Surprise surprise SURPRISE!

Sometimes I get surprised out of the blue. I went to the mailbox to collect my mail. I'd had a notification that a package was delivered. I just figured it was some of hubby's meds from the VA. I was curious, there was a box on our mailbox.

I should have taken a shot of the box and the multiple layers of brown paper bags. I'd shaken it when I picked it up. Oddly enough, it did not feel like a bomb but sounded like Legos. I glanced at the return address and didn't recognize it. My brain was on another Earth. I grabbed it and headed to town to pick up my groceries.

When I got home, I handed the package to Rich and he shook it too. "What in the heck is it?"

I tossed groceries into the freezer and put other things away. 

"It's Legos."

"Huh?"

"Legos! I know the sounds they make. I've ordered enough sets to know what they sound like."

[No argument there.]

I had to find my box cutter and used that along with scissors just to peel the tape and paper back. I saved the return address so I could remember to thank whoever sent the package.

Inside where little blue boxes tied up with strings and a little heart. Each heart had a date on it and the note said:

Sometimes I don't know what to make of people's kindness and thoughtfulness. In a million years I wouldn't have thought to do something like this.

Each box had a surprise 'blind' box minifigure in it with a note.

"we do not need magic
to transform our world.
 We carry all of the 
power we need inside
of ourselves already.
~~J.K. Rowling

This morning I opened the last box as soon as I got up.

I've got a few new minifigures which I will set up later today and photograph after I take care of some of the heavy wet snow we accumulated yesterday. We got quite a bit more than was predicted so that is going to take up most of my morning along with chores.

However, I have to say how fun and wonderful it is to be so lifted up and surprised by a box in the mail.

Thank you Aurora!

You are so kind, creative, and thoughtful. The minifigs are impatiently waiting next to their boxes for me to come over and play with them!

Happy Spring Day!

Finally. Christmas Tree Chair

 

Here it is as it is lit up and decorated. I have some ornaments on it. But really didn't put tons on it this year. I used up most of the red colored ornaments I had for some color. 

I also don't always hang my special ornaments, but use them on the chair seat like this:

I'll keep changing what is on the chair or around the chair almost daily. To keep the horses from falling over, I used the string of beads. This chair seat IS flat so they shouldn't fall over, but I liked adding color with beads and ribbons.

I finally got my North Pole Village out and as I arranged things, I started to 'play'. 

I mean, this time of the year gives me a great excuse for more play, right?

Our weather is unbelievable! We went from way below frozen to 50 F yesterday. It will last through the weekend through Monday. I still am contemplating doing a Charlie photo. You know, the one where I make the dog sit in front of the tree and pose. 

LOL. He hates it but will do it for cookies!

Enjoy.

Christmas Chair...slow work...

It's a tree, it's a chair. It's a Treed-Chair? The tree and the chair must become intertwined. I don't know why, but that is the way I think of it.

The chair seat is scratched and old but it provides a surface for magical things to happen 'under' the boughs of the tree.

At one time the little chair held gifts and envelopes [grands grow up and want $$ more than a gift]. I could be a real jerk and get everyone underwear and socks. But I don't. It is a thought though.

I mean come on. Wouldn't everyone in the family think I was more off my rocker than usual? At least no one would forget the year Grandma gave everyone weird underwear. 

Meanwhile, back to the Christmas Tree Chair. 

I really only do 1/2 of a tree, so the tree towards the window is flat and it saves more room. I don't go all the way down the tree either with the branches. 

I started doing the Christmas Tree Chair as a fluke in 2013. The tree at first was supposed to be behind the chair and hide the poor design of the tree that doesn't reach the ground like a real tree does.

This was before we remodeled the house. Dark walls, dark bricks, and ugly carpeting. 

The chair offered a nice way to change up decorations in a small space. The chair was rough and had a cool texture to it. It was beat up and cracked. Not really good for holding a human at all.

Over the years, I used the same chair until it actually fell apart.

The fun of decorating the chair morphed into including some of the wooden boxes I've collected over the years. In 2020 I got an old nesting box for chickens that my mother in law had purchased years ago and used as a coffee table.

This year tried something different yet again. A different chair and a different arrangement.

I start and stop often. Two days ago, I stopped here and let one of the handmade tiny button bears take over. I was tired.

It looks like the bears added a string of colored lights and a gnome has hopped onto the top of the tree.

The rest of the work is still unfinished. Most of what I do with the whole mess is change small scenes often in the boxes and on the chair for the fun of photography in the dead of winter.

Plus, it brightens up our living room with color and light in the evenings.

In the meantime. Charlie and I have been off exploring and looking for more ice formations. More about that very soon!

A little more fun with Droids

Play on the cheap. A week or so ago I made another diorama out of some CPAP trash and used it for my Legos which are tiny. I have a 4" droid made by Kenner that I thought would be fun to make a diorama for also.

What better time to do it when it is 100+ degrees out? 

