YARN BOMBING!

 

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 I've heard of, but never seen, yarn bombing before. I was really happy to find my local village shopping area BOMBED today. It's been a cold, clear winters day but my creative self was truly warmed.

 This one has crochet CD's on it, great idea!

 I love the fact you could touch the art too.

Happy days to you all!

Lisa


LINKED TO: Our World Tuesday

Nest planters and vases on the outside...

 This nest makes a perfect nursery for the baby begonia. I am fortunate and have a lot of nests. My little ones are kept inside but the bigger ones are outside where they continue to weather naturally. Some times when I get them they're already a little beat up and I've been wondering what to do with those one.

 It occurred to me that these broken nests would be perfect planters! They will continue to break down an as they do they'll feed what ever plants are in them or near by. How's that for eco friendly and thrifty?

 Placed in an old washing basket I filled with plants acquired from elsewhere in the garden it blends in just as nature intended. I love creative gardening!

 

This nest is already quite broken down but it will look sweet until it's time to replant the flowers, nest and all. Just look at all that earthy goodness! (and a little bit of evidence of man-kind...)

 

 I also redid the front porch today. I wasn't entirely happy with this compilation, it needed colour and I was out of flowers...or was I?

 Another light-bulb moment for me! Bring the vase of flowers and berries I foraged from the roadside, outside! The plants were picked from the wild so they don't need the shelter others might and WOW what a difference it made to my winter porch display. These berries are also in my winter table display.

Loving it! Nests as planters and vases outside not inside.

Happy sigh!

May your nest be blessed,

Lisa

Building with Boxes: Part 1: Pi and Pythagoras's theorem.

  

 I love pinterest! I found this cool, lighted cardboard house sculpture and thought it would make a great Winter holiday project. Turns out we couldn't wait for the holidays so I decided to turn it into a math lesson.

This is what we did...

 Step 1) Measure the width and height of the first box. (Ours was 54cm x 20.5cm)

2) Divided the length by 3 and rule box into thirds. (18cm)

3) In the middle section my son decided on the door placement and used a circle (roll of tape in our case) to mark the top of the door. Then just for 'fun' he measured the radius, diameter and circumference. (D x Pi = 28.26cm.)

4) Turn circle archway and cut two castle or church shape doors.

 Somebody enjoyed himself....

Next came the stairway and Pythagoras's theorem.

 

Pythagoras said that if you have 2 known sides of a triangle you can work out the third.

This is what we did...

1) Width of 1/3 of box = 18cm 

18cm squared = 324cm

Height of box -1/3 = 13.6cm

13.6cm squared = 184.96

324 + 184.96 -= 508.96

Square root of 508.96 = 22.56cm

The length of the missing side if 22.56cm.

2) My son ruled a line 22.6 cm long to put the stairway on and using cut kebab sticks we secured it in place and cut some more windows.

Stay tuned for the rest of this multi-story building! This is a fun way to revise or teach math so we're going to make the most of it!

May your nest be blessed,

Lisa

In Lieu Of Flowers- Winter Mantel

It's winter here and the variety of wild flowers has dwindled. Luckily for me I was able to spot these berries from the road when I was driving. The tree they were growing on was quite big yet somehow I had never noticed it before. Now I wonder how I missed that POP of red! They are a perfect substitute for flowers and compliment the earthy elements I have around my home.

 

 I'm dying to paint this table white or at least sand it back to it's natural state. So far I am meeting resistance to the idea from the MotH so I will have to work on that!

Candles in glasses are a popular idea on pinterest lately, I added my won touch to them with mossy branches and a wee bird. Again, in lieu of flowers.

May your nest be blessed!

Lisa

Also posted to: Share the Joy Thursday

Winter Winners

 Pin this Pinterest Inspired Pin Board.

 

1. Found on a page entitled 'Nature Crafts for your Winter table"    I knew I had to take a look. Check out the sweet green bird!  LOVE!! The site has a tutorial for making the snowy candles too.

