How To Give A Garden Element A Fresh Look: Froggy Gets a Much Needed Face Lift and the Water Garden Finds A New Place

If you have been following me for over a year, you know that I have a three tiered fountain that I converted into a planter with a water garden in the bottom tier.  I blogged about it in my post Are You Spittin'? in April of 2011.  I wanted a small water garden and no longer liked the splashing of all the water from the three tier at my front door!  Can you say "showering" my guests?!

So here it was at my former home at the front door.

Planter/Water garden at former home.

I moved this fountain on my own before the movers came because I have worked years on establishing the water plants in this mini-wonderland.  I wasn't about to let just anymore move it.  I even rented a truck to help me.

At first I put it near my front entrance, but moved it once again about a week ago to a location on the back of my property near where I walk my dogs.  I have placed a little table and chairs here as well.  Nice place for an afternoon beverage.

The little spitting frog that helps keep the water circulating in the water garden had gotten kinda, well, trashed.  So yesterday, I unplugged him and took him into my studio for a quick renovation.  Here is what he looked like.

Before Renovation

I decided to use craft paints to bring him back to life.  I also wanted to bring the bamboo back to life.  Without a little paint to protect it, I am sure it was well on it's way to rotting.  I just kinda went to town with several shades of green, brown and blonde.

Started with a base color and added color building textures. Added a little bamboo look as well.

Finished him off with a little gold to bring back the vertiginous look.

Here is the Before and After side by side for comparison.  Big difference and it took just a few minutes! I could have gotten all annoyed by the lack of detail on the lily pad.  But I just let it go knowing that it wouldn't really matter.  We have to remember to do that sometimes. Working something too hard at time just kills the fun.

I bought him a new pump to give him an even fresher look, and quickly placed him back in his world.  Here is is spitting away!!

Look at him down there spittin' away!  He got his ribbet back baby and is lovin' it. Don't be hating on my for that black cord showing.  I ran out of steam and have to go back and hide it under the white rocks. Saving that for a cool afternoon. The Heat! Phew! It's hot out there people!

Do you have something in your garden that the weather has taken it's toll on?  It is amazing what a little craft paint can do to spruce up even the most worn elements. I don't know about you, but I think garden accents cost a pretty penny!  Might as well get my money's worth for yet another season!

-The End-

Blast from the Past: Simple Chandy Decor

Many of you who follow The Homeless Finch found me way after I started blogging.  I remember days gone by when I was working in my studio, blogging about my projects and I only had about 20 followers who were mainly friends from my 'real' world life.  Because of this, I have decided to bring to you from time to time some of my Blasts From the Past Blog Posts.  Ya know...stuff I did before you found me, but stuff I think is worthy to re-visit and highlight.  I am calling these my "Blast From The Past Posts" and on days like today, I will re-introduce them.   For those who missed this stuff....hope you enjoy!

This post was published within the first 2 weeks of my blog back in April of 2011.  I have been spending a lot of time in the last few days re-evaluating The Homeless Finch and trying to connect with why I started to blog in the first place.  This was my first tutorial.  I think the project is worthy enough to re-post.  I was still using flash, so excuse the quality of some of the images.  

Blast from the Past:  How to:  Simple Chandelier Decor

So, as promised, here is my "How To" project on how to simply dress up your dining room light fixture for Spring. (and summer if you forget to take it down)  You don't need a lot of supplies to make this happen.  Above is an image of my dining room chandelier.   Pretty cool, eh?  I bought it several years back at one of my favorite stores that has since closed down.  I have had it in three of my homes and will never ever sell it with a house.

Supplies

Pair of pliers (Preferably a pair that also does wire cutting)

  Green twist tie (I buy it by the roll and use it for everything.  It's great for tying up kids.) 

Long stemmed flowers. 

I quick comment about how to pick the right flower for your home.  I just painted the interior of my house.  It needed a fresh color.  As you can see in the background of this image, I chose an asparagus green.  It's bright and happy.  When I saw these roses, the touches of green were similar to my new walls, so I knew they would look awesome.  So, pay attention to the colors in your room even if you would call it neutral.  Take that color as a cue.  It helps. 

So, take your long stem flower and temporarily take off the leaves.  They just get in the way and you can pop them back on later. Besides, you might damage the fragile leaves in the process.  (Learned that one the hard way.)  Next you are going to start forming the ring buy bending the stem into a circle. See below.

