I paid a nickel for this in a clearance bin. I can see those ready-made curves around windows and doors in fantasy settings, and who knows what else?
POTENTIAL EASTER EGG BRANCH
I found these budding branches at Joann's after-Easter sale. Made me think of Easter eggs.
I plan to paint some
of these "eggs" other pastel colors and use
them perhaps as part of a climbing vine growing beside
the McKinley House, which is rented out right now to
Hiram Rabbit. See Dollhouse Pages: The McKinley House.
YELLOW EASTER TREE
This little Easter tree could make a whole lot of little wreaths and swags! Or even a tree!
TINY RED BERRY CLUSTER PICK
I found this stem among the spring assortment at JoAnn's.
All I need do is add a few dots and trim the leaves to a more rounded shape and - strawberry cluster!
Hmm. Just add a bit of white to the bottoms and retouch the green at the top, and upside-down, the cluster looks like radishes! I've been thinking about a new Spring/Easter project with my grandhildren. So maybe we'll plant a strawberry patch - or fill a garden basket with radishes and toothpick carrots and ....
WELL, AT FIRST I
THOUGHT "HMM," BUT THEN ....
I found this little pick in both the red-orange and a green. (Forgot to take a photo of the green.)
Painted red, and with yellow clusters in the center, won't these little leaves be passable poinsettias? Some, of course, would be painted green, as well. And, of course, painted green (or already green, as one stem was), they make good background greenery for a flower garden.
Gosh, they also look like they could be dancing leaves in some fairy setting!
POSSIBLE FAIRY LILY GARLAND?
I'm not sure yet what I'll use this little garland of lily-like flowers for, and don't even remember where I got it, but it makes me think of fairies. The flowers are a bit shiny, so I might paint them; then again, I might not. They might be combined in some fashion with the fairy lanterns made from jewelry findings and, of course, some leaves need to be added, too.
CANDLES FROM PLANT STEM
I got this stem because its berries reminded me of some full-size fat candles I had at one time.
Doesn't that look like candles? The sort you see grouped on a tray in the bathroom, perhaps, or on a coffee table? Matter of fact, my grandchildren did use the darker ones as candles in their wizard's boxes. I still have the rest of them to use somewhere.
No doubt the leaves can be used in some fashion, too, perhaps with a little repainting and judicious cutting they might serve as staghorn ferns? Just attach them to a little clump of moss attached to a small piece of bark, maybe?
WEIRD POTPOURRI
This bag of fall themed potpourri was at Tuesday Morning. Besides the appeal of its lush cinnamon spicey odor, it was filled with some very unusual elements. It took a while to sort everything out, but its contents revealed some of the most intriguing bits I had ever seen in a bag of potpourri.
These curly pods look like they belong in a fairy setting.
These pods form curls and circles; perhaps they could be collars on elves, or sprites' playground slides or .....
Strange, huh?
The orange fur on these pods could be hair; matter of fact, I used a teeny tiny bit on one or two of my fairy treetop babies. The interiors make nice cushy little beds for some kind of wee creature, too.
I suppose these seed
heads could form some kind of tree or bush in the appropriate
setting; maybe a Halloween or fall-type scene. There
were even a few "regular" pine cones in the
bag, as well. Because they are so heavily scented, they
can be used in a shallow wooden bowl on my full-size
coffee table this winter.
These pods would make boats, sleds, beds, fairy throne/chair backs....? Quite a harvest from one bag, isn't it?
FROM BERRY BRANCHES TO VEGETABLES AND ....
I just can't seem to resist searching through the bargain bins in the floral departments. Not long ago I found some branches that were half off and whose berries looked so much like vegetables that I had to buy them. This is one of three different stems I bought. It reminded me of red onions.
Here are the berries from the white branch. Don't they look just like white onions? They were mostly three to a stem; I can see twisting some of those stems together to make old-fashioned hanging onions, too. I can remember my grandmother braiding or tying onions to hang when they had gotten quite large at the end of the growing season.
Here they are, cut from the stems, just piled in the crate. No painting, no further tweaking. Great, eh?
And here are the red berries: perfect tomatoes! I do plan to touch up the stems with green paint.
Besides the berries/vegetables, look what else you get from this one branch:
Three tendrils; hmm, wonder what they could be used for?
Yep, grapevine wreaths. The three tendrils from each stem made one wreath.
Also, we have at least seven leaves that turn into fern stems when trimmed and fringed (they are a brighter green than shows here);
and look at the leaf trimmings - can't they become something, too? And, of course, the full size bare stem itself can be used for tree-making, no doubt! (I am sorry for the dark aspect of these pictures!)
Now if that's not a Cheap Thrill, I don't know what is!
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