Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Jbranch the small porch was just an open, covered area. We added the glassed in part in 1990 or 1991. We painted the house the grey/blue color in 92 or 93. It went with the cottage look and picket fence. The picture above shows it at it's worst because it was long overdue for painting. It was nice for a while but I couldn't believe how great this terra cotta color brought out the plants. I brought my first hosta from my sisters house in the mid 90's. I bought a few locally and by mail order for the next 5 years or so. Gradually I realized that beside my shade increasing all the time, I liked the lush look of the hostas more than anything else. It was after 2000 that I really went nuts. McT

Jynja, you're here!!! Oh man, you do such amazing work! Linlee, that project you've got going looks great-- so many little pieces! Thanks for the welcome back, Slowme-- I've missed this place. The inherent trouble with tutorials for mold making, as I am finding out, is that my hands are always goopy when a photo should be taken. This stuff is messy for sure. If I get to a place where something I am doing actually works, then I'll write out the steps. For now, if people are interested, there are about a gazillion tutorials over in the Hypertufa forum here and some incredible information over at the Garden Art Forum site. Check out this guy's site: http://www.concrete-art.com/. If you click on the "Direct Concrete Technique" and the "Works in Progress" links on his front page, you will find some awesome information, with loads and loads of photos to go along with it. Blows me away at how much he shares. Andree Le Blanc's "light-weight" cement could be because of a mesh armature of some sort, or it could be that she's used some kind of light weight material in place of some of the sand. Who knows? Styrofoam is what I'd talked about using awhile back-- you were afraid it would rot, remember? In any case, I'm still saving chunks I scrounge for maybe-someday. The wire mesh idea has been around for a long time, as far as I can tell. They called it ferrocement or something like that. If you google this, you can find articles about houses that were built using this method. In researching cement work, I've found tons of artists using variations of this idea. I think Jynja uses the lath (please correct me if I'm wrong about this), which I think is a great idea-- it makes a lot of sense, all those little "pockets." I also like her idea of using the spray foam insulation on the inside. Oh oh! I keep forgetting to mention one HUGE inspiration for me was Klinger's hollow sphere in a thread over on the Hypertufa forum (linked below). Oh man, what a wonderous thing it is! Nancy Here is a link that might be useful: Klinger's Hollow Sphere Thread

I am waiting for the mailman today. I did a very naughty thing. I tracked down the person I bought the amazing stained glass from last year. I ordered a lot more. They had to get it out of their crawl space and sort it for me. I say it's naughty because I already have thousands of pounds of glass. But I wanted this glass and my DH agreed so . . . it should arrive today. So yesterday my husband went to Lowe's to get a trailer for the riding mower because we are spreading granite on the driveway. I asked him to get me some GE Silicone II for windows and doors (clear), and SIKA Latex R. Well, he bought some other GE white caulk or something, and they didn't have SIKA so he substituted a big jug of latex additive of which I already have a bunch, so I took it all back. I had to literally climb the shelves to finally locate one small tube of the GE Silicone II for doors and windows (the workers there brought me the silicone for showers and tubs and it was white). Anyway, I finally found this one small tube and they are now out, so I will be hunting for more. But isn't it amusing when the DHs can't find what's on the list, they will invariably substitute? And the glazed look in the eyes of the workers at Lowe's and Home Depot when you start trying to explain what the purpose of your purchase is? Too funny! So hopefully I will start this up within the next two-three days!!! Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog

True! I have goofy “decorative items” in pretty much every room, so I probably need him. Speaking of stuffed animals, my DS was obsessed with Richard Scarry books and characters when he was little. Until last week, his stuffed animal characters were still on the bookcase. I finally took them down and was ready to toss them in the Junk pile, but then I stupidly got teary. Had to stash them on the closet shelf instead. DS still keeps clothes in the closet for when he comes home to visit, so he will see the animals looking down from the shelf when he opens the closet. I’m such a sappy mom these days. ETA omg he’s out of stock!! Sad. Again.