You might need to use your pliers to bend this in areas that the wire inside the stem is stiff.  Next, you will start to weave the stem over and under itself while working it in a circle. This keeps the ring intact by locking them together.  (See below)

Keep bending and working the stem around itself weaving up and over and back down again.  If the flower falls off, or if it is easier to weave this without the flower on the end, feel free to remove it temporarily.  You can add it back on later. (See below)

See that end in the upper part of the above image?  I use my pliers to bend it back into the circle.  A lot of these stems are just too stuff to only use your fingers and hand.  I then secured that end with the entire ring with a 2 inch piece of my floral tie twisted tightly around it.  I used my the wire cutter part of the pliers to trim the ends of the floral twist tie. (See below)

Now place your flower (if you removed it) back onto the stem.  If you need to, use a glue gun to secure it back in place. Find the little 'poky things' that your leaves were previously attached to and work them back onto the ring.  In some cases, I didn't like the location of that poky thing, so I just used a little of that green twisty tie and placed one where I wanted it.  Work it however you chose.  I didn't always return every leaf to the ring.  I will keep the extras for a future project.

So this is what it should like like..... Only....I am sure that I twisted that leaf around so that the nice green side shows forward with the flower. (wink)

You can add a wrap with some nice ribbon at this point, but I preferred the simplicity of the green thorny stems.  (I didn't appreciate the blister the plastic thorns  gave me on my left pointer finger.)  Moving on, slip the little ring over your candlestick, or light bulb....whatever is there......like this.....

I have ten candlesticks on this chandelier, so I repeated this 10 times.  I used an assortment of roses that were in the same collection, yet slightly different from each other.  You can keep it consistent, by using the same flower or mix it up. It's your choice.  After all it's your home.

So, here are the results! 

Pretty cool I think.  I did this entire project for 10 dollars, but I think it looks like a million bucks!  

Remember, every path is worth taking.

Hope you enjoyed this re-published blog post.  I removed these roses and replaced them with sunflowers during the summer.  I can't find the darn bag with these roses in it!!!  Wanna come over and help me look?!

-The End-

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine Series: Re-Cycled Valentine Heart Pillow

The pink is the pillow getting ready for the makeover.

This past weekend, two of my neighbors were having yard sales.  I picked up quite a few things for pennies. I saw a sweet little pink pillow and immediately thought Valentine's Day.  The pillow had tiny, subtle dark pink and white stripes and a few gathered pieces.  But I thought it could use more and I knew I could add a little pizazz of my own.


I am always looking for throw pillows at neighbor's yard sales, because I know whether the pillow has been in a pet free environment.  This matters to me because my teenage son has horrible allergies.  Even if I throw a pillow cover in the wash, the pillow form itself gets to him if it's been in a house with a cat.



Today, I sat down for a few minutes to spruce up this pillow.  Remember these from my 25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series?

Well, I still have some red sweater leftover and, you guessed it, I decided to use it on this project. I thought it would make a wonderfully cozy looking bright red heart for the front of the pillow.   I took the leftovers out along with my spare fabric from my Kitchen Cabinet Becomes an Open Shelf Makeover.  Remember that post?  Woodsy is still sitting on that shelf.  He loves it there next to Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

Anyhoo...I knew that since I was going to be cutting a shape out of the sweater, it was going to need some type of backing to stabilize it.  The black checked fabric that I used in the open cabinet still had some Mod Podge dried to the back, but this didn' deter me. I knew it would work regardless.







I first cut out a paper heart the size I wanted.  I faced the fabric and the sweater wrong sides together and before cutting the fabrics, I stitched a heart using the paper heart as my guide.

After the heart was stitched, I cut it out.  I did it this way because I knew it would be easier since the sweater material, now stabilized by the checked fabric, would then be able to keep it's shape.

I then used a satin stitch on the outer edge of the applique to seal off the fuzzy sweater edges.  I added a little homespun running stitch along the edge of the heart using three strands of white embroidery floss.

I then just simply whip stitched the heart onto the front of the pillow in three places using a red thread. Three snips after Valentine's Day and I can do something else.

