It's Been a While But I Have Been Busy in the Woods.....

It might be cold and frosty here in England but I have been busy, busy making the plants for my Mad Hatter's Tea Party Project. 

So many kits and punches later I have at last reached the point when I believe I have made enough flowers to fill the flower beds that will make up the background for the scene beginning at the back with the Caterpillar's mound.

I decided to use LED strip lights to illuminate the flower beds. I was a little indecisive about adding light to this project but decided it will provide more interest in the evening if it was lit in some way.  The mound is made from foil and masking tape, Jain Squires Caterpillar has wedged in nicely.

 The three beds now need to be filled with all the trees I have made. I and the gaps around the mound filled.

 I have used a basic air drying clay to fix the trees in place. I know this will dry out and is not a permanent fix for the trees but the clay will be covered in 'soil' that I hope will glue them in and add stability. I had read that Fimo is a better base as it stays more flexible but when I tried to use it I realised that I would have to spend a lot of time warming it up and I was too impatient to start. 

 As the clay takes a while to dry out I do have the chance to move things around as I plant, even once dried the trees and bushes can be moved as the clay has not stuck to the floor of the room box.

 I have also added blossom to some of the trees and roses to one of the larger bushes. Finding small enough punches has been a real challenge so eventually I bought some of Mary Kinloch's laser sheets. The quarter scale sheets are perfect for tiny flower blossoms. I bought the dandelion, mum and daisy sheets which are all on Japanese Crepe Paper. They colour up beautifully and are very versatile. Mary is available on FB for UK buyers and is very helpful if you want to order some of her laser sheets. Just send her a message on FB detailing the sheets you would like to order. Mine arrived in next to no time. I have already ordered some more today for creating tiny border plants.

 The clematis flowers and roses have both been made using Bonnie Lavish kits. I have quite a stash of these kits which are no longer available in the UK but I was lucky enough to see some on Ebay a while ago that I snapped up immediately. I also bought some from a US seller but I can't remember the site off hand. Flower kits are a great way to make plants but they do vary in difficulty, I like these kits because they are simple and straight forward.

 This little blossom tree is one of the wire structures I made. I have coated it with a railway scenic scatter, couldn't face the idea of tiny leaves, and then added some of the quarter scale dandelion flowers.

 This blossom tree shows the difference in size when using a mini punch. I have just about got away with it because it is a much bigger tree but I wish I had gone for the smaller laser blossoms earlier.

I am always amazed how my projects seem to eat up resources. I felt like I had made more than enough trees and bushes, I was expecting to find I had a few left, but I seem to have made just enough. Phew!! In fact I have had to use a couple of twig trees that were part of my stash but they seem to have blended in ok. 

I have filled in the gaps around the mound and then covered the back gaps with dried out and ground tea leaves mixed with a basic PVA glue. This has then been topped with clumps of railway scenic moss. I will have to add some more greenery to hide the LED strip, maybe a small fern.

The tea leaves will dry and harden which might make adding greenery to this corner a bit more problematic. Hmmmm, will have another look at this tomorrow.

Generally a good start to the planting, my only worry now is the amount of flowers I have made.

 I have five of these oasis block ready and waiting.

 Leaves to be added as I plant.

Surely this will be more that enough!!

Fingers crossed.