Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo - Page 55 of 661 - Living a simple, creative life in small town USA. Bryson City. A Lifestyle Blog.

How to Display a Sea Glass Collection

March 1, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I collect a lot of things…sea glass and river glass included. Here’s a fun way to display a sea glass collection out in the open using a glass box:

I call mine river glass because it comes from the banks of the Tuckasegee River here in Bryson City…sometimes I find it on the lake bed too:

I started with a simple glass display box from Michaels Stores…they have a great selection this spring in the floral section. I used my Cricut Machine to cut a vinyl stencil but you can also cut your own just using an Exacto knife or razor blade:

I masked off the areas where I don’t want paint to go:

I sprayed a light coat of white spray paint for my letters but you can also use frosted glass spray or glass etching cream like I did on this etched soap bottle project.

I just used spray paint because it’s quick, the only drawback is that it can’t get a lot of rough handling or the paint might scratch off. I carefully peeled off the stencil to reveal the letters:

And my project was done just like that. I display this box with some of the other shadow boxes I use to corral collections. Now all river glass has a place in our home!

Refreshing your home for spring is as easy as swapping out a few décor pieces or adding pretty faux florals. Make sure to check out my succulent project I did last month. Michaels has everything you need to get started….including an entire selection of pretty glass boxes for the Spring!

Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing a few more display ideas this month using shadow boxes.

Looking for more inspiration? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the rest of the Michaels Makers’ Spring Refresh project ideas. [Read more…]

Ditto Lays an Egg

February 28, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I let the chickens out this morning to try and throw the hawk off of our schedule (I usually let them out in the afternoon). Ditto stayed behind in the coop, in the skeleton of an old chair, and I could tell she was about to lay an egg. I took out my phone to capture it. Ditto lays an egg:

A post shared by Ashley Hackshaw (@lilblueboo) on Feb 28, 2017 at 6:50am PST

Don’t worry…Ditto wasn’t embarrassed. She always lays her eggs out in the open. Fo does too. I think they have a hard time finding the nesting boxes due to their big plumes. Fo doesn’t even know if I’m next to her half the time unless I talk to her:

A post shared by Ashley Hackshaw (@lilblueboo) on Feb 24, 2017 at 5:24pm PST

The plumes worry me when it comes to those mean old hawks. We had a really close call this last week. I was standing in the yard holding Foshizzle and I called all the other chickens over. As they ran across the yard I saw a large shadow out of the corner of my eye. It was a hawk and it must have been just sitting in the trees waiting for the right time. Everything was in slow motion…it swooped down to the running flock and I ran in bounding leaps toward it yelling at the top of my lungs. I must have scared it because it back off and ended up landing in the driveway right behind the chickens. It looked at me for a few seconds before taking off again. I was able to get all the chickens back into the coop for the rest of the evening.

I know we’ll lose a chicken one day but I hope it’s from old age. There will never be another Foshizzle…that’s for sure:

The Ghost Hound of Bryson City

February 23, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’ve always called her Ghost…because she disappears so fast that I’ve often wondered if I’m the only one that sees her. But the other day Brett saw her too. He found her curled up in the leaves off the side of our hill. She looked up, surprised, but didn’t make eye contact. That was the longest I’d seen her stay in one place. I think we might have woken her because it was like she was trying to get her wits about her.

I don’t even know if she’d show up in a photo…so here’s a quick sketch of Ghost:

She’s skittish, shy and no threat to anyone. A few times I’ve found her quietly eating from our compost pile….with the chickens eating right next to her. One evening last summer I found her curled up in front of our rocking chairs, soaking up the last of the sun’s rays. Now that I think about it there are these small little nests of leaves all around the property where she’s left her impression. When I do see her it results in her disappearance for a while. She doesn’t like to be seen. She’s a ghost of course.

I’ve put out food for her but she’s so used to eating scraps around town that I’m not sure she’ll ever eat kibble. I worry about her because she has a too-snug-collar on that has been on too long. I’m going to keep trying to lure her, and maybe one day I’ll be able to catch her. Not to keep her, just to get the collar off and to try to have her checked out and vaccinated. Beth, the director of our local shelter has offered to help me catch her…but that means Ghost has to come back around again soon.

One thing’s for sure…if we do catch her she won’t want to stick around for long. I know she’ll be on her merry way again…because she has lived a life as wanderer for far too long. A wanderer is a wanderer. But…maybe she’ll stick around…if she has a warm place to sleep. I’ve asked Brett to build her a little shelter off in the woods where she likes to curl up…something with a roof. Brett says Ghost has been shooed by humans for far too long and she doesn’t trust any of us. I’m always up for a challenge. I mean look at Happy:

Happy’s like a teenager now, just in an old dog suit. Anyway, wish us luck. I think Ghost would be a welcome addition to our menagerie on Hospital Hill.

When we adopted Happy we did get a little sidetracked with our attention on raising money for our lone animal shelter (that needs all the help it can get!) We’ve gotten ten donations from all the states that have been filled in…but we still have a long way to go. We are so close to getting New Jersey, Illinois and Kentucky and we finally got our first donation from Maine over Christmas! If you know anyone that lives in the blank states we’d love it if you could share our project with them! We’d be appreciative of any amount donation from any state! Thank you for helping us help the animals of our rural mountain town that so desperately need it.

How to Donate by Paypal:

Click here —> PAWS Animal Shelter

or send funds direct to pawsbc @ yahoo.com

**Please add “Sienna Hackshaw Project” in the notes with your STATE so that we update our map and show you our progress as we go!