Friday Night Is Alright For a Patio

As of late, I've returned to my internal-clock roots and capitalized on Friday night. That has *always* been my best time as it totally sets the weekend up for nothing but productivity and good. High School. College. After when I've been able to swing it. Friday night never fails me.

With that reminder-revelation in mind, I jumped on Friday night to dive into the next project: The patio!

After watching a handful of YouTube videos on using egg cartons for the main material, I went for it! Here's how it played out!

First, I put down piece of cardboard that would be my base. I wanted a thin one so there wasn't an edge, so I just used a cereal box. Then, I cut around the patio space from the template I made for putting down the grass and used it to mark the area on the cardboard:

The next step was to cover the area on the cardboard with masking tape to keep all of the glue that's about to be used from soaking into the cardboard and completely warping it. This was a trouble-shoot issue later that you will see. But, I did do that step. And, then, I got to tearing up an egg carton:

I wasn't precise in my tearing by any means, but I was mindful of how big the pieces were so they didn't look massive for my people. I also re-marked the corners of the patio space on the tape so I knew where to stop working.

The next step was to soak a paper towel in glue and place it on the base.

When laid out with glue-soaked egg carton pieces, this potentially serves as the mortar between stones. The person in the YouTube tutorial noted using a name-brand, Scott paper towel which worked way better for her than my off-brand paper napkin. But, whatever, I improvised as mine would not unfold but, rather, would tear. 😬

There are no in-progress pictures of the stones being put into to place because it was messy, and I needed to keep moving. And, both of my hands were c.o.v.e.r.e.d in glue the entire time! (Back-to-school prices on glue came just at the right time!) The basic idea is that I dipped each piece, one by one, in the glue, and I put it in the patio space. I used enough glue to cover them well but not so much that they would take days to dry. Some of them overlapped while others had some space in between them. I did not aim for perfect fits, or this project would have made me cry. Rather, I got pieces close and just kind of eyeballed what looked right. I kept in mind that the tutorial mentioned the pieces would shrink as they dried, so I accounted for that when I thought about it. Sometimes, it was too late to remember, so I just moved on!

After about an hour, I had the space covered!

Let me break this picture down a bit! First, you can see that the cardboard base is taped down almost all the way around its perimeter. I did that so it wouldn't warp as much if it got wet. Then, you see the paper napkin around the edges of the stone that is wrinkled and torn. That's how it also looks under the stones, and it worked out just fine. Like, if you do this, don't freak if your towel -- which is a good cover for the base if nothing else -- looks like a mess. It just needs to be flat enough.

The real story here is about the push pins. Even with my efforts to keep things flat, the masking tape did not prevent the warping problem. So, once the entire patio was laid out, I just started adjusting things. First, I untapped the perimeter first to see if anything changed when it was allowed to work itself out. On the left edge, which was turning upward, untaping the perimeter let it relax and fall flat (who knew ?!). Once it was in the place it was comfy, I taped that into place. From there, I literally pushed down gently around the patio space to see if there was air underneath. If it didn't move, I moved on. If it pushed down, that's where I knew to stick a push pin to keep it down.

A few weeks ago, the hubs built me a new work space from the
remainder of the plywood used for the house platform/yard. This,
when I had to just stick - hammer - pins in where I was working,
is when the move to have a plywood work space becomes genius.

I probably spent the next hour with a toothpick massaging corners and edges of the stones down if they were curling up as paper will do. The edges were often wet enough that they made a little bit of a paper mache situation making it easier to cover or fill edge holes. I got down almost level to the stones and looked from different angles to see where attention was needed! I called it good when I could hear my Dad in my head saying, "This could go on all day." As in, it may never, ever end. So, I ended it. 😊

I was very pleased to wake up to a reasonably still-flat patio today! It seems banging the push pins solution worked! Once I pulled them out, it looked like this:

If you look close in the lower-left quadrant of the picture, you can see a little brown dot. Some of the push pins reacted with the glue and left these marks. I have no actual explanation. Just pointing it out.

So! It looked great! But, I certainly was not finished! First, the mortar!