Here is my simple, Recycled Valentine Heart Pillow

Do you look for this type of thing when you are shopping at your thrift shops or yard sales?  Do you ever notice that the plain pillows are always the ones leftover on sale at your favorite stores?  Don't overlook this stuff.  For pennies, you can create something that is uniquely yours.

After finishing taking images of the pillow out in my backyard, I placed the pillow on my wicker chair in my studio.  My Coco hasn't moved from this spot.  Seems she approves too!

Gotta love the little furbabies.  They've got great taste!

Stay tuned for another great project in my series 

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine!  

-The End-

Linking this post to:

Sew Woodsy Wednesday Link Party

Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday

WOW Us Wednesday - Savvy Southern Style

Between Naps on the Porch

Mad In Crafts

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers Blog Hop

SNS at Funky Junk Interiors

Valentines Week Linky Party at Shabby Creek Cottage

Valentine Party at Someday Crafts

                   

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine Series: Crazy Love Collage Letter Sign

Love is a curious thing.  In it's best form, it's all mixed up and crazy. It's all undecided, yet glues us together.  I was wondering how I was going to illustrate my feelings about this crazy word that means so many different things to so many different people.  As I pondered this, I sat and doodled the word using different font styles for each letter.  Why not create a little work of art out of the word love?  Why not create a little "Crazy Love" right here in my studio?!

I went into the project with a few things in mind.  I would use a piece of an old fence I dragged home from a neighbor's trash heap.  I knew I wanted to use my Silhouette Cameo on this project.  I also knew that I wanted to present something that reflected my feelings about the curious, mixed up word, Love.

I started by working out a few different layouts of the letters L O V E on my Silhouette software.  I chose one grouping and sent it to the cutter.  Here is what I got.

I decided to use different combinations of color, texture and style for each letter.  Here were the different things I chose...

 L 

Using the dull side of aluminum foil, I covered the "L" securing the foil to the letter with scotch tape on the back. 

 O 

I lifted a stock photo of conversation hearts, blurred the image out slightly and  printed it out on photo paper. I cut it into a rectangle to form a background of the "O."  I then painted the "O" with Folk Art Craft Paint in Light Blue#402 and used a glue stick to attach it to the center of the photo.

 V 

Using a page out of an old dictionary that shows the meaning of the words love through love game, I cut a rectangle out with a scallop scissor edge to create an interesting border to the backdrop for the letter "V."  I then sponged the letter "V" directly onto the dictionary paper.  This image is a little deceiving because you see the cut out letter "V," but I used the paper it was cut out of as a stencil.  

 E 

Using the cut out "E" and a red tweed fabric, I 'upholstered' the letter using hot glue.   I just love these fabric sample books that my designer friend downloaded on me.  They are so handy.

Before assembling the letters into place on my old fence board, I fashioned a hanger for the sign out of red wire and screwed it down to the board.

Now it was time to assemble the letters.  I wanted them to be at varying levels on the board.  So I came up with a few little tricks to give them a lift. 

I used a leftover piece of wood and glued the "L" on top.

I wanted the "O" elevated, but not a high as the "L."
So I looked around and found a few stick on chair leg
glides and glue them between the photo and the board.

The dictionary paper that the "V" was stamped onto was glued directly to the board using Mod Podge.  The "E" already had a little lift due to the tucked under edges of the fabric.  I simply hot glued the "E" down to the board.

I finished off the wire with a little bow made from a piece of yarn.  Here are the results...

I am so pleased with the results. I have taken a few images of the sign capturing just each letter. I like the way the images stand alone and am thinking I might use them in another project down the road.  Who knows.  

That's how I spell...

This project could be pulled off using so many different materials and such that you already have in your supplies. If you don't have re-claimed fence wood, why not use a piece of foam core board or cardboard?  Try putting your own spin on it.  

Hope you enjoyed this little walk through my process of creating this Crazy Love Collage Letter Sign.  If you are new to The Homeless Finch, welcome.  Please take a few minutes, look around at my other fun projects. Oh! and....don't forget to consider becoming a new follower! 

Stay tuned for another great project in my series 

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine!  

-The End-

This post was FEATURED at:

Linking this post to:

WOW Us Wednesday - Savvy Southern Style

Between Naps on the Porch

Mad In Crafts

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers Blog Hop

SNS at Funky Junk Interiors

Valentines Week Linky Party at Shabby Creek Cottage

Valentine Party at Someday Crafts