WOYWW #572: Moulded shapes from toilet paper

Sheesh, has it really been 4 weeks since I last blogged? I've been incredibly busy with work and homeschooling but managed to find a little time to create something last week. I'll show you later, but first here's my my desk as it was last weekend, getting a bit messy!

I've been experimenting with moulded shapes made from toilet paper. Now that the toilet paper craze is over, I have enough supplies to waste it on this non-essential activity. Basically, you have to soak the toilet paper, blend it and then press it into a silicone mould and squeeze out the water. Once dry, it's rigid, very light and easy to paint. This was my prototype: 

I simply stuck it on one of the inky backgrounds I showed you last time. I made two others while I was at it. The face was also moulded from toilet paper - and yes, I realise it's a bit freaky! The skeleton leaf for the third piece was just lying on my desk and I thought why not use it?

Gardening news: I was so looking forward to my rhododendron blooming as it had two dozen buds from last year. I didn't realise that only one of them was a flower bud and the rest of them were all leaf buds!  You can see them here:

Then just a few days after we planted it out, a hard frost came and all these new leaf shoots perished. I was so sad! I just hope it will still bring new shoots this year. I could have easily kept the plant in the pot for a few more days and put it in the conservatory if I had known that the frost was going to be so harsh. Well, you learn from your mistakes.

I'm also looking after these little trees shown below. I grew all of them from seedlings and it's so rewarding to watch them grow. That big one on the right was just a tiny little thing a few weeks ago. I think it's a Mountain Ash tree. There's also a chestnut tree that grew out of a sprouted chestnut my husband found on the ground, a couple of lemon trees that I started growing last autumn, a Crimson King that's probably from a seed that got blown over from a neighbour's garden two doors down and a few other unidentified species - we'll find out what they grow into - it will be a surprise! 

We even made it to the garden centre last weekend when they first opened after the lockdown and picked up these cute little flowers. They're some sort carnations, so pretty: 

Just one photo of Oreo left to share - doesn't he look handsome? It took me a while to get him to sit this way and look in the camera. That's a Japanese Maple in the background that also got planted out a few weeks ago - we bought it last year, but I kept it in a pot over winter. 

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the summer weather - hard to believe I wore my woolly jumper just last week!  I may not be able to visit everyone today, but I'll definitely do so later in the week. Take care and stay safe - or shall I say Stay Alert - those of you in the UK will understand the reference LOL! xx