Making fake snow?

 

I wanted some snow in my North Pole photos, so I read up on purchasing fake snow. It is plastic bits which I didn't think too highly of. It would be like glitter... all over the place and hard to clean up. I'd find bits of plastic snow for the rest of my life in this house.

So I clicked on a link that said DIY your own snow with 2 ingredients.

Shaving cream and Baking Soda!

Since I just purchased a box of Baking Soda I thought I'd try it. [Hah, and you thought I bought it for baking!]

I followed the directions and made some 'snow' that feels cool to the touch. 

It was a bit messy on the hands, but rinsed off easily and smelled good. When done with it, I brushed it back into a container and wiped up the residue. I rinsed off the Legos and we were good to go again.

Below is my first try at playing with the snow.

Not a snow photo. But I can tell that Santa is checking the list and they have upgraded their system to include computers!

Since I do get out for some fresh air each day, I take Mini-me and Mini-Charlie in my pocket. Mini-me had to change clothes so she'd be prepared for the cold weather.

Charlie and I often see wildlife while out on our adventures. These nice striped fellows are ones we leave alone!

With the temps changing from deep freeze to warm and back again, we are careful at the creek.

Thin ice!

In the evenings while hubby takes his after supper nap to digest and get ready to watch something on the stupid smart TV, I take time to play a bit. 

More fake snow. Batman doesn't look so happy at the Christmas Lodge. Is it the snow that fell on his shoulder and head?

He is looking down in the street below at the activity in the Town Square. 

And down on the street there seems to be some things going on. I mean, snowmen are harmless, right?

The fake snow [shaving cream and baking soda] looks pretty good!

We are going into a very cold spell on Thursday with wicked wind chills. 

Time to break out the face covering and goggles.

Sunday Stills ~ 'Tis the Season #34

Sunday Stills 2.0 Tis the Season #34

Images from the last snowfall. 

Our table ...

Getting ready for a dinner 

for two...

More Shenanigans on the

Christmas Chair....

Tis the Season.

More fun indoors

Maybe this is why I enjoy this time of the year. It isn't so much the big holiday or the Christmas Spirit, but more or less the fact that I can drag things around the house and do Still Life photos without having to explain the why of it.

I really like the lights and would love to keep those happy white lights glowing throughout the winter this year. I wonder. Can I make the Christmas Chair into a ... just lighted chair for comfort and warmth on cold winter nights?

Why not? A bit of cheery light to stare at while the cold winds whistle outside?

The unicorns like it. The Teddy Bear's are waiting their turn to play on it.

Meanwhile, while waiting for the other half to wake up, I imagined some 'scenes' just for fun and brain work. Experimenting with all white was really quite fun.

I do love the Enesco ornaments. Here are two of my favorite ones.

The unicorn is this year's addition. They are almost too beautiful to be left on the Christmas chair/tree. They get lost. I'm like a kid. I like to handle them and set them down so I can admire them on their own.

Strange right?

Heavy edit and shot

for High Key.

And of course. Something fun and odd.

These figures don't generally mix ...

but imagine my surprise when they all seemed as if they were getting along....

...

and then I finally got outside for a hike...

but that is for another time....

Can't help it

 

I just adore taking photos of Christmas-y things. It is the one time of the year I can really enjoy just finding beautiful light and little things to photograph. 

I have been known to collect 'horse' themed ornaments. 

I like stags too, especially those tacky looking ones with a TON of glitter on them.

I like shiny stuff. Hubby says I'm like an old crow. 

I may bore you with some of them. And some of the bears, dragons, and unicorns too. Lucky for me and them...they get to come out and play all over month. I even heard that the dinosaurs let the Elf on the Shelf loose. 

Groot sure seems to get around too!

I couldn't resist rearranging the polar bear and snowmen crew. 

Anyone old enough to recall the Polar Bear and Coke commercial?? Probably not? The first commercial that featured a Polar Bear and Coke was in 1922 in France.

For 70 years the advertisers used a Polar Bear!

For whatever reason, those polar bears made an impression on me as a kid...

so...

...my mini version. It sure makes me smile! 
[I am having gobs of fun with the Polar Bears!]

Even the dragons get in on it...

