Mushrooms for the Backyard

We cut down a couple of diseased (and poorly placed) aspens some years back.  Matt removed the larger of the stumps, but two little ones remained.  I asked him to hold off on those because I had a vision of turning them into artsy little backyard mushrooms!  

I sure took my sweet time bringing this vision to life.  We finally bought the bowls from a charity shop last year...and then they sat in the garage.  As I learned from Gretchen Rubin, projects that can be done at any time are often done at NO time.  I've surely found that to be true.  So many "someday" ideas and dreams.  There was no deadline for my yard art--self-imposed or otherwise.  So....the stumps remained stumps and the bowls remained bowls.  

That is until the grey, snowy vibes of February had me dreaming of warmer days to come--playing croquet on the green grass, digging in the cool soil, basking in the sun.  So, I decided to get it done this spring.  I parked the bowls on our art table in the basement and gave 'em a basecoat of red.  Over the next month, Matt and I would dab away at these mushroom caps every now and again.  An evening here.  A Saturday afternoon there.  

A second coat of red.  White spots.  Colorful accents for the white spots.  A coat of sealant.  Little by little!

When we were finally happy with them Matt got out his cordless drill and screwed the bright mushroom caps onto their stump stems.  The charm almost knocked me over immediately.  They're so cute.  Even cuter than I might have hoped.

We applied red paint to the head of both screws to camouflage them.  Then the cap got another coat of sealant.  Here's hoping their cuteness holds up for a nice long while.  They bring a smile to my face.

A view from the bathroom window.