An garden angel to watch over me…

“I am so excited about my Shutter Angel!” Jeanne Sammons said at the time…  “She’ll be out on the path to my ‘Secret Garden in the Pines.’ She said, “I spent some time working on it with my darlin’ hubby (he did the sawing) … she now has arms and wings and I gave her good coat of polyurethane so she hold up for awhile outside!”  Jeanne’s husband, Larry, also helped Jeanne make the ‘bouquet’ of flowers, …she said “I needed some extra hand strength with the barbed wire and her ‘halo.’

“Yes, she is a ‘tall’ angel and I will be planting a nice big hosta or a small shrub at her feet or what I call her ‘flowing gown’ area.  Thanks to Myra Glandon for her shutter angel ideas!” Jeanne said.

The angel, set in her place,…in Jeanne’s secret garden

Jeanne thought th angel was very tall and  wondered for a bit … but didn’t want to cut off some of the horizontal ‘shutter’ boards. She  planted a small shrub and hosta near her …that ‘balanced’ her out as they grew.”

 How Jeanne made her angel…

Jeanne’s materials

Jeanne said, “Here’s the picture I posted at the beginning of the project… the shutter and broken rocking chair were my ‘art supplies’ which I found Flea marketing…. and the ‘tin’ birdie.”

A ‘too tall’ angel? We don’t think so!

Jeanne said, “This tall shutter just called my name at a Flea Market and the price was right.  The ‘arms’ are from rockers from a rocking chair.  I found a piece of woodwork from my sister’s old farm house that was torn down 10+ years ago … that’s the bottom piece of her wings and old barn wood pieces for the top and middle.

I told my hubby that she is taller than me! He said there’s many people taller than you!  Next came finding the perfect ‘wings.'”

Jeanne’s signature style shines through

“Adding fun details was a bit like making a ‘Barnwood Bloom‘ except these flowers had to be ‘free-standing’ of sorts. Hammered fence staples attached barbed wire stems to the center board of the shutter … it worked!  “She has chippy paint … I liked that so polyurethaned right over it!  She’s been painted a times … I left her patina alone,” Jeanne told us.

Jeanne’s angel face

Jeanne traced the round part of the head from an ice cream bucket and then just drew the shoulders on rough cut old barn wood. The barbed wire ‘halo’ (you need hand strength to shape it) with a cute ceiling tin ‘birdie’ that Jeanne bought at a flea market outing.

Another view of bouquet … ‘long-stemmed’ flowers … so they could be attached behind the ‘butterfly.’

Jeanne added a pretty ‘bouquet’ …. especially meaningful since some of these ‘art supplies’ were from friends while camping in South Dakota.  The gold butterfly was a garage sale find and has Japan printed on the back…barbed wire formed the stems.

Jeanne’s angel has a skirt now or and is definitely NOT ‘too tall!’

She is angled to ‘lean’ against the two trees here but we attached a eye hook to her in the back and used some cord to tie to a branch behind it …. that way the tree will not be hurt and hopefully stay standing in storms.

Jeanne got so many ideas from our Facebook page, ‘Flea Market Gardening,’ and then just made them in her own style.  She said she felt very lucky to do projects together with her hubby …. “he has always understood me and sometimes just shakes his head in wonder.”

The ‘too tall’ angel…complete. We think her shirt will be growing tall, too!

More new angels from our gang:

Sheila Risberg’s angel

Bobbie McLaughlin’s angel

Bobbie McLaughlin says, “My garden angel is made from old register covers, leftover deck wood, and a round chop block with handle for her head and long neck. I was so excited to find her arms on the curb for garbage pickup. My husband just kept walking, while I was scavenging. Thanks, Myra Glandon, for the inspiration.

Another shutter style from Karen Thompson

Nancy Carter’s ‘Tea time’ angel

Nancy Carter added a teapot to her shutter garden angel.