I gathered a chunk of cardboard that wrapped around some meds in a box and spray painted it slightly, then I glued a hose washer, bottle cap, hair tie, and bit and pieces of random things together. I made a box of of cardboard and pipes out of straws. The mesh in front is from a potato bag that was destined for the trash.

The base was the top of a cardboard box and then I just ripped pieces to make them ragged looking.

As it is presented here on the table, it really doesn't look like much. So I closed the curtains in a way to let in light as I wanted it ....

and took some shots...

this was the result.

I think the process of 'creating' the scene was most of the fun. I just went at it, adding bits and pieces and shading it with colors. I wanted a textured background but not so textured as to take away what was happening in the photo.

One of the things I like about this method is that fact that it is simple and it doesn't have to be Perfect to give one a sense of mood. The other thing that tickled me is that it cost nothing as I had all the items on hand in the trash pile. 

What is also very important here is paying attention to the depth of focus. The items behind the droid and slightly in front shouldn't be in clear focus unless the intent is on highlighting those items.

I lucked out with good light simply by moving curtains. No magic there! The photo was shot for highlight drama. That means it was exposed to bring out the lighter areas and leave the other areas a bit dark.

Of course Peazy can't do all of her work alone. She needs to have her deliveries....

NED-B apparently has volunteered to help.

And there is generally some time during the day for tea...

Even Droids get a break. 

Now if I can get a Droid to do my cooking. 

The weather is finally breaking so I leave my droids and toys and head outside to chase insects and find hiking adventures.

Thank goodness! Oh wait, the Droids will probably come along....

I'm a Winger!

I like making things up as I go along. I wing it when being creative. I don't plan, I do. Sometimes it is a fail, and sometimes it is a Win.

I decided to watch tutorials about 'making' terrain for sets and dioramas, most of the artists or creators drew up plans.

One fella who was using Junk he found around the house just 'winged' it.

That is my style. Take stuff and put it together to see what works and what doesn't work.

So, armed with old hair ties, a CPAP machine, tubing, garden mulch, cardboard, glue, spray paint, and paint...

I winged it....

I won't bore you with a ton of shots. I will offer 55 seconds of a series of photos with titles for what I did.

I discovered that I enjoyed working with cardboard more than the other materials. Cardboard is easy to cut into shapes that I want and when I am done with using it, I have no issue in recycling it.

Using the old CPAP machine was a great challenge. I cut apart the old and outdated hoses and enjoyed 'making' space junk out of them. Using mulch and chunks of wood as 'rocks' was fun also. I kept many of them loose so I could reuse them in different scenes. Of course I can toss the wood back into the flower beds too.

The process was a learning experience. 

I even used a screen grab of a wrecked spaceship to add a digital background to a shot.

The Lego Droid sort of gets lost in this shot, but photos that don't turn out perfect are how we learn.

Original:

This one almost feels too busy. A focus just on the little droids would have worked much better. But by trying this over and over, I will eventually come up with something decent.

I do like the detail of the background though, it looks rusty and very much like a space junkyard!

I did put a little balloon light inside the container that was bright blue.

My first photo of the morning was taken on the porch. It ended up being my favorite. It isn't just a shot of toys. He just looks so SAD!

Battle Weary Droid

This was the cardboard design I made. I think I like this little 'scene' best right now for a background.

I may make more of them with certain themes or ideas in mind.

I cannot image trying to 'make' this scene out of Legos. Besides, I like to mess around with paints and try new things all of the time.

I did watch videos on making terrain for wargaming sets. They were pretty interesting. I mostly was interested in those videos that used things that most people would have on hand.

Oh boy. I have a lot of boxes!!!

 

Decorate...tions....

 So it was hard but I finally got in the mood to do some decorating.

So this is standing at my spot at our eating table looking through the house and open staircase. The two little bedrooms upstairs are now guest/storage rooms. We have a tiny bedroom downstairs now which really makes things quite nice.

I had to add my tiny bear family to the box. That box is actually an old drawer from a pedal sewing machine. After all, my bears enjoy being out and about!

And here are my stuffed toys. The large ones! The jointed horse and the red and green bear are toys I made nearly 30 years ago. The brown rabbit and yellow bear came from Farmer Danika's shop and the white bear came from a Thrift Store. That bear survived this summer's floods and deserves a spot inside! I thought they would look neat sitting on the stairs.

There is something about hand made things. I love them! Below is a carving from Far Side of Fifty! It gets a prominent position on the Christmas Chair.

One of my MIL's necklaces... it just looks right on the tree/chair.

A glass blown horse ornament. Gosh I can't even recall who gave me this. I just know it was a gift and I've managed to keep it safe for many years.

The Stag. I got this cheap ornament a few years ago. I just thought it would fit nicely with my horse ornaments. Besides, it is pretty to photograph.

Uh oh...looks like this one escaped!

Ahhhh, one of my first horse ornaments. Plastic and cheap but still very near and dear to my heart. To think it has survived so many years with me. A bit beat up but still a Carousel Horse!

