Our Nest Needs Moss

We are nesting in full swing over here.  When I think of all the projects we've started in the last couple weeks--hoping to be done in the next couple weeks, I shudder to think of the probability of coming home with a new baby and several projects unfinished.

When preparing for a baby to come home with you, of course the first thing the baby will need is a moss graffiti-ed wall.  Of course.

Someday I'll have to tell you the history of the house we live in.  It's the stuff movies are made of.  For now, know that a green house was torn down in the back where a patio could be.  But when we moved in, it was just a scary pile of rocks and gravel and glass and leaves and dirt.

Mr. F. has taken on the project of making that area useable.  We love dinner outside in the spring, summer, and fall.  So, he dug out 3 tons of rock and gravel and glass and dirt and leaves, leveled our outside dining area, sifted through all of it to keep the rocks and gravel, and now we have a starting point for a patio! 

 What a hunk of determination and creativity, that Mr. F.

In the midst of all that work, somehow he came up with the idea to make the moss growing on the steps make a pattern, which led to our project:  moss graffiti.  He looked it up, and found that you really can do it.  Thank you, Age of Information.  So, here's what we did:

Started with this pattern.  After I drew it out, I realized that it was 2/3 to scale of the wall we wanted to use.  Look at all these numbers and ridiculosity drawn on here.

My pregnant brain couldn't do the conversions, so I ended up just free stylin' on the wall.

In the mean time, Mr. F. was out collecting moss by the stream behind our house

and came back with a bucketful to make our moss paint,

which was more like a moss milkshake that smelled horrible.

buttermilk + beer = stench like you've never known

Just puree the moss

until this

looks like this.  

Mix in some buttermilk and some beer and just about a 3 pinches of sugar....

and voila!  You are ready to paint!

And there you have it, folks.  

The beginnings of our moss art pillar.

Here's hoping we have moss by the time baby F. greets the world!