Back in the Woods Today.....A Quick Blossom Shrub and Preparing the Ground Cover....

When I was making trees I also made a few wire shrubs thinking I would add leaves and blossom and create height and foliage in the borders. By the end of my tree making period I decided that these smaller wire structures would require more time and leaves than I was prepared to give. 

 I didn't want to waste them, however, so I came up with a quick fix by smothering them in PVA,

 then sprinkling the branches liberally with railway scenic scatter.

 The branches then had 1/4 scale lasered dandelion blossoms added. Not the most natural of looking shrubs, I think I did this at the end of a long day, but the general technique works. Next time I would give the gluing of the blossoms a but more attention.

 At the back of my border it filled a gap quite nicely and added light to a dark corner.

I have spent most of today getting all the stems ready for the ground cover plants I will need for my Caterpillar's mound and the edging of the final two sides.

I thought I would show how differently the same punch shape can look. This is a simple flower punch, on the left hand side I have made a hole in the centre and pushed the flower up to the top of the wire. The flower on the right hand side has had each petal gently cupped and then turned over and slid up the wire. I have topped the wire with a dab of PVA and then orange paint to both stop the flower head from slipping off and to add a centre to the flower.

This shape is from a mini punch as these will be used for ground cover.

 Just like all of these!! My laser sheets arrived from Mary Kinloch today so I have painted the quarter scale flowers and leaves the set them on wires.

The flowers do have central holes and I have threaded some of them but the really teeny ones I found easier just to glue on the top of the wire. I am not making them into the proper plants so this way was fine for me. 

I have used 30 gauge wrapped florist wire but I might be tempted to use a 32 gauge when I have a go at making the actual flowers in the future.

I have also bought some tiny leaves to experiment with too which might prove a challenge!