I spent the morning going out to my mossy rocks in the woods. The brilliant greens always amaze me in November and December. Well, any time there is not much other color in the woods.

I was looking for magic in the gloomy light. Maybe my polar bears were too. I think this would look much better with a dusting of snow...

I do love what the forest has to offer and not too far from my house either! Below is one of the rock formations I use. 

Looks like I will pack up some Bears and seek out another rock or two.

Ever decorate a rock in the forest?

Thanks ... giving

Nah, NO turkey for us! 

I do lasagna. I have never actually cooked a turkey. I don't even like most poultry so it is a no brainer for me.

We used to gather as a large family long ago with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. Us kids ate in another room. I recall we got in trouble for creating a squash, corn, and cranberry mountain on a plate in the middle of our table. I think we all added the food we disliked to the mountain with the idea we'd give the big mess to the dogs. 
We got caught and chastised. 

We put on bright colored clothing and went sledding while the adults cleaned up. 

This holiday keeps changing over the years. There was the Thanksgiving I did hotdogs with the boys. That is what they wanted. There were gatherings of our generation. 

Things changed. People went their own ways.

We will spend time at home without company. I will start working on my Christmas Projects. I made a new one this past week. 

I took my handmade 'Fairy House' Stuff and thought it would be fun to set things up on a little table. I moved the old trunk  and set a white board on it...I'll address that later.
The little table with a drawer became my project. What to do?

Well, I gathered my moss house, my mossy tree, and just messed around a bit. I gutted the mossy tree of its lights and added a puck light I could turn on with a remote.
I replaced the batteries in the fairy lights and gathered up my tiny squirrels and Groot.
I found a use for the mini decorations that had been put away for so many years.

I found a chunk of plastic ivy left over from some long ago project and viola! The table became a setting I can admire while in the kitchen doing other projects. I can also move the squirrels around or make the dinosaurs or dragons visit...OH the endless possibilities!

And in the morning before dawn, I can enjoy the lights even more as they add fun and warmth to the kitchen area.

While putting other things away, I came across some brooches I'd ordered last year. I wanted to swap out a brooch on my 'go to town' baseball cap and had ordered a little packet of them. 

I have a tiny tree ... I had the bug brooches.
And I thought...why not?

Which led me to gathering some of my mother in laws brooches I inherited to decorate the tiny tree in the kitchen [no picture...sorry]. 

There is that old trunk with the white board on it just hanging around near the back door. I kept thinking about white and about what I could come up with.

Something snowy, something fun, something different.
This piece of cardboard packing came with a humidifier, I thought I might use it to make a little snow mountain.

I used some felt and some sticky two sided tape to hold it on the cardboard. The linen tea towel is one that came from my Grandmother and Aunt's things that I inherited. I thought it might make good snow.

The jury is still out on this small creation. I can see where I will be messing with this for a bit to get it right. 

I may even scrap the whole idea, time will tell. 

The new Christmas Chair is now in the living room. It is waiting. But I am holding off on that project. There is no rush.

I got out in the afternoon for doing some Girry Adventure photography. If anyone has ever worked with a dog underfoot, perhaps they can appreciate how helpful or unhelpful a pet can be...

Here is Charlie, inspecting the Teddy named Moose just before he pushed it over. I wish I had been quick enough to capture Charlie nosing the Girry Giraffe into the creek water.

Today will be more about chilling out, relaxing, and enjoying each other's company.

What am I thankful for?

My imagination which allows me to enjoy going in so many directions at once.
My husband who constantly brings me joy and frustrations. Our home and farm.

Charlie.

Friends and family.

Decoration---ing & Fence Dancing!

This is one half of my house, literally. This is the view from our added on bedroom doorway---of the living room. It looks out towards the porch on the south side of our house. I was considering putting up a Christmas Chair again this year. 

Hubby watches TV from the folding chair. There is our drying rack next to the cabin heater. Charlie sits in sunlight. To the left is the loveseat. That is it. We can't social distance in our house. If I got sick, I'd have to quarantine outside somehow. That means using the horse trailer with a plug in for heat [let's say it would be colder than a witch's you-know-what and using the outhouse while prepping meals and doing chores?]....Yes our house is that little that we would breath the same air no matter what.

Anyway, that aside...

