Or maybe I should put that a different way.....I love a man, and he welds!! My husband has mad blue collar skills and has always been a hands on kind of guy so I've been the very very lucky person he makes things for. Hey, he makes things for other people, too, but I get the best of things on this deal.He built this wedding arch which we used for the centerpiece of my sister's wedding. It has lovely scrolled heart designs up both sides. Now it stands at the bottom of our stairs to support this climbing rose.
He also built custom iron railings for our decks and stairs. He used to do this for a living, so this was easy peasy for him. I looked around our yard and started making a list.....he just "loves" it when I get out my handy dandy spiral notebooks full of notes and drawings. Usually I have an idea, he tweaks it to make it work, I show him what is important to me, he shows me what he can do to incorporate that.....yeah, he loves to see me carrying that spiral notebook around the house!! Lol!
BTW. my grandson trimmed this ivy for us before it took over the entire walkway. Did you know that needlepoint ivy doesn't stay small and delicate? That it gets voracious like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors? Well, it's trimmed for now but it will be back. Feed me, Seymour!
I needed/wanted (you know how that goes) a large heart topiary frame for the ivy in this planter.....okay, done. Then I told him the middle looked empty and since he had that nifty plasma cutter in his shop could he cut out this fairy silhouette? Which I just happen to have right here in my hand blown up to full size and drawn on this handy dandy piece of poster board? 
The catmint in this planter is nice and lush but I needed/wanted some way to layer another pot on top for a bit of height and prettiness. Now this plant stacker ring holds a gorgeous pot of pampered flowers every year. I like it. I like it alot!
This is a short obelisk he built for the honeysuckle which threatened to climb over the fence. It's gorgeous, one of my favorite pieces, but that honeysuckle is going to take over we think!
Here are some of the other trellises which will go in the tomato planters on the deck, when we plant them. We had frost last week so we're really holding back.
Now here's a design which I hoped would be the most gorgeous candle stand in the world. We figured out a design on paper for a design that spirals up almost four feet within a one foot square base. It came out exactly like we planned. I put 8 chunky candles on there and lit it up after dark. IT LOOKED WONDERFUL! And then, the wind blew the candles out. We live on the side of a mountain, so evening breezes are a fact of life. Okay, so here come the short glass hurricanes. Nope. Tall glass hurricanes.......nah, the wind must not like our candle holder! No matter what we did we couldn't keep the candles lit on this thing unless we moved it inside....but 8 chunky candles within a foot square base put off ALOT OF HEAT, which is not safe for 8 foot ceilings. So, smaller candles it is, when we use it inside. Sigh.
But here is what I've done with it when I'm not pouting about the candle fiasco....I made 8 glass marble balls out of Christmas balls and use them on that sucker. They look great all year long and are pretty and colorful display on the deck all spring and summer. And in the wintertime......
This is the picture we take and email out to the family when it snows here. A pretty and graphic depiction of cold winter weather.
And this? This is all his idea, my spiral notebook didn't come into play at all. It is a 5 foot square star which we light up for the holiday season plus special family occasions. It sits out on the huge boulder which juts out from our yard and can be seen for miles up the highway, which is about 200 feet below. The open design means the pesky wind can't push it around or over, and when it's lit up on a foggy, misty night it looks positively ethereal floating up there.
And in the wintertime, it is just flat out gorgeous lit up at night with the snow reflecting the twinkly lights. Makes me smile.And so, my tale of my welding husband is almost through except for the next chapter. He's teaching/insisting on me learning to weld! I've only done it a little so far and I jump every time I strike a spark with the gun for his wire welder, but I've managed to weld two things together and also learned how to operate the plasma cutter. He says I have a knack for it.....but I also think he's got an idea of ending the "tyranny of the spiral notebook." What do you think? Would a husband be that devious? Nah.
