Carousel Horse Suncatcher

What to do with a pretty Carousel Horse that needed a some uplifting?

I thought about this for quite a few nights. 

All I could picture in my head was the horse flying in air with ribbon streamers flowing down, 

kind of like a Maypole. 

Why? 

Who knows! 

This was too fancy of a horse to just has ribbon streamers!  

Then my dim light bulb finally shined - a suncatcher! 

Ah, crystals, shiny beads, and of course a few ribbons

I gathered any and all supplies I thought I might need could use,

so excuse my mess- I'm creating here! LOL

The first thing I noticed was that there were roses decorating the horse here and there. I grabbed some small ribbon roses I had, but they weren't small enough. So I cut them down to size and glued them on.

 I only had purple ones. 

 The main color is purple with some aqua.

 I really wanted to bring more aqua out, 

so I painted some aqua. 

Then it hit me!

DUH! 

I had forgotten I had just hit the best Estate Sale of a crafter,

 the day before and hadn't unpacked yet.

I started digging and came across these darling cascading millinery flowers. I thought they would be perfect to drape over her tail -

that's when I realized I was adorning her like a parade horse!

That's OK, I love the horses in all their parade costumes/gear.

   Aren't those cascading flowers perfect?

I love them!

I remembered I had a beaded decoration leftover from a non-functioning pen. That's the 2 short dark purple bead strands with bells on the ends that you see on this side. They are attached to a lavender flower which has a bow on it.

 ~ Next was the most difficult part ~

Hence probably the reason for no photos

Threading the prisms, spacers and beads

Attaching them where I wanted them

Trying to get the end bows to look a like

And just plain wanting it all to turn out to be what I could see in my minds eye ~

Oh and the ribbon streamers, top and bottom

Not done yet.

After attaching the bottom streamers I still needed to add two more "prism danglers'' to the center post. After a bit of finagling I got it just right but wanted it to be a little more secure than just tied and glued. I found a lampwork bead at the bottom of my stash that had a hole big enough to fit the pole, Amazing! Added a touch of glue and felt much better.

Next was to finish off the end of the pole.

I encircled it in a strand of tiny gold beads ending with an aqua star

and an iridescent bicone bead.

  

Done?

Uh, something is missing ~~

I know!

Glitter nail polish on the roses!!

Here she sits drying for her last time.

BTW, like her drying stand? LOL

Old odd vases do come in handy at times ;)

*Here she is in all her glory*

 

She was hanging near a window and when the sun came in the colors that came shining through were wonderful. A small breeze came up and she began to jingle too. 

A sweet light jingle with rainbow colors and ribbon streamers.

It's a good day :) 

Be Kind to One Another

For those of you who follow me, you know my posts has been pretty sporadic through the Summer.

I've tried to keep the smiles coming but this Summer has been unusually difficult and traumatic. 

I know everyone has their own issues and demons to deal with but when the outside world comes crashing into your personal bubble it really makes you realize we certainly are not in control of our lives and at any second you could lose your loved ones due to someone else's stupid actions.

Life is hard, more for some than others.

A smile goes a long way to brighten a persons day.

We don't know what will happen to us each day,

let's pray for the boring normal day.

We surely don't want the dangerous life threatening one. 

I'll take the boring every time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is hold your loved ones a little closer, a little longer and most of all tell them how much you love them.

Things we say for granted we may not be able to say to them again.

  

Clock Makeover

One of the projects I finished for the living room was a clock.

Remember this little clock I picked up for 10 cents?

Plugged in my hot glue gun, pulled out my tote of jewelry
and I was ready to play!

I took her apart and put a "new" face on her

then dressed her up in my finest junk jewelry.

Two vintage bracelets frame her face,

vintage pearl clip earrings that were my 
Aunt's hug each bottom corner,

and some of Mom's vintage buttons cover the sides.

Here she is after her girlie makeover.