Basically, I used a very, small bit on the tip of my finger to smear it in between the stones. The target of the mortar was certainly between the stones, but that would have been impossible to do cleanly. So, I did the best I could without worrying about it. I used a baby wipe on stones that got too much on top of them as I went, and, then, I went back with a wipe after the whole thing was finished to take more off in places I deemed necessary. No rhyme or reason, just whatever I felt it should look like.

After that dried, I got out the chalk pastels (after a hunt to find them exactly where they belong) for some highlighting and dimension. For the most of the job, I scraped just a little dusting off close to where I wanted it with an X-acto blade ...

And, then, I just rubbed it in with my finger:

The above example is absolutely the worst one I did. Perfect choice to show, huh? 😂 Anyway, I used a combination of light and medium grays as well as, sparingly, black and white where I really felt those were needed. I also rubbed my finger in a mustard color and highlighted a few of the stones. Finally, just a few got a slight touch of green.

Then, it was Poly time!

Okay, here's where it all got real, though. The one thing I realized very early in the project - but, way to late for turning back - was that I knew I'd have to cut away the extra cardboard/tape/gluey napkin to get the edge I wanted and needed. But, I wasn't sure exactly what to use to make that happen without cracking anything.

Fortunately, the moment of truth was much easier to face than I feared. In fact, it was a non-issue as the X-acto knife cut right through with no problems:

I cut away the bigger parts before getting detailed around the stones. And, once all cleaned up, I had something quite fabulous!

Here it is all dressed up!

I really liked seeing it from this angle when I walked by! And,
then, in this picture, I spy with my little eye a place just
screaming for the exterior trim project to get going! *sigh*

Here's the full view:

Yeah, Polly and Hal are still over there yammering about that
pot. What they should be doing is taking down the holiday decs ...

I kept playing around with it, so here's just one more view:

There was still a slight curl upward in the piece, when I put it down on the yard, but, this is pliable enough that I could "work it" the opposite way to gently redirect the curl. I got it all but the very, very front which I don't even notice until I stare at it. I'll likely work with it in the morning, but, right now, I just love looking at it.

And, on a smaller note since it's in the picture, I must share a little make-over I did the other night. Remember the pink flowers I'd settled on keeping? Um, yeah. That didn't last because I did this to them:

The left is before, and the middle is after! HAPPY!!
And, the purple is another pink make-over. I will have pink
in the gardens, but these pinks weren't doing it for me.
THE COLOR MAKE-OVERS ARE, THOUGH!

One of these bouquets is currently in the gazebo while the other
you can see on the patio 😁.

There's more outdoor goodness to come! (No, not the trim. That would just make sense ...)

Life In the House

While I'm still plotting and planning the patio situation in front of the dining room -- oh, wait. I don't think I mentioned that was the plan, only that there was a plan. ANYWAY, that's the next big step. That and painting a few flowers (did we really think the pink ones would stay pink? Yeah, well, I had a different brainstorm ...).

Okay, let me start over: While I'm still plotting and planning the patio situation in front of the dining room doors, the people in the house have been busy! First, there are a few joiners to the tea party!

With a wagon full of friends, the little girl of the house finds her way to the table!

And, anxiously awaiting some tasty crumbs dropping are the three, new rescue pups!

These little ones need just a smidge of TLC, but their adoption fee from the antique store was just right! So, they are now added to the family. Because this crew needed double-digit pets, amiright ?!

In the meantime, the home owners couldn't be more excited about their outside developments so much so that Hal went overboard at the antique store:

He's all, "Look at my awesome score! Now we can plant gigantic things in the front of our house for all to admire!" and Polly's all, "You get that when that thing is full, we won't be able to budge it, right?"

I've read a number of posts, Facebook and blogs, where dollhouse peeps aren't fans of having people in their houses. I respect that, but I can't imagine this house without this family! There will come a time I actually put them all together for some introductions. Until then, we'll just stumble through getting to know each other! 😄

So, while Polly and Hal hash that out, I'm back on to a little research and mental planning to really spruce up the left side of the lawn! 'Back soon ...

Outdoor Touches

In the blitz of dollhouse attention this past week, two more ideas came to fruition!

