garden
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Easy Skull Succulent Planter

Monday, September 30, 2019

21 comments
I am so happy to share this Skull Succulent Planter. It's easy, it's DIY, and the skull is from the dollar store!

I am not a BIG fan of scary Halloween decor, are you? For some reason though I have always liked skulls, and every year around Halloween time they are readily available. My son asked me why I liked them and I wasn't too sure lol! I told him because they are interesting (question mark).  When I saw this skull at the Dollar Tree I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Supplies needed are: 
Skull
Sharpie
Premade Paper Template (optional)
Craft Knife or Box Cutter
Soil
Succulents
Moss (optional)

Some of my supplies are pictured here but not all. I did use moss and more succulents that I actually snipped from around my yard. 

First, draw a line around your skull where you want to cut. If you want to make a paper template first for size reference and placement you can. That's what I did. 

Cut along your line with a craft knife or box cutter. Cutting is fairly easy just be careful and take your time.


I took absolutely no photos of the next steps! Ugh! Why? But the hard part's done lol!
Next, poke a few drain holes on the bottom. I did two about 1/4 inch in size with my box cutter. Just poked it in and turned it a few times. 

Now fill with dirt and add succulents as you please! My two scrawny succulents weren't enough so I clipped some pieces from random ones around my home. Just snip them off and place them in and they will root themselves or you can buy more if you like.


When you have your plants in place just as you like take a handful of moss and fully wet. Put small bunches of it in the bare spots to cover the soil. This step if totally optional however I think it adds to the look and you can pick it up at the Dollar Tree too!


Isn't it cool?



I love it!

Here's the back/top side.

It looks so cool in the house with my other Halloween decor.



As you can tell from the photo overload I absolutely love how this skull succulent came out! I thought about making a few for gifts but I know others don't share my skull obsession. Would you like one as a gift or is it too creepy for your taste?


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Thrifty Love {link party #46}

Friday, September 28, 2012

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Hi there thrifty friends. It's my 1000 followers giveaway week so be sure to enter! You WONT want to miss it!

This week I want to share the awareness ribbon garden stakes my awesome husband is making from old, used horseshoes. We are getting ready for Christmas season craft fairs and these are also listed on the website and on etsy. These can be done in ANY color for any cause.
 The breast cancer one is our favorite though. It reminds us of his mom (husband's).
Here he is in action. Yeah we kind of like to play with fire around here.


If anyone has several old, used horseshoes (calling all horse people!) that you don't need, we may be interested in them. Please contact us if that's you. So that's what we've been up around here.

 Now how about some fun features from last week?

Number Fifty-Three shares this great chair redo.
Isn't she purrrrrdeeee?

Idle Needle shows us this neat Pyrex! I have actually never seen this patten, so fun.
vintage pyrex dish 70s 1970s

Mmini Matriarchin shares a few neat things including the little candle holders
and the two lovelies that look like creamers to me.



Linking up at:
S- Fleamarket Finds  M- Apron Thrift Girl  TuCoastal Charm, Frugal Treasures Tuesday T- Vintage Thingie Thursday, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Blue Eyed OwlThe Haps F- The Thrifty Groove, Vintage Inspiration Friday S- Penny Worthy Project

and here:
S- The DIY Showoff, Under the Table and Dreaming, MThe Girl Creative, MM Party at BNOTP, Making the World Cuter, Skip to my Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it SimpleT- Coastal Charm, Tip Junkie, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Hope Studios W- Trendy Treehouse, Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, My Backyard Eden, Room to Inspire, Creations by Kara, Just a Girl, T- Yesterday on Tuesday, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat SimpleTidy Mom, Fireflies and JellybeansF- It's FUN to Craft, The Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk InteriorsS- Along for the Ride, I Heart Naptime
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A Summer Project

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

5 comments
Update: Super excited to share that this project was featured in Country Sampler Special Gardens Issue!!!
I wanted to share this wheelbarrow water fountain that my husband took upon himself to build. I did NOT ask him to do this! It was something he saw one day while he was out working. He took a picture and decided to build it! I love when he does things to beautify without me asking.


Water pours out of the wheelbarrow and looks like it's spilling out, onto the ground. It sounds great! Love it!


Geez look at all that junk in the background!