I'll do some fun photos of my nesting box soon enough. More toys of course. I really love my toys. 

Um. 

Should someone my age really be saying that?

I wonder how I could fit in the dragons and dinosaurs to a Christmas theme too....

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.

Sticks, boxes, paints

What should you do when the weather is wet and cold outside? Well, I suppose some folks would just sit in front of the TV aka the Boob Tube [as my dad called it], I call it the brain drain...
Or sit in front of a play station and stare at a game that unfolds in front of you. [Sorry if I offend anyone who is a gamer. I consider playing video games equivalent to staring mindlessly at a TV. But that is how I was brought up.]

Between writing Morris's last big adventure [He has had a few good days and a few bad days] and chores, cooking..etc..., I've decided to try out some things I've always wanted to do.

Last year while looking for some winter decorations, I ended up at the local floral shop. There was a beautiful display of Stick Decoration. I stood there admiring the sticks in a vase that were colored. There were vases with sticks that had glitter on them and lit up. A little old lady walked up next to me and we both stared at the display.
I said, "It is pretty isn't it?"
She ruminated on that and replied, "If you want to pay that much for sticks I suppose!" She smiled at me and shook her head, "Only a city person would pay that much for sticks."

So last year I gathered some sticks. I put some in vases and used glitter glue as 'fake ice and snow'.  I looked around at images that I searched for under "winter decoration sticks". I found painted branches and sculptures of branches for quite a bit of money.

I have searched our old shed for other odd things and found old boxes. Most are in poor shape, but I've used some as end tables for the couch and the work quite nicely. 

This weekend was wet and cold. Rainy and cold...cold... icky damp cold.
So I decided to entertain myself with a challenge. 
What could I do with sticks? Left over chunks of wood?

I gathered materials and had no idea of what I may do. But things started to come together. I dried a bouquet of Milkweed Pods. During a break in the rain I used some spray paint to coat them. I used silver metallic paint to color a small and interesting branch I found on the side of the road while walking with Morris Friday. I think it was Bittersweet. 

*Note regarding the Milkweed Pods. My grandmother Pearl always decorated her house in the winter with painted Milkweed Pods and 'nobbin knockers', among other dried weeds. 

I've always admired those cute little signs that had "Noel" or some of those neat antiqued looking signs that people put up in their homes. But I never wanted to pay the price for them. 
Bingo! Since I stink at lettering, I'd use the sticks!

And what about those sticks?
Well, I'll get a photo of how that turned out after I put it together.

And that box?

It was a mess when I started, but it will be very useful in my Winter Theme. Let's call it a work in progress.

Here is my Fall/Thanksgiving table.
There is the old kitchen drawer on the bottom. That was the only drawer we had in the kitchen before the remodel. The other little box with three sections? I have no idea what it used to be. I found it in the garage filled with old nails.
The branch with the leaves is unpainted. I stuck it in a small crock filled with marbles and rocks.

Today looks like a fine day to be outside. No rain! The temps aren't supposed to get out of the 30's so it looks like the cold is settling in. 
After two days of being cooped up inside, I feel a hike coming on.

Of course there are chores to do, meals to make, a house to clean... and all of those dull and dreary things.

I need to get Morris out for a few more shots and then I can start his book.
I'm afraid though if I go on a hike I'll be searching for sticks...OH MY!

Take it away

I haven't had a cold in ... well I don't recall how long.  It has been ages. However I felt one creeping up on me Tuesday and this morning it has blown in like a sweeping monstrous storm.

Normally my immune system is pretty darned tough and doesn't even acknowledge a cold.  But apparently not this time.

Of course I also have another part of me that has an infection going on so I imagine my system has had a 'failure'.  

I started drinking some tea to and taking vitamins two days ago to stave off this cold.

Alas.  I think I need a re-boot of my entire system.

The Tea.  It is called Throat Coat and is supposed to help with sore throats. I took a sip and decided if I could put up with the awful taste of licorice, I could survive the cold and sore throat.

Vitamin C.  I don't have problems with that at all.   Chewable and yummy.

However my hubby is getting it too.  I know he doesn't feel well when he announced this morning that he wasn't going to an auction that he was looking forward to. 

He is coughing and blowing his nose.

Yesterday, I cleaned the old wooden soda box I'd found in the garage.  I used Murphy's Oil soap first and scrubbed it, then used some Oxi-Clean to further remove dirt.

It went from this:

To this:

I love the color that came through!

I intend on making it into a spice rack for the new kitchen after the remodel.

This used to be a crate for Hill Billy Soda that was made in Richland Center.

I can't wait to see what my dynamite box will look like when it is cleaned up.

I know there is a big fun move to decorate your house with 'repurposed' items.  I don't find it that strange, as I've always loved using old crates for odd things.

After all, do you remember my Christmas Chair?

Well I'm drinking my Slippery Elm Tea and getting ready to go outside and do chores.

We had a frost this morning and some beautiful low fog.

However, I didn't feel well enough to go out and take photos.