Landscaping Tips by Sheri Calpini
Making a template for foundation plantings.
Lay a large sheet of paper or light weight cardboard under the part of dollhouse where you want to landscape. Using a pencil, draw along base of house on paper to establish the back side of your garden. This ensures that it will fit up against the house. Then draw a garden plot in a pleasing curved shape to fit the space you want to landscape.
After you have drawn the pattern to your liking, label each piece , remove the paper and cut out your patterns.
Lay the pattern on sheet of light weight basswood, and trace around it.
Label Bottom of wood pattern. Using a scroll saw, cut out the shapes. If you don't have a scroll saw, you can use an Xacto knife, but it is harder.
Lay the wood piece top side down on a block of brown florist foam (sahara type). Using an Xacto knife, cut around the wood to mark the pattern on the foam. Remove wood, turn the foam on it's side, and with a styrofoam cutter or serrated knife, slice through the foam about 1/4 inch thickness to remove the garden piece from the block. Try to keep the piece a uniform thickness, but slight differences won't matter much. Remove the scrap edges of foam. (Use the scrap pieces to fill flower pots, vases, etc.) Use a weathering product to make the wood base grey, or paint if you prefer. Bass Wood will warp a bit, so make sure you do both sides at the same time, to minimize warping, and weight it down with something til dry. When base is dry, coat top side with white glue of your choice, lay the foam on glue and lay a fairly heavy object on top to weight it until glue is dry. After it is dry, take an emery board and lightly sand the foam to give shaping. If you sand more at the front of the piece your finished garden will look like it is sloping away from the house. Next coat the top and sides of the piece with white glue, and dip in mini dirt ( Used dried tea leaves, and dried coffee grounds blended fine) . Let dry thoroughly.
Use chunks of various colors of Landscaping greens from model railroad landscaping to form bushes, gluing them to garden with Qwik-Grab glue.
Plant clumps of flowers as desired. Keep taller plants and flowers closer to the house. Use a sharp object to make a small hole in the foam to make planting easier. Place small garden pieces such as animals, birdbaths, sun dials, etc. as desired.
SUMMER IN THE OFFICE YEAR ROUND
Use a round wooden coaster, or a shaped wooden plaque as the base for a mini garden to enjoy flowers
year round.
Cut a piece of brown floral foam(sahara) to fit the shape of the plaque or coaster. Glue in place.
Coat foam with white glue and dip in mini dirt.
Glue a statue, sun dial or birdbath as a focal point.
Glue on small interesting rocks.
Glue on small clumps of landscaping greenery.
Glue on small animals such as rabbits, squirrels, birds, etc.
"Plant" flowers, ivies, etc.
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