If you've been around for any of my Thrifty Love link parties, (by the way there is one going on now) you know I like old junk. lol! In the yard we call it garden junk, and most of what you see in the background still needs to be made into it's "purpose" lol! LOTS of ideas, just not enough time!

So what type of summer projects do you have going on around your home?
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Pretty Yard Space

Monday, October 10, 2011

4 comments
I love pretty spaces in the yard. One area we FINALLY finished is pretty much a focal point in our backyard. The triangular shape of our yard leads your eye right to this point. This area holds our deep pit and if you've seen one you know it's not much to look at. They are handy to have but they are not pretty. I wanted to hide it!

Wish I had a before picture but I only got a during and after. Picture if you will, a deep pit, dirt with the wood fence behind it, all retained by railroad ties. The railroad ties were pretty cool but having small children they were a health concern due to the chemicals used to treat them. So we tore those bad boys out and replaced them with retaining wall bricks. These are so easy cause they literally just stack.

So here's our during picture. So far what we've done here is add the new 2 foot retaining wall, a fountain and a section of rod iron fencing to hide the deep pit. We planted jasmine on the rod iron and it filled in beautifully! Deep pit hidden! Now this area actually sat this way for a couple of years. 1 year for the rod iron fencing one year for the fountain and finally...

...the after and I LOVE it!!!

We added stepping stone pavers and gravel around the fountain. Due to water splashing from the fountain that area was constantly wet and muddy! We packed the gravel a few inches deep so the water now sits below the gravel and the muddy water problem is solved! We added two potted plants that we already had at each end of the jasmine wall.

Next we planted the ground cover from seed which you can see starting to grow over here. This ground cover is awesome! It's called dichondra and here is what I love about it. It grows fast, handles full sun, it's hardy (you can walk all over this stuff), drought tolerant, can take the heat and it's BEAUTIFUL! Just look at that bright shade of green but pay no attention to that weed!
Isn't this a lovely space?
 It's nice to look at, has a lovely sound from the fountain, and it's doing a fantastic job hiding that deep pit!
We need to restain that wood fence and I still want to add a sitting area here but that's another story. I have the perfect iron table and 2 chairs that I need to refinish. Another project for another day though!
So this is one lovely space in a yard that I love that my husband works so hard at maintaining. Thank you sweetie! You do a terrific job!

Linking to:
Funky Junk Interiors
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From the Garden

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

3 comments
Something so rustic and beat ...



...becomes so pretty when adding flowers.




We love our flowers and we love our "garden junk" as we like to call it.

Last summer we bought a little six pack of these flowers. I'm sorry I don't recall the name. When they died I told my son that if we keep the seeds from the dead flowers we can plant them again for next summer. From that one six pack he collected thousands and I mean thousands of seeds! He saved them all winter long and in the spring we planted them. They are doing fantastic! We only wish we would have planted them all, all over the yard.

You can bet we will be collecting the seeds again this year! He did such a great job caring for them. He planted, he watered and he patiently waited. He looks at them daily and says "I can't believe how much my flowers have grown!" love it.

Love him seeing how is work and patience has paid off!!! Serious patience going on here by the way. From the waiting all winter to plant the seeds to the waiting until they sprout to the waiting on the flowers to bloom.

Linking to:
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Time Flies and Cherry Tree

Friday, June 24, 2011

3 comments
Wow! Where does the time go? Is Friday really almost over?! And was Monday really my last post?! We have been so busy around here with your orders! Thank you! We are also busy planning a Wimpy Kid birthday party! What a challenge that has been.

Remember the post about the Cherry Tree? And the many questions about whether or not this tree is finally gonna get some cherries? Well guess what? IT DID! Only about 5 but they were HUGE, And though they were not super red in color they were ripe and so so very sweet and yummy! I only hope the tree will continue to produce more each year.

Those of you with cherry trees or have some knowledge of them, should this tree continue to produce fruit each year? It was in the yard before we bought the home and have been here about 6 years and this was the first year that we had cherries. We were so excited for our 5 cherries!

The back side was kinda white/yellow, but it still tasted so good. Could it be the variety (that I don't know) that makes it not turn color? Look how HUGE!

Have a great weekend Friends!
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Update on Ella's Bear / Questions for my gardening friends.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

4 comments
Hi friends! I recently had a sweet follower ask about Ella's Bear. It has now been over a year that my husband transplanted his mom's bear. You can read about that here. I am happy to report that she is doing fantastic!!! Current picture.

