My (Almost) Blank Canvas

Yesterday, a feeling swept over me that I haven't felt in a very long time.  It was a feeling of excitement... longing almost to put my mark on something, create something, unravel the artistic side of me.  Since taking that little trip to the outdoor art park, I've been so pumped to get out to my garden and start making some magic.

Literally.

A place full of magic, and wonder, and harmony.

A fairy garden.

I've been intrigued with fairy gardens since stumbling across them on Pinterest one day a few months ago.  I had never really heard of them before, and the more I looked the more I found on these beautiful little wonderlands created in your own back yard.

Most people opt to make a fairy garden in a planter pot or a small wagon or in some other small area.  Something like this...

I'm going a little more large scale than that... I'm going to create a fairy garden that spans the whole area of my side flower garden.

A pretty large task.  But will be so worth it when it's done.

Sitting here thinking about all the planning yesterday got my mind wandering off to other places.  Shocker, right?  (Squirrel!)  It's hard for me to pay attention for too much for too long.  But, as my mind started to wander, it started to connect some dots together that kind of gave me a profound epiphany.

I want to make this garden beautiful to make me realize that I can be beautiful.

I want to put in the hard work to makeover this space so that I can appreciate the hard work I need to do to makeover my body.

I want to feel the pride and joy every time I look out at this space to help remind me that I can feel pride and joy about myself if I'm just willing to stick with it.

Profound, right?

Stretching?  Maybe.  But, plausible and possible.

In all honesty, I've never been interested in gardening.  In fact, I've always told people that I have two black thumbs... because I just don't have the willpower to tend and care for plants.  Then, for no rhyme or reason, when I first looked at this house and saw that little side yard - I told myself that it would be mine and that I would put in the hard work to make it pretty.  My own little private area.  A place where I could go and sit and reflect.  A place I could muddle around in the flowers.  A place I could tend to and nurture.  A place I could protect.  And mostly, a place I could be proud of - because I created it.

Yesterday was the day where my desires started yearning to begin.  I had to get the plans in motion.  I had to make the first steps at accomplishing what I'm setting my mind to doing.

Hubby, Jelly, and I went out for some supplies.  We bought the basic gardening tools and gloves, but I also found myself picking up a few cute things that will eventually make their way in to the garden - once the hard work is out of the way.  There's a lot to be done before I can start thinking about decorating... but it was fun to pick out a few things that could help my imagination take hold to something real.

So, you wanna see what my starting point is? Here's my blank canvas... the "before" pics, if you will...

The full length of the yard from the gate

The gated entry and built in fire pit... I see this becoming quite a focal feature

Kind of bare and barren right now.. but my future fairy wonderland

The one living thing that will be staying... a beautiful rose bush

It's a cloudy day today, which made for the perfect backdrop for "before" pictures.  It makes the pictures look a lot more gloomy and dismal.  Which is perfect... cause it will make the after pictures that much more beautiful.

My plans, right now, consist of converting the far end in to a "wildflower wonderland".  I want to do some creative stuff with the old tree stump that's sitting in that area and make it in to some form of fairy house or mansion or something.  I also plan on carving out the top of it and planting some plants right in to the tree.  Not sure how that will work out, but we'll see.

The thinner portion of the yard will be full of fairy pathways, succulents, fairy houses, small flowers, and colorful rocks.  I have a lot of plant hangers on the fence, which will be the future home to a few fairy houses (that birds can borrow) and wind chimes.

Jelly is super excited to help me, and I think it's going to be a great Mommy/Daughter project.  As long as I can actually let her help and not get all control freak on the situation.  I have a bad habit of doing that... but I'm thinking there'll be plenty for her to do to help.

It figures that there's rain in the forecast for today... which means I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do outside, but it's not raining right now, which means I'm wasting time sitting here.  Not that my blog is a waste of time.. that's not the case, at all.

Well, it's time for me to pull my sleeves up and get a little dirty.  Literally.

First step is getting all of the weeds and old mulch out of all the flower beds so that I can get the soil ready for planting.  I'm a little nervous about what types of creepy crawlies I'm going to discover today... but that's why I bought gloves.  And bug killer.  As long as I don't discover any tarantulas  I should be OK.

Fingers crossed.

Here I go...