2. I spotted these while looking for mid winter Christmas inspiration. Being in the Southern Hemisphere with Christmas in summer the idea of a Winter Christmas is a bit of a novelty! Most of our major holidays in NZ fall outside of the cold months and mid winter Christmas celebrations have become more common. We started in out house a 2 Winters ago and started a new tradition of making orange pomanders. This site will show you  how to make these dried slices. I love them and think we might do these as well as the pomanders this year.

 Mid-Winter Christmas festival, Tauranga, NZ

A twig vase made from a coffee can has got to be a great addition to any style of decor. It's thrifty too! I have some cinnamon sticks left over from last years midwinter Christmas mulled apple juice so I am pretty keen to add them to my can..and maybe a few sweet, tiny pine cones to the bow.

 

4. This wonderful scene has been posted purely for inspiration! I adore the table, the owl, the books and the framed photos.  Unfortunately the link offers no further details or projects but I'm pretty sure the photo alone is enough to get the creative juices flowing!

 

5. When I was young my step-mother gave us pine cones and white shoe polish to make snowy cones with. I don't remember how ours looked but the memory is a warm one. This site will link you to a tutorial for a fantastic twiggy wreath and this link will take you to the fantastic Winter deco board I found it on. 

Drilling out the cavity for the candles will be a great project for my son...and I will end up with fabulous candles for my winter decoration! I love the mixed nuts spread around it too. Awesome idea! The original blogger was right when she said 'Naturally Beautiful'

She sees sea shells. DIY Shell Candles

 Blue candles, sea shells...a perfect pairing!

I just love how these look like rock pools on the beach!

To make these pretties I used a small gas cooker and steel bowl to melt down the candles. I held the bowl just above the heat to stop it from heating too quickly and becoming a smokey mess for the chunks had melted.

I snipped the wick strings into 7 small pieces, which is how many shell candles I got from 1 standard candle. The wax sets quickly as the shells are shallow so I waited a minute or so and stood the wick where I wanted it. It only took a few seconds for it to stand by itself and then I could move onto the next shell. (I used a sharp knife to cut the hard wax away from the wicks before melting them.)

Later in the year we are having a coastal themed 16th/21st birthday party. These are going to be so pretty scattered on the tables! As the wicks are small and the wax shallow I don't expect these to burn long so I am making around 100 for 8 tables that way we can replenish them as they night goes on.  I have plans for other colours and shell types too so watch this space!

May your nest be blessed,

Lisa

Happy Spaces

 

These thrifty little doily flowers made a lovely addition to my toi-toi stems! I love the natural tones and the way they surprise you when you see them hanging discreetly against the plant.

They were pretty easy to make, I simply snipped the flower from the larger doily and attached with twine like wool. Easy DIY and thrifty too:)

 Remember these bead sticks from last post? So pretty!

 I love to create these areas that make me happy to look at. They're a fantastic remedy after a stressful day and a great antidote for depression. I'm new to doing these sorts of things but thanks to pinterest I am well on my way!

 Even though it's Winter here I've been admiring summer homes this past week thanks to a Summer Homes Tour by Shabby Creek Cottage. Seriously drool worthy!

 We don't own the home we live in so major DIY projects are a no-no so instead I focus on the small spaces which are mine. I am making intentional displays that change frequently, dependent on what I have found in the second hand shops and what flowers I have. Everything here (except the purple flowers)  is either gifted, second hand or free. What's not to love about that?

 A sweet owl, two nests and romantic heart...

 An earthy pot that is nice to touch as well as look at...

 This heart was a lucky find!

I hope this post inspires you as I have been inspired by others.

Live well, love what you have and create happy spaces regardless of your budget or housing constraints...

May your nest be blessed,

Lisa 

Also posted to:

Feathered Nest Friday 

Fabulously Frugal Friday