This is the other half of the house. Photo taken from the fridge. The oven and sink are to the left out of sight.

There is a half story upstairs but that is only used for storage or when we have company. And we haven't had company since February 2020. I keep my ever growing supply of toys, baskets, tea cups, and other items used for Still Life Photography in one of the rooms. Sometimes the items are neatly stored away and other times it appears as if a tornado has hit the room.

I don't know if I will do the Chair/Tree this year or not. Last year it was boxes that I decorated. You know, wooden dynamite boxes, sulfuric acid box, a nuts and bolts box, and an ancient nesting box that my MIL had. I am not conventional at all. Things just sort of start coming together. I put things in place and then tear it apart and start again.

I gather sticks and weeds to make winter bouquets. I even found some dead birch branches to do 'something' with. I'm not sure yet. But I am looking for some pine boughs to make something with too. 

I explained this nonsensical method to my 30 something nephew. I get an idea in my head and then I just go into some sort of zone. I grab things together and don't think too much of what I am doing. I rearrange, mess around, rearrange some more and then there it is. Sometimes it is a disaster and sometimes it works. My mind gets into some kind of otherworld Zone and it keeps moving along. I can't stop it until I make a creation of some sort.

So I picked up sticks in the yard. There are always branches falling from the trees. Sometimes I just chuck them into the burn pile. Today I gathered the more interesting ones and stuck them in my now much faded and dead looking flower garden. I thought, hmmmmmmmm....they could hold a string of lights!

Honest, it will look much nicer with a fresh snowfall on it. But I am very pleased with my outdoor lighting effort. There is only one other household that could possibly even see it.
The neighbors at the top of the ridge.

Below is a reindeer metal thingy that a lady gave me years ago. It is creepy in a way and it is supposed to be a Christmas Card Holder. I've repurposed it to be a yard 'decorate'. No problem. I am odd I will admit it.

The head nods up and down and back and forth, it had a tendency to tip over startle my husband and old Jack Russell Terrier....so for years it was remanded to the shed in purgatory. I brought it back out to add to my flower garden, I had a friend drill holes in the base so I can use spikes to hold the 'Moose/Deer' in place.

He/she is still a bit on the creepy side, but people often ask me what the hell is that supposed to be?

Hey, why not? Even the UPS guy was like...what the heck? Yeah. If it gets a reaction like that, it is worth keeping around!

Do you...

Recall the Fence Feud? I went out and rearranged all the ghosts and the Stick People. I made sure that my movements were not within camera range from the other side of the fence.

So to my surprise, the dude on the other side moved the camera to point onto my property. I suppose to see what I was doing. I wandered there just after sunrise on Friday morning.

So I thought for a moment and then decided to give them a show. Really I thought about pulling off my old patched coveralls and peeing right there so he could see my butt. However I decided to have a bit more fun.

I slowly put my camera down and then began to sway back and forth with my arms raised. Then I turned and slowly waved my arms up and down. I kneeled on the ground [facing away from the camera] and raised my head and arms as if in prayer to some unseen god of the forest. Then fell flat on the forest floor and writhed as if possessed.

When I got up I Cursed their side of The Woods. Angry Face, throwing invisible and voiceless curses in the direction of the camera. I really don't know how to make a curse, but I had to make it look good!

I am giggling here. His camera was pointing into the morning sun so the photos this person will get will be silhouettes. 

Hunting season ends tomorrow at sundown. 

This Spring, I am fixing the fence and attaching No Hunting signs to it. 

I don't think this person knows how much entertainment he has provided this old lady with during the Pandemic.

 

More UnTree

What on earth are YOU talking about? NO one does Christmas without a Christmas tree right?

Well I'm sure there are folks who do!

I'm just looking for something different and fun.

I don't know exactly where to start, so I'll just start with what caught my eye as I was twiddling my thumbs.

Last year I took some time to wander around the Walmart clearance section. I saw a lot of Teddy Bears lined up on shelves. One had only one eye.

It wasn't something I was looking for. But I drove home with my list filled up and the thought of that Pink One Eyed Teddy Bear kept coming back to me.