The first brainstorm happened during a trip to Hobby Lobby many months ago. They had both of these items on sale for half price:

I knew I wanted the little jars for other ideas I've not yet completed, so I snagged a bag. Just above them, I saw the glow in the dark pieces, but I didn't know what I would do with them. Fortunately, I had My Girl with me who immediately said, "Fill the jars with them to put on the porch in the Summer."

BRILLIANT.

And, so, with a little help from a folded paint chip to get them in the wee jars ...

... that's what I finally did!

These look very cool at night, but they certainly do not photograph well! So, you know. Your imagination will serve you well here!

The other little project accomplished this week is peeking at you in the background! That's right: FLOWERS!

So, no, I didn't make any of these flowers. But, they did get a makeover! Here's the original batch:

What's cool is that Michaels puts out a bunch of these flowers for their Spring line of fairy garden decoration, and they work perfectly for the house! And, they go on sale early and often. 😁 The smaller ones are from Michaels, and the bigger two are from Hobby Lobby in their fairy garden section. Long story short, after buying the first one or two, I acquired the rest for their "bones" (and clearance prices) because I wasn't interested in all of the flowers being pink. I like pink, but, in the garden, I love variety! (I once heard on a home and garden show, "You don't want your flower gardens to look like a crayon box," to which I said to the tv, "I don't ?!")

Anyway, I love the flowers, but enough was enough of the monochromatic situation. So, close to midnight on Friday, I pulled out my acrylics and changed most of them:

I chose the best-looking pinks to keep, and the rest got the paint! Now when I see them, I just smile!

That door really needs a doorknob.
Flowers! Focus!
Note the glow in the dark bottles, too!

'See the purple flowers? I LITERALLY JUST FOUND ANOTHER ONE IN PINK IN MY STASH OF GOODS! Oh, Michaels and your deep discounts on end-of-season things ...

Ohh ... the color choices swirl in my mind ...
(The camera flash makes this look weird.)

Anyway, here's where the red batch wound up for now:

The white pot has flowers that came with my estate sale nab a few months ago. And, the furniture up here might stay, or it might go down by the dining room doors after I get that part of the yard fixed up (you didn't think it was going to stay one, big green space, did you?!).

While we're up here on the sun deck, here's a current overview shot:

Little Holly Ann is up there having a tea party with her pals.

CUTE OR WHAT?!

These creatures scrounged the house to find the Triscuit box, Oreos, a can of sweet peas and a can of vegetable beef stew. And, a Coke. And, pretend tea. 😊

So, that's a wrap on all recent projects! But, the outdoor efforts continue! Stay tuned ...!

This Year's Red, White and Blue!

Let's dive into what made the great outdoors at least a little festive and pretty these past few days, shall we?! I'll start with the obvious red, white and blue decor!

Please ignore the Christmas Tree lingering back there. Or,
don't because it's cute!

I had a vision of what I wanted for the posts in terms of  the post decorations, but what I wanted required wired ribbon. And, I didn't have that. And, I didn't want to buy that. So, I followed a tutorial to create the ribbon I actually wanted and manipulated it to make it work for what I had! I did not picture this kind of ribbon at all, but I love the way it looks!

The first step was to simply stack a length of ribbon on top of itself back and forth accordion style:

I eyeball-measured the diameter I assumed I wanted. No measuring here.

From there, I took the really sharp, precision scissors and cut slits on each side of the middle:

Just up to the white on both sides did the trick. And, you can
see it's not perfect as the ribbon slides a little while cutting if
you pay as little attention to that as I did.

After that, I tied a piece of string as tight as I could around the middle. The string fit in the slits, and the knot was simply a little double knot.

I don't seem to have a picture of that. But, I
do have this picture of Lizzy making it really
difficult to pull the ribbon I need as she plays
with it.

When I pulled the string, it flared the loops out quite a bit to help create the circle formation. I twisted the loops back and forth at the point where the string holds them together to allow them to move as much as possible which helped create almost a complete circle. Where there were gaps between loops on the ends, I used a little hot glue to bring them together.

