Time to tag out!

I think I've come as far as I can with our Remembrance Day room box, a.k.a. our WWI bunker. Louise, Marijke, Susan and I did meet last Wednesday as you can see here:

Marijke taking a break.

Louise and Susan working on some items of their own - I worked on the cookies. *smile*

So - I finished adding things to the inside and Marijke and I "planted" the overgrown field on top. Here is where it stands:

Someone forgot to take their Bible when they abandoned the bunker - and we can see a bent and wrinkled picture of their sweetheart still peeking out from the cover of the Bible.

An old backpack still hangs from a nail.

A canvas canteen hangs on another post and a weather-beaten Red Ensign of Canada drapes from the back shelf. This is the flag Canada would have had in 1917. It still needs work so the edges end up looking more frayed than cut. It's really hard to reach it now to work on it!

Dust and dirt cover everything inside.

I then moved to the outside "yard" and added some more dirt and moss on the sand bags and around the area.

I received a comment from Adrian C. from Ontario - she's a very special and talented lady and one of my Camp Mini Ha Ha friends. She suggested the burlap curtain still needed work - perhaps a wire brush to make it look more naturally frayed and messed up. I didn't have a wire brush so tried using a variety of sharp tools to rough it up a bit more. It was a good suggestion but I wasn't very successful. It would have been easier if it wasn't already glued into the door frame.

Setting the box itself aside, I did a little work on the overgrown field that covers the bunker hidden below. Marijke did a great job dressing our veteran - including painting a little crest on his blazer pocket to represent the North Shore New Brunswick Regiment. She gave him a cane to help with the uneven footing in the rocky and bumpy field as he made his way through the very long grass.

Marijke and I planted the field with 100 poppies that she made (you can see her working on them at her blog at http://pulchinellascellar.blogspot.com/as well as all of the wonderful little items that brought the realism into the interior of the bunker.) She made the backpack, the canteen, the binocular case, the table, the enamel cup, the rusty can, the Bible and the candles. Louise made the chair and the helmet. Marijke and Louise also made the sand bags.

I added some cornflowers to the field to bring in another colour since there would probably have been a variety of wildflowers growing there. I made the cornflowers by cutting the dried flower tips of my spirea bush in my front yard. They were pretty fragile but I first painted them, with a very gentle touch, with a watered-down glue to make them a little more sturdy. Once dried, I gently painted them a vivid blue and "planted" them. I also added all of the rocks and dirt patches in the field. My grandson, Brogan, was kind enough to gather the rocks for me. Anything that allows him to get dirty without getting in trouble! *smile*

Overall, this is what it looks like now on the inside:

I tried to appropriately age and distress everything but I definitely don't have a lot of experience with the techniques required. I think it's time to pass the box over to Marijke to correct my messes and make it look like it should. So - while there is still a little bit of work to be done before we will be happy to call it "finished", you will be able to see the final project on Marijke's blog when the time comes. Be sure to follow it so you can see the end result.

We will display this project at a few places over the next few months but, in the fall, we are planning on donating it to the local military museum. We'll be sure to post the hand-over when the time comes.

I hope you've enjoyed this journey with us. Now it's time for something completely different! Stay tuned. TTFN!! - Marilyn