Plant in the Spring

Mornin'Y'all,
Spring is upon us and I have been in full bloom sporting the Rudolf look and scratching my eyes! Please excuse my absence from my blog.

Any hoo the idea for this project came as I thought about those of you that were still covered in snow, in particular I was thinking of my friend Linda. I wanted to make something that would cheer her up and bring her the much needed spring even if it was only paper. Here is my Spring Planter that I called Plant in the Spring I wasn't going to enter it in the contest but when I finished it I thought I was so pretty I would try. 

I knew I wanted to make a wood look planter so I used the cornfield owl box from Acorn Autumn SVG Kit. I use Silhouette Designer Addition and it has a knife feature I like to use a lot. I cut the Cornstalks off first using this feature but you can do the same by cutting the box at W.5.974 X 3.142 H. That is the finished height after you cut the stalks off so yours will be taller if your doing it with scissors after you cut it out with your machine. I also wanted a water trough for it so I cut another box but made it much shorter. I counted up one score line from the bottom and cut across with my knife, then adjusted the node on the tab for gluing by tilting it down like Mary does. This helps the sides to fit properly. The sizes for the water trough are W 5.823 x W 1.158  and W 3.605 x 1.292 H. I made accent pieces for the planter by making  squares to fit just a little smaller than the inside of the cut lines on the cornfield owl planter box. Glue the boxes together, then glue your trough onto the bottom of your planter. I used the wood grain paper from Echo Parks Jack and Jill Collection.

I set that aside and began work on the poles for the birdhouses. I used the dress form bottom from Dress Shop SVG Kit. I cut it at the size it imports and weighted the bottom with the decorative rocks from Dollar Tree. You can glue them in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. I glued mine to the top inside of the stand as well.  I cut two of the bottom stands and while you cannot fit the stand bottoms both into the box nicely they will fit. ( I had to kinda squish one a bit) The pole part of the stand is made stronger using some cardboard inserts from the glow necklaces I bought from there for my grandchildren.( my daughter saved them for me when she saw how neat they were.. what a good daughter) The last pole is made using just two of the pole parts of the dress form and gluing those to one of the cardboard inserts. If you made three each of the two poles you could probably have the strength you would need. I have a shelf in my closet that has just that kind of thing in it. Inserts from foil toilet paper rolls and the like. Saving and reusing these is a nice way to recycle and helps the projects your making to be strong.
Wow how did I get down that rabbit hole as my pastor would say? Anyhoo, hot glue the stands and the extra pole to the inside of your planter box. I added extra hot glue and more of the rocks for weight as well. Cover the bottom with shredded paper. I used the paper from my daughters Julep boxes, yep recycled again, hey its free so I use it!
Cut and glue three extra stands to glue your bird houses on. Glue those to the top of your poles.

I made the birdhouses from Spring Birdhouses SVG Kit. These are the sizes of the tall and short houses I used. Bring all your pieces of the houses onto the mat and group them then size them to: W 10.361 x 7.011 H Tall Houses W 10.015 x 6.342 H Short Houses.  I added the score lines, holes for the boxes, and the house_front_bottom before I cut them.
 Using the circle cut out Mary made for the house_front_top as my guide I un-grouped the house_front_top and released compound path to find out what the size of the circle was then duplicated it for the box and the house_front_bottom piece and the box. Lay your house_front_bottom and house_front_top onto the box on your virtual mat to find the place your hole needs to be for the box. ( it helps to make some of these pieces a different color so you can see them better) once you have the hole lined up where you want it move your top piece out of the way and Select the box and the circles then modify and subtract so you have a cut out for the bird houses and house_front_bottom.  The size of the hole I made for the bird rest is W 0.140 x0.140 H. Group your score lines to your box before moving it. I used a wooden skewer for the bird rests glued into place. You can use hot glue or the Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.
 Cut the railing from the Seaside SVG Kit sized at W 8.207 x 1.277 H, this can be found in the lighthouse file. I used Tim Holtz Iced Spruce ink to distress the fence, stand and poles for the birdhouses before gluing the railing and houses into place. I added a bit of Spanish moss to my bird houses for looks.
The "vines" are thinly cut pieces of card stock or you can use the vines from Pick a Pumpkin SVG Kit either will work. If you use the vines from Pick a Pumpkin SVG Kit you will have to make them thinner. I hot glued one end of a vine to the bottom of the pole and wrapped it loosely around the poles adding touches of hot glue where I wanted it to stay. I also cut my ends at an angle to give it a more finished look.
The flowers are from Mom's Garden Gifts SVG Kit. The pansies are sized at W 2.153 x 5.966 H. I Googled pansies to get different colors as I am not a gardener. As I looked at the photos I noticed the leaves and used 3d Flowers SVG Kit to make the leaves. I sized the leaves at W 1.633 x 3.880 H. Each leaf was inked with Stampin up Old Olive and then I used G 99 Olive Copic Marker to make the vanes on the leaves.  The blossoms are from the Gift box file in this same kit. They are sized at W 2.558 x 3.482 H. I used tweezers to glue them together and hot glued them into place. Do yourself a huge favor and add the pearl centers before you hot glue them into place. I can't tell you how many fell into the shredded paper in the planter. sheesh!
 I also drew the lines for the pansies on using Copic Marker RV69 and Stampin Up Write Wisteria Wonder. I don't own a purple Copic Marker yet. Yellow brads are the centers of my Pansies. The leaves for the pansies and the pansies themselves were curled using my McGill Flower shaping tools. I hot glued the leaves in at angles and then used a thin vine bent at each end and hot glued to the center of the leaves to lift my pansies a bit as though they were really growing.
The butterfly is from Breezy Meadow Butterflies SVG Collection. I don't have the exact size but it measures about 1 3/4 inches long. My suggestion is cut a few at different sizes to see what you like best. You can put more than one that would be cute too! I backed the butterfly with light blue vellum and used my smooch that looks like nail polish bottles to add color to the butterfly body, then used a clear Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle to the body. the inteni is a thin strip of black paper folded and glued to the underside of the body. I spritzed the whole thing with Perfect Pearls mixed with water.

 That is what I did to make this Plant in the Sping box and entry. I hope you like it and if you feel so inclined please vote for me. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog. It is wonderful to spend time with friends you care so much about and to share a bit of spring happiness with them. Have a wonderful creative day and Happy Craftin' Y'all!  Blessings, Sharalyn


SVG Kits and Collections Used:
Acorn Autumn SVG Kit
Dress Shop SVG Kit
Spring Birdhouses SVG Kit
Seaside SVG Kit
Mom's Graden Gifts SVG Kit
3D Flowers SVG Kit
Breezy Meadow Butterflies SVG Collection

Mentioned:
Pick a Pumpkin SVG Kit

 Supplies Used:
Echo Park Jack and Jill Collection
Echo Park: This &That Graceful 6x6 Pad
 My Minds Eye: A Mother's Love 6x6 Pad
Bazzill Card Stock: Stonehenge, Rain Forest,Wild Pansy, Fairytale, Pollen, Atlantic, Passionate
American Craft Card Stock: Butterscotch, Lip Gloss, Lemon
Stampin Up Ink: Wisteria Wonder Marker, Old Olive Pad
Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Iced Spruce
Copic Markers G99, RV69
Recollections: Pearls and small Yellow Brads
Recycled: card board inserts and Julep packing paper
 Dollar Tree: Decorative Rocks and Spanish Moss
Ranger Ink: Glossy Accents, Perfect Pearls
Smooch: Azure, Green Apple, Pool
Clear Wink of Stella Pen
Hot Glue
Detail Glue Gun
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Silhouette Cameo