Garden Puppets

Garden Puppets Grab the kids and a few craft supplies this summer and make some garden puppets. These sweet paper creatures are easy to create and just right to get a garden puppet show. Children can design them color them and assemble them. All you need is a tree or bush to get a stage, and the possibilities are endless.



Provides To create your backyard puppets you may need card stock or other stiff paper, scissors and adhesive, a pen or pencil, and paintmark or your favorite coloring materials. You'll also require a collection of different sized round things to trace. Drinking glasses, lids, bottles, thimbles and several other household items work great! Additionally, you'll require a few sticks or skewers to finish your puppets.



Tracing A Snail The first step to creating your puppets is hauling or drawing a circle. Lay right down your round item and trace around it. For a snail you may need one big circle to the shell, along with a smaller circle for the head. Draw the rest of the snail's body. Erase the areas of the circle you don't need, suggested here using a dotted line.



Coloring Your Shapes Once you have traced out the fundamental shapes, colour them in with your choice of materials. You can use paint, markers, colored pencils, crayons or anything else you can think of. Do not worry too much about acquiring all the color perfectly inside the lines, so you can trim it down in the next step.



Cut Out Your Shapes Once you've the basic colours down, then cut out the shapes across the lines your originally drew. Reduce any spots where the color went outside the borders.



Glue Your Shapes Together Arrange them once your pieces are cut and paste them together. For your snail place a tiny bit of adhesive along his spine, and set the shell on top.



Adding Details Once your pieces are glued together it is possible to choose where to include particulars. This is a superb time to include eyes, textures, patterns and whatever else you enjoy. Dots are fun and easy additions to give your critters a little extra character.



Finishing Touches Once your critter is pieced together and of the paint and glue is dry, you'll need to put in a rod to the back to turn it into a puppet! Twigs from the backyard are perfect for this, but skewers or popsicle sticks will work too. Use glue or a piece of tape to attach the stick to the back of your own sanity.



Ladybug Shapes As soon as you've mastered the snail, it's easy to create a ladybug with just a couple more circles. Trace two large circles for the entire body of your own ladybug. Put a moderate circle overlapping the first large circle to make a head. Split the second circle in half to your ladybug's wings. Trace a series of circles to make your ladybug's spots.



Completed Ladybug Color and cut out your ladybug shapes. Twist the polka dots on the massive wing circle and cut the ring in half. Attach the wings to the ladybug's body by gluing them near the bottom of the head. If you want to make your ladybug a little more interactive you can use brads instead of adhesive to attach your wings. That way they will be able to move.



Bumble Bee Shapes To get a bit more of a challenge, consider producing a bumble bee! Trace a large circle for the body, using a smaller ring inside to your mind. Trace two circles to the wings, making them about precisely the same size as the head. Then follow a smaller circle right next to each of them to form the wings. Draw 6 zigzags for thighs, you may use a ruler if you would like the lines to be perfectly straight.



Finished Bumble Bee Color and cut your bumble bee shapes. Do not forget to include the stripes when you're painting your system. Glue the wings close to the top of the human body, and then attach the legs in the bottom, behind your system. Such as the ladybug, you may use brads instead of glue if you need all the parts to move.



Hummingbird Shapes The basic hummingbird shapes begin quite much like the shapes you use to your bee's wings. Start out with 3 moderate circles each touching a smaller circle. Create wings with just two of these shapes by drawing a long triangle from the larger circle. Create a body together with the next shape by adding another circle in which the tail will be. Draw a long, narrow triangle for the beak.



Putting a Hummingbird Color and cut out your pieces and then glue the beak into the bird's head. Attach a brad or adhesive and add any specifics. Insert the rod the trunk and your bird is ready to fly.



Robin Shapes Want to add a different garden bird? How about a red-breasted robin? Overlap a large circle and a medium circle to produce the body and head. Insert a triangular shape for the tail toward the base of the human body. Draw a diamond shape to your beak and 2 toes shapes.



Finished Robin Color and cut out your robin contours. Don't forget to add breast. Glue the beak and feet, and include feel eyes and other particulars.



Duck Shapes You may produce a cute duck as easily as a robin. Start out with the very same circles to the body and head, but add a tail up in the top. Flatten the back between the tail and head a bit. Draw an oval for the beak and 2 feet. The feet are simple to draw if you begin with a diamond shape and curve a few lines to produce webbed duck feet.



Finished Duck Color and cut out all your budding contours. Glue the beak and feet on. Add eyes and some other specifics. If you want to add a wing, then see the chicken at another step to understand how.



Chicken Shapes A chicken is quite similar to a robin or duck, and just requires a few more steps. Begin the body in the same way, with overlapping large and mild circles, and then include a pointed tail. Flatten the back a little and draw a bead for the beak, along with 2 toes shapes. Produce the wing by drawing a ring. Overlap another circle on top to make a crescent form. Erase the rest of the ring so that you are left with a half moon shape for your wing.