I need to figure a way to attach a pink ribbon to her. In memory of Ella. Got any ideas???

I am sooo loving being out in the yard this spring! I think cause the boys are a bit bigger. Since I had them I have not wanted to be out working in my garden like I used to.

One thing in particular I am excited about is my Dichondra seed that is taking off!!!
I planted this stuff last year with no luck! Totally my fault as I did not plant it at the proper time. It was too hot! Which happens quite soon here in sunny CA. And this year!!! Yay!! I hope to show you this entire area this summer. It is gonna be beautiful!

Now some questions for my gardening friends. I showed you a picture of my cherry blossoms in the last post. This cherry tree was here when we moved in almost 6 years ago and last year was the first year it blossomed. I got all excited thinking yay cherries but then nothing. 

1. Is it normal for a cherry tree to have no blossoms the first few years? 
2. Is it normal to have no cherries the first year that it does blossom?

This year I was not expecting much from the blossoms thinking I got a non producing cherry tree. Then I see this!
3. Is that a cherry my friends?! Please confirm that this is a cherry! 

And a few more pictures to help you determine.


My final question, if this little tree does produce cherries this year, should it continue to produce them every year after this?

Thank you for your help with my cherry tree!
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Copper (looking) Frog Ball Tutorial

Monday, August 23, 2010

23 comments
Don't you just need a new piece of junk art for your yard? Whew, I sure did! How about a copper frog ball? Isn't she purrrrrdyyyy?

You can make one too!
Materials:
Bowling Ball - got mine at a thrift store.
Plastic Toy Frogs - Dollar Tree
Scotch Tape
E-6000 Adhesive
Copper Spray Paint - I used this one by Rust-Oleum.

Wash and dry the bowling ball and place somewhere to keep it from rolling around while you work on it.

Take pieces of Scotch Tape and make small rolls with sticky side out.

Use these rolls to tape the frog's little hands to the bowling ball like so.

Cover the entire top side of the bowling ball with the taped frogs. This tape will soon hold your frogs in place while the adhesive is drying.

Add the E-6000, to the bottom side of each frog.

Firmly press the frog to the bowling ball, then let the tape hold frog in position. I did not apply any adhesive to the hands.

Now comes the hard part, you must wait for the adhesive to cure/dry/whatever you call it. I waited about 24hrs.

Once adhesive is dry, flip ball over and repeat the tape/glue process on the other side. Be sure to leave an open area where the ball will sit on it's stand. And the hard part again, wait for the adhesive to dry!

Once the adhesive is all set, remove the tape from the frog hands. It's like shaking each of their little hands, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to glue your little butt to my bowling ball! lol! Do this for every frog. :)

Spray paint the entire ball with the copper spray paint. Give it a few coats to fill in the groves. I cut a hole in a box to create a place for my ball to sit while I painted it.


Let paint dry and that's it, all done! Simple right? Now place her in your yard!
You can use a gazing ball stand. or whatever else works for you. In the first photo at the very top it is on an old, large fire extinguisher.

Thoughts:
-I should try it on a glass light cover/globe instead of a bowling ball.
-I think I should try rubbing on some dark wood stain or black paint to add dimension to all the groves.
-Next time remove the runaway strings of adhesive before painting. Duh! There was only one though.
-I wonder why my bowling ball did not have any finger holes?
-Man I wish I had an Iced Mocha right now! Oh wait did I say that out loud? ;)

Do you think it's cool? Do you think it's weird, ugly? What are your thoughts?

Linking up at:
S- The DIY Showoff, Under the Table and Dreaming, MThe Girl Creative, MM Party at BNOTP, Making the World Cuter, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it SimpleT- Coastal Charm, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Hope Studios W- Trendy Treehouse, Blue Cricket Design, Life in the Pitts, Me and My Bucket, Someday Crafts, My Backyard Eden, Room to Inspire, Creations by Kara, Just a Girl, T- The Shabby Chic Cottage, Life as Lori, Somewhat Simple, Beyond the Picket Fence, Fireflies and JellybeansF- A Few of My Favorite Things, It's FUN to Craft, The Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk InteriorsS- Along for the Ride, I Heart Naptime
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