I have no idea why.
I needed to pick something up the next day. Most of the Bears were gone. The one eyed bear was pushed to the side. I was so relieved for some reason and stuck it in my basket. At the check out one of the lady's pointed out that this Teddy was defective, did I really want it?
I smiled and said that I was positive I wanted just as it was.

Welcome Pink Teddy with one eye in one of my crates. She has gold ribbons, beads, and a very festive and vintage handkerchief around her neck. She looks happy. The kerchief is actually one of my Grandmother Pearl's fancy handkerchiefs.  I put this together and sat back. Grandma's 'kerchief' and the Teddy Bear no one wanted. Beautiful. I knew this Bear had some sort of purpose!

The next box has some of my 'toys' that I like to take on hikes. I know, but it is fun to find odd places to put Teddy Bears and other toys.

These were Thrift Shop toys. Toys from the back room that had fallen between other toy piles.
I had picked them up and held on to them for a long time. They appealed to me in a way so I brought them home.

Oh look. 3 little bears! And then there is Rabbit and Bear! I bet you are wondering how I got those two beany bears to stand. Hah. Not telling my secrets.

Another item under construction. These are... twig trees with little red light up ornaments. They are not super bright. I used floral foam blocks inside the old sewing drawer to stick them in and then a bag of glass marble like fillers to hold it all in place. The checker board is topping a crate. It was an old handpainted checkerboard piece that hung in my MIL's apartment.

Hopefully this isn't boring anyone.

Here is a look at the whole 'display'...which has already been changed up a bit since I took the photo yesterday.

Note the Gnome with the Skunk Hat! A wonderful young lady who is the DIL of my MIL's sister...okay yeah...that was an odd way of describing her....

...she makes these! She calls them Nisse.
Pretty neat right?

Stay tuned. More to come from the boxes and then I move on to some other fun items.
A story behind most every one with a beautiful memory.

The UnTree Decorating

I like old boxes. They make for interesting night stands and have so many uses.

In the past, I've used them in creating backrounds for Still Life photography.

I've used them in Christmas decorations....around the Christmas Chair....

and this year I decided to not use most of the items I've used before.
No Chair.
No Tree.
I wanted to do something completely different and more fun.

I have to admit, I have a tiny house with limited room so the challenge is to not take up too much space but add some cheery-ness to this cold and dreary time of the year.

I lost the space I had last year due to a change in an Oxygen Concentrator that is much bigger and very cumbersome.
So I had to come up with a better idea.

I had a small wall space to work with. Here is a shot of the area from last year when I used the old chair and a toy to do an experiment in Still Life.

I took the 'nesting' box 'table' that I'd purchased at my MIL's estate sale and mulled over so many ideas. So as usual, I just started putting things here and there. Then I'd look at it and another idea would emerge and I'd go at it again, swapping things around.

So first the Nesting Box Table Thingy. They didn't really know what to call it at the auction, but I just know that I'd loved this little Nesting Box forever.
Here it is in its 'Unglory'. It sits next to the porch door. There are my chore boots on the rug, mismatched gloves, and other stuff laying around.

The lights in the right side box are LED Christmas lights that have a cold blue color to hem. As a whole it doesn't work as well looking through the camera. But that isn't how I intended it.

It struck me as I was doing this decorating, that I was using each box as a mini diorama of sorts.

White bird on white lights. Nesting on a scrap of an old lace table cloth. The bird was picked up at an indoor yard sale a few years ago. It cheap as these usually come in pairs. A discard that suited me.

I put Epson Salts in this vase then added fairy lights and stuffed some ribbons from past Christmas's into it. There is that antler. I don't know, I just liked it there. The colorful mittens are a pair of mine that my Grandmother Pearl made. I use her mittens quite a bit while hiking. They just seemed right in this box.

Another vase experiment. Fairy Lights dropped in with a broken silver beaded garland. The snowman has been with me for years, a gift from my sister in law, I think. The Gnome? He is new. I like gnomes. You will see more lurking about my house.

A peek at the other part of the living room. I made a compact area for my untree decorations.

There is the concentrator and beyond that the tiny added on bedroom.

There is a story behind each little display which brings me fond memories.
The chicken on the end was given to me by the neighbor kids. There you go.

Just a portion of my UnTree Decorating.
I'll set up a tour of the boxes tomorrow.