Finished Chicken Color and cut out all the pieces for your chicken. Glue on the beak and feet. You can paste the wing on, or attach it with a brad so it moves. Insert a watch and any additional details or texture you like.



Sheep Shapes Wish to make a larger farm animal? Try out a sheep. To make the sheep you will need one big circle for the body and two little circles for the ears. Create the head by placing a medium circle and small circle directly next to each other and connecting them with lines. Add points to the little ear circles to make ear shapes. Draw 4 little rectangles for thighs.



Finished Sheep Color and cut your sheep out bits. Glue the legs and head. If you would like to get creative you can attach your ears together with brads in order that they wiggle, or simply paste them on. Now you've got a whole backyard gang for an ideal puppet show.



Finished Puppets Once all of your puppets are constructed and attached to their own sticks, you are prepared for a puppet show. Send the kids outside to find the perfect point and allow their imaginations run rampant.

Not Your Typical Backyard Pool

Not Your Typical Backyard Pool Designers Brad Renken and Chris Carter of Hearthstone Environments take you on a tour of a garden swimming pool project that evolved into something much more creative and whimsical with unexpected amenities such as waterfalls and a personal grotto with dinosaur wall art.



The Art of Excavation The challenge facing the designers for this particular project was creating a pool which combined in naturally with the uneven terrain and sloping backyard. They also built a pool house/family room that joined two homes, creating one special residence with a pool that spanned two tons.  



The Big Stakeout The special shape of the pool is summarized in stakes showing the curves and borders which will highlight specific amenities like a fire pit or terrace space for entertaining and sunbathing.



Steel Cage Skeleton Most swimming pools desire a strong, durable support system which is provided by means of a steel cage arrangement (pictured above) and covered with a concrete mortar mix that functions as the hard outer shell. Think of it as the skeleton of the main pool body.  



Fleshing Out the Information The wooden supports in the centre are the beginnings of a construction that will be dealt with in a concrete mixture and form a faux stone grotto complete with waterfall.



Much like Sculptor's Clay The whole shape of this pool is created by applying concrete with the power of air to the interior and walls, finally forming the structure. In the last stages the pool interior will be coated with a watertight finish (available in a variety of colours) that also aids in the durability of these materials.



Waterfall Basics Plumbing details and water pipes are concealed but available during the building of the pool grotto which can host a running creek of water across the roof which will cascade to the pool as a waterfall.



Round and Round A worker concentrates on completing a surface area adjoining the pool that is utilized for entertaining. In this case, a circular fire pit is going to be the primary attraction of this pool patio area that is bordered by a round wall.  



Beauty Stains Making faux rocks look like the actual issue is actually a painstakingly thorough process of hand staining the surface of each one.



Aqua Accents The perfect finishing touch to the upper exterior edge of the pool sides are mosaic glass tiles that give a special texture and colour to the overall design.



Coming Soon This shot of the pool at the final phases of completion gives you a good idea of the various levels, intricate layout and entertaining, quirky details before the water is turned on.  



Hurry Station Blending in naturally with the organic flow of this rock-themed pool landscape is a ledge/sitting area where swimmers can sunbathe, rest and revel in an open view of their environment. The purple mosaic glass tile introduces a distinctive color accent into the mix.  



Just a Little Something Extra A piled stone column with subtle insert light adds a touch of whimsy along with an architectural anchor to the corner of a raised shallow burial shelf and spillway. The miniature lighthouse also adds night ambiance and helps light up the surrounding pool area.



The View from Here From a different angle, you can glance the miniature lighthouse in the previous photograph, now decorated with a potted plant, and view the entrance to the personal grotto. The running stream and waterfall that cascade down the front of the grotto can be switched on or off on a whim.  



Inner Beauty The interior of the grotto is even more colorful than the exterior as a result of the use of a kind of glass bead (BeadeCrete) which is inserted to the PebbleTec walls for a custom finish that captures light and reflects it back in glistening patterns.



Private Hideaway Here is the point of view from someone inside the pool grotto, looking out through the waterfall. The grotto place can hold as many as five people sitting down with the next two to three swimmers standing up inside.



Evidence of Dinosaurs Adding a touch of mystery and playfulness into the pool layout is a beautiful detail which can just be glimpsed on the ceiling of the pool grotto.  



Liquid Playground A view from the top of the grotto shows a raised flea shelf on the side, an entry point with measures to the main pool and the backdrop pool house/family room which incorporates two former homes into one large residence.  



Cool Corner In this detail of one corner of the finished pool you may see the fire pit area, another entry point to the pool along with a variety of exotic vegetation around the borders which provides privacy and some nature.  



Blue Fire Gas lines and a stainless steel gas burner are hidden beneath a circle of blue chips known as "fire glass," pebble-like fragments that are utilized to retain and direct heat in fire pits.



Grotto Glory Why settle for an ordinary backyard swimming pool as soon as you can have one that is not just created for swim parties but also an architectural miracle that unites a grotto, waterfall and other all-natural attributes into one beautiful design?