Lots of vintage jewelry, buttons and pearls
make my heart go pitter pat :)

She's ready to help me stay on time along with the other's 
spaced throughout my home ;)

I'm sneaking in another before photo ;)

After :)

You know I'm always on the lookout for a little clock..

big clock..any clock that starts whispering to me ♥ 

I guess you could say I have a thing for clocks......
and vintage jewelry...and old buttons....and bits and bobs... and..well,
I guess I have a thing for a lot of things

The Evolution of a Gazebo

When I saw this gazebo I fell in love and bought it.

I had one area left in the backyard from where the playground was when my youngest were little and from my Daycare days.

Once the playground was gone, an above ground pool went in and after a few years it just sat, so off it went to a family who would enjoy it.

That are sat for a few years until I finally got my gazebo - L♥VE.

The photo above was probably taken about a year after I got it.

Still fresh and ''new'' looking.

B salvaged 3/4 of the front arch you see,

and built a matching side to make it complete.

It became my entrance.

He did a beautiful job and couldn't ask for

anything more beautiful to go with my gazebo ~

did I mention I have always wanted a gazebo?

I planted Cecil Brunner climbing roses on each side of the arch,

in loving memory of my Mother.

I remember pulling up and parking - getting out of the car and being hit with that intoxicating fragrance.

She had a huge Cecil Brunner bush rose in the front parking area.

I hunted and hunted but couldn't find it in bush form so that's when the idea of the climbers came into play.

You can see one side starting to climb the arch.

Have never figured out why one grew so fast and the other slowly.

I happened upon these huge shutter doors at an estate sale,

wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but they were so cheap I couldn't leave them there. After a bit it came to me!

Mock French doors looking out to a row of Lilacs I had planted along the fence. That's what my minds eye saw anyway.

Unfortunately, I lost all but a couple of my

Lilacs due to the severe drought we are in.

All were from my Mom's plants. :(

Cecil getting it's groove on!

Along the sides of the gazebo I planted

Honeysuckle (also from Mom's garden).

Another wonderful scent from my childhood.

I wanted the gazebo to eventually be closed in by plants,

a private room if you will.

I also found a couple of old windows.

I knew exactly where they were going.

I hung them with strong chain so that when they became

covered with Honeysuckle they'd be strong enough to hold up.

I could see this area enclosed with just the windows to see through.

By this time a few years had passed and the cover had been torn and ripped from the weather. I went to the company's site and ordered another one after hesitating for a good long while.

The cover was almost the same price as what I had paid for the entire gazebo!  What a rip off!

I caved and bought it.

When it arrived we all went out to put it on.

We struggled and struggled.

I had ordered the exact cover from the exact gazebo we purchased but this one didn't fit perfectly as the original did.

The seams wouldn't match up with the frame's ''arms''.

Too tired to take it back off to send it back, we just made do.

It just looked wonky, like we had put it on crooked.

After 10-12 attempts all different ways,

I assure you it wasn't us!

Next I made a solar chandy.

There was a vent hole in the center of the

cover so sun was able to enter and charge.

A neighbor tossed out a partial bed frame

which I snagged for a ''fence/trellis''.

You can see both in this photo.

Here we go,

the cover is starting to tear.

Once it starts

there's no turning back

 

Fast forward to Spring 2016

Arch covered in blooming Cecil Brunner

''French doors'' too

B and T bought me another climbing Cecil Brunner

for the opposite side of the gazebo.

It is covering one of the pieces of bed frame.

Other piece of bed frame supports plants

Cecil just about covers gazebo roof

Between the Cecil Brunner and the Honeysuckle

this is the little section left for it to cover!

Perfect!

You're probably thinking all those scents would drive you crazy -

they all bloom at different times.

When one is done, another is just starting.

They all bring back sweet memories of growing up

and playing out in Mom's ''Gawgun''.

If you are looking for some Unique Garden Gazebo Ideas,

 there are some great ones I found here.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out which will look best with your garden style ♥