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    Wishing Well

    A friend of mine is getting married this fall and another friend of mine needed help planning a surprise party for her. I started helping with organizing and stuff and before long I had this brilliant idea to have a wishing well that people could drop note cards of well wishes and marriage advice for the new couple.

    I was surprised at the overwhelming positive reaction to my suggestion for a wishing well, so I said, ok, I sense a Pintrest fail but I'll make one. (Ha! Says I - I'm going to buy one!) I looked - everything was $40 and up and all required a 4 week lead. Dern it - I only had a week.

    Hmm.... Pintrest was looking plausible, but I'm not a member and I really don't want to join yet another on line group.

    Hmmm..... So, I went to Hobby Lobby to see what awe inspiring ideas I could generate. It's been years since I've been in an HL and I was more intrigued by the other stuff they had and kept saying... "Tracey, you need to look at what they have that can make a wishing well..." "Tracey, stay on track."

    So, this is what I bought - a straight side mesh like basket that I'm sure was used for decorative flowers or something, 3 pounds of river rocks, and some plastic flowers. The basket was an astonishing 50% off! (Yeah, riiiiight, some advertising gimic.) I spent an incredible $15 on this. I actually had cash!

    At home, I have several old fence pickets that I got off a friend who was replacing her fence. I also have - my new super friend - hot melt glue and lots of glue sticks.

    Years ago, in another life, I use to frame houses but I lack finesse when it comes to projects and finer things. On the other hand, I knew I had the knowledge and patience and extra material to give this a go.

    I quickly realized that I was going to have to rip the pickets to make a more rounded like deal that glued onto the mesh basket. So, I ripped 2" (basically in half) and cut the rips 7" long. The basket was 6" high.

    Then I visualized the roof top and guessed that the "posts" needed to be 14" long (twice the length of the pickets) and the cross braces were 6 (or was it 7?) inches long, but those needed to be 1" rips to make it look right.

    Then the little tiny roof thingys - the "joists" - needed to be 6" and the little tiny rafters needed to be 5". I tried to hold it all together with my fingers to see how it might possibly turn out. So far, so good.

    Right off the bat, I knew I needed to build the roof and supports first, so that's what I did. I'm glad I went that route, because the pickets were 1" longer than the basket and I need that 1" to get my hands inside to glue the posts to the basket.

    BUT - I actually put the lookouts and rafters on first, trying originally to use a staple gun - bad idea because my staples were 2.5 inches long. So I just went with the glue. After I got it up and glued into the basket, I thought, hey, this might actually turn out pretty good. Building self confidence!

    Then, I added my pickets using as much glue and I could. I wanted to make sure it stays together for the trip to Georgia and for my friend to take home and wow her family with. hahahaha! (Sorry, that was funny to me bc my craft projects rarely wow anyone.)

    Once the pickets were on, I knew this was going to be great. I added the shingles. When I framed houses, sometimes we put the shingles on and I never thought it was easy, but let me tell you, these shingles were super easy! They were 9" (or was that 8 or 10"?) long full width pickets. I put them on only with the idea to over hang it by 1.25 inches on each side and 1.25 inches past the overhang. I also figured out that I needed a top ridge to glue the top rafter to. Quick add on (change order is being processed.)

    After the shingles were done, it was real easy to slide the fake flowers into place and arrange it to look "pretty". Whatever.

    Then I dumped all of the clean river rocks on the table and glued them around the edges and just inside the lip to make it look like the inside was stone. I used about 1/2- 3/4 of the rocks I had.

    So there it is. Wow. I'm impressed. Who built that?!? I'm convinced that God sent his deco angel into me for this special project because I prayed multiple times before and during this and thanked Him after it was finished.

    And now everyone can put well wishes on 2-3" square cards and drop it in. And, we thought we could tell everyone they could also drop money in and make a wish!
    Attached Files

    #2
    Hey! Nice work young lady!

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      #3
      Very nice!

      Comment


        #4
        Very nice. My FIL made one for our wedding 30 years ago and is still in use. All of the extended family as well as two of my three daughters have used it. My youngest daughter will use it next year for her wedding. It's been used probably 20 to 25 times in that period.

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          #5
          That's cool, Schuber! I hope my friend can use it that long.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Texas Grown View Post
            Hey! Nice work young lady!
            Greatness ^^^^

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              #7
              Originally posted by Mike Fangman View Post
              Greatness ^^^^
              ?? Am I missing something, Mike?

              Comment


                #8
                Mike, think you got some explain-n to do.

                Originally posted by Mike Fangman View Post
                Greatness ^^^^
                Originally posted by Dusty Britches View Post
                ?? Am I missing something, Mike?




                Be careful,
                MikeB.

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                  #9
                  Great work.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Mike Fangman View Post
                    Greatness ^^^^
                    I'm not sure he knows Dusty.

                    Comment

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