From there, I cut some velcro strips to use around the posts. The piece of velcro I had was quite wide, so I cut it in thirds lengthwise. Then, I stuck 'em on a piece of ribbon so they were "finished."

After cutting them apart and trimming up the ribbon, they got hot glued on to the back of the ribbon decoration:

I made four and figured that was good.

I could have made more, but you will not there is not yet grass on the plywood. So, I was kind of itching to get a lot of things done at one time! So, up they went!

Here's how the Velcro situation turned out from behind:

Cool, huh?

You can see I also sort-of-swagged some ribbon across the railings. My secret to success to slap that up fast and keep it up is the Elmer's putty stuff:

A little dab under the ribbon keeps it in
place and can be removed when it comes down!

And, in time-warp picture mode, I made just a few yard stakes with star buttons, toothpicks and Quick Grip glue:

I'm already anxious to make about a million more of these for next year!

Here are a few more views:

Ahh ... 

And I'm proud to be an American - Where at least I know I'm free - And I won't forget the men who died - Who gave that right to me - And I'd gladly stand up next to you - And defend Her still today - 'Cause there ain't no doubt - I love this land - God Bless the U.S.A.  -- Lee Greenwood. Gets me every, single time.

Mulch Never Looked So Good

One of the bigger finishing touches to the yard is most definitely the landscaping, and I was excited to create some planting spaces!

A few weeks ago, I found this at Michaels on clearance which I used for the mulch:

I hadn't yet figured out how to create these spaces, so this on-clearance container of mulchy-dirt-looking stuff seemed it would do the trick!

I had a number of thoughts about how to create this space, but I didn't really work that hard to sort them out. I sort of mushed them all together and created something that would address everything I wanted. Why compromise on the fake house?! The thoughts:

1. I don't want it to just be flat. Dimension in some way is needed.
2. I don't want to be locked in to having to create a border for it. That's not to say I won't do it, but that is to say I don't want the immediate requirement. So, it needs to look finished without it.
3. (And, probably most important, hahaha) I need to be able to create and use yard stakes for decorating.

With those thoughts in mind, I found lying around our house a piece of super-basic (non-water absorbing) floral styrofoam, and I just started hacking into it with a serrated knife to create bedding strips:

I had no idea how much I would be able to create with the piece I had on hand, but I figured it was a good place to start. I didn't cut the surfaces evenly to help create some dimension.

From here, the process wasn't as smooth as I thought it was going to be, so I didn't stop to take pictures. First, I took my pieces and fit them around what I considered the most important places to have them as I knew I didn't have enough to go down the sides of the house. In some cases, I had to cut very, little, odd pieces to fit holes. What you see in the picture below are some such pieces as well as others that are cut-aways from fitting the big pieces around the perimeter:

After laying it all out, the messy part began! Piece by piece, I schmeared glue all over the top and front side of each piece. From there, I covered the glue in the brown stuff as best I could before dropping a few dots of glue on the bottom of the piece to put where it belongs next to the house. 'Sounds reasonably simple, right? Hmm ...

The tricky part was getting the mulch to stick without it sticking back on my fingers. That it is such a light product (think fluffy) made it difficult to get down *in* the glue. After doing the left side pieces, I finally got wise. I got the glue on a piece where it needed to go, glued it to the ground, and then I took large pinches of the mulch to pile on to the glue. This allowed me to really cover it and press it down into the glue without glue seeping through and sticking to my fingers. In other words, the more mulch, the merrier. This particular adjustment to my process made this whole project way easier!

After it dried for a little while (less than an hour for those counting), I used the vacuum hose to very carefully lift away the majority of the stray mulch to see where things were at. Interestingly, most of the front pieces had a gap needing filling. Why? I really don't know. But, I knew running a bead of glue and throwing more mulch on it overnight would fix most of the issue:

This morning, I used the vacuum about an inch from all of the surface of the mulch to get rid of excess and reapply as needed. There were just a few places that needed some TLC both from where it meets the grass as well as on top. Those are now all tidied up as much as is needed for yard work!

And, here you can even see a few yard stakes I made!

I'll get into the details of the decorations scattered about next, but, for right now, let's just revel in the beauty of the mulch!