

baby sunflower. pumpkin vines. short corn. accidental tomatoes.

I've got several yard & garden projects planned for this summer; I should get a few started in July, in time for the next garden update. How is your garden growing? Do you have any yard & garden projects planned for the next few months?

Sun Catchers

Last week for our crafternoon get-together Chelsea and I made sun catchers by melting plastic beads.

My sun and rainbow have words in in from the pan! I still need to figure out how to hang up my six little pastel rounds; I'm thinking a mobile maybe.

Pineapple Yarn Bomb

International Yarn Bombing Day was over the weekend and I hung up a pineapple I knit!

I stayed up too late Friday night trying to get the pineapple finished. For the leaves, I wanted them to have shape and be able to move like the bunny ears from my first yarn bomb, so I added wire. I only had thin floral wire so I doubled it up, but it still wasn't very supportive so I tied them up to the pole too. I need to add some heavy gauge wire to my yarn bomb kit for the next time.

The yarn bomb turned out pretty good and looks mostly like a pineapple. I hope people enjoy it.

Scotland Photos

Today I'm sharing more Scotland photos! I'm still going through the 100 or so I marked as my favorites and am narrowing them down to a more reasonable amount to print and keep in a little photo album. Here are a handful of the photos I took and little stories about them. you can see more photos on my Flickr in the Scotland 2017 album.

We rented a car and put on about 1500 miles driving around the country. These yellow flowering bushes were my favorite thing and I wanted them in my yard until I realized they are pokey! When the yellow flowers die, they are just a green pokey bush and I really don't want one now.

One thing I like about visiting museums is learning history. Arbroath Abbey is where the Stone of Destiny was returned. I hadn't realized they chose the abbey because of the Declaraion of Arbroath, a letter from the 1300s that intended to confirm Scotland's independence. (It's also likely the United State's Declaration of Independence was modeled after it.)

I saw Shetland ponies in Shetland! This little guy was very friendly, he came right up to the fence. I think he was expecting food. We also saw a zillion sheep and puffins! The puffin photos didn't turn out very well because it was incredibly foggy and my camera doesn't zoom very much, but I have a video of one pooping. 

Fort George was really neat. It was built in the Highlands after the Jacobite rebellion. The star shape is really cool and provides great views in every direction. This seagull was doing a nice job posing for my pictures, if only the sky was a little less grey, he would stand out better. 

We of coarse had to visit the Glenfinnan Viaduct! Unfortunately the Jacobite (Hogwarts) train was basically sold out so we didn't get to ride over it and see more of the bonny scenery between Mallaig and Fort William. The roadside wasn't cutting it; too many trees obstructing the view. 

George, our tour guide at Hampden Park's Scottish Football Museum, recommended visiting the transportation museum and it was great! First of all, the building looks awesome, then they've got everything from skateboards to subway trains inside. Very cool. I had an ice cream outside.