Mosaic Windows

BY SKEETER

 The Master Gardener here at In the Garden, Tina has inspired me yet again, to create a fun craft for my GEORGIA GARDENS. Click Here for the popular Posting of Tina's Mosaic and how she created it.

Soon after Tina had posted that wonderful tutorial, back in 2009, I decided I needed one as well. I picked up 3 old wooden windows at the Rehab store for a mere $5.00 each. Those 3 windows have spent the past 5 years tucked away in a storage closet just waiting for me and this project. Ha, I have such intentions but as I age, it seems I have issues becoming motivated to follow through with my plans. I am trying to get over this issue but I feel I am fighting a loosing battle at times. Sigh... 

Winter is a great time to take on crafty type projects so finally, the windows came out of the closet and into the sunroom. The windows had been a set of odd windows to a home therefore, there were metal tracks on them. I asked the Saint if he could cut them off for me. With us not having the proper tools for that job, we got assistance from a neighbor/friend with the proper tools. Thanks Dion for your help.

 The cuts exposed holes where the casings and grid were attached together.

 

No problem as I have filled many holes over the years. Out came my wood filler.

I filled the holes using a putty knife removing excess filler.

 These were small holes where hinges were attached.

 Once the filler was dry, I sanded the area smooth.  

 Next, I painted 2 of the window frames black.

 I do most of my craft projects in the sunroom as I enjoy the natural lighting from the surrounding windows.

 I allowed the windows to dry and cure a few days before moving forward with this project.

 I found many different colors of glass rounds at different crafts stores to include Michael's, Hobby Lobby, The Christmas Tree store and even the Dollar Tree!

 The fun part is creating a design using all the different colors.

Once I had my design in place, Out came the E6000 Glue. Be careful when purchasing this glue as you want to use the Transparent color! I found this out the hard way and now have an opened tube of Black Glue. Grrrrr....

 Here is the second pattern I created. As Tina mentioned in her tutorial of Mosaics, be sure to use plenty of glue or the glass rounds may not adhere to the glass panels. 

 I allowed the glue to cure several days before starting the next step.

 Now comes the messy, time consuming, tedious and at times, frustrating part of this craft.

 I chose Black Grout (no sand) to match the black trim of the windows. I had the Saint mix small batches and I put it into a baggie and cut a tip for easy application. More so like when cake decorating with icing.

This was such a slow process for me, that the panels were drying way too quickly. So I would grout a panel then lightly wipe a panel. Then tend to another grouted panel before starting to grout the next panel. I felt I was keeping up doing it this way. It took many times of wet wiping them before they were finished. Very time consuming.

 

 I was finished with the grouting process, on March 11, 2015. The windows have been sitting in the sunroom waiting for the Saint to hang them for me. As me with my "putting off" things to be done, the Saint has been in no hurry to hang them. I have harassed him a bit but he knows that I understand that some things take time. Ha ha.. 

  The windows were now very heavy so the Saint and I had to carefully chose good quality heavy duty hooks and chains for hanging them securely to the front porch. 

 I had the Saint hang them on each end of the front porch.

Opposite side of porch with swing. 

 This one has the morning East Sun shining through it.

This one has the evening West Sun shining through it. I am so happy with the way these two panels turned out. I still have one window that I have yet to create but in time, I will get to it.

I am so grateful to Tina for sharing her Mosaics with us on this blog and inspiring me to make a couple of my very own.

Click Here to see another of Tina's wonderful Mosaic creations. This is a great way to recycle old windows into a work of art. I just love these MOSAIC WINDOWS, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Plant Labels (again)

BY SKEETER

 What does this gardener do when stuck inside during Winter Months? Make cookies?

 No, I make something for my GEORGIA GARDEN!

 Tina talked about making these Plant Labels a while back. CLICK HERE to see the process. I gave it a go some time ago and was not too happy with my results. I was not so great at rolling out the clay to make a nice shape. I found a cookie cutter and decided to give it a second try.

 It was not so practical to stain the labels in the sunroom of my house. But with lots of rain and cold temps, it worked for me with plastic below for drips.

A crafter must do what a crafter must do right? 

I can hardly wait to get these PLANT LABELS, in the Garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The American Flag on a Pallet for the Garden

Happy Fourth of July! 

in the garden....not shooting fireworks due to the drought and fire ban in Montgomery County. Be safe.  

Note: This is a two sided pallet so both sides have the American flag painted on it-opposite of this flag of course. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Clock is ticking...

BY SKEETER
I have so much yet to do before I am ready for house guests to arrive in my Georgia Gardens. I have been painting, (example: above sign) cleaning, pulling weeds, mulching, planting, decorating, etc. I am not close to finished but THE CLOCK IS TICKING, In the Garden..

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Making the Gazing Balls (Disco Balls!) from Bowling Balls

From In the Garden

As promised in last week's garden resolution post I am determined to finish projects before starting new ones. One such project I recently finished (it was started-oh-about three years ago) is 'The Gazing Ball' project. Here is my wonderful display of my gazing balls in my new Non-Pool Garden. I arranged the two balls that I made (instructions follow); which are the black ball with auto safety glass and the gray ball with mirror pieces and added in the third ball (metal). I was excited to find a great way to display the balls in the garden. I used the chimney flue pieces (red tubes holding two of the balls) and the clay piece of a pipe I had salvaged (brown tall tube holding the stainless ball) as mounts. These pipes had been hanging around the garden for several years and it came to me that they'd be fantastic to use as stands for my gazing balls.


Now let's follow along so you too can make your own gazing balls.

From In the Garden

As regular readers know I have a lot of bowling balls in my garden and have posted about projects with them in the past. In fact, one of my very earliest posts on this blog still brings in a lot of traffic due to the bowling ball 'gazing balls' my good friend Geri made. Today's post is about my take on the gazing balls made from bowling balls.


Steps to making the balls:


Materials you will need if you wish to make your own are: a bowling ball, caulk, sanded grout, E-6000 glue, glass gems, broken glassware (I used a very thick mirror I broke into pieces as well as auto safety glass that was already broken) or crockware, or tiles, pebbles, (what you glue to the ball is limited only by your imagination!).


1. Fill the finger and thumb holes with caulk. Allow to dry and fill again if the caulk shrinks. Be sure it is completely dried prior to grouting the ball. Gluing is fine though if the caulk is not yet dried. 


2. Break your material into workable sizes: The first construction picture shows my broken mirror for my 'disco ball'. Here is the thing I did not expect that can cause major issues. Even though I placed the mirror in a double paper bag and hammered it evenly the mirror had more of a tendency to break into slivers and shards rather than into nice and convenient sized pieces I could easily glue onto the ball. I therefore used a screen to screen out the slivers and tried to break the mirror a little more evenly by breaking only specific pieces. This was not an easy task. If you have access to a glass cutter I would suggest using that instead of using a hammer to cut glass if you plan to make a glass ball. One more tip of note, however much you think you'll need to cover the ball-double it. Those bowling balls are actually quite big!

From In the Garden

3. Glue pieces onto the balls using the E-6000 glue. I have found this glue to be a perfect glue for outside projects. It dries clear and while it is messy to work with and has a strong smell (be sure to use only in a well ventilated house or garage or even outside) it holds the pieces very well in all weather. It took me a few days to glue all of the pieces onto both balls. I found applying the glue directly to the ball then placing my pieces on the ball made things go faster. I did not apply the glue to each individual piece. Work on small sections so the glue will not dry before you can set your pieces. Wait at least 24 hours before going on to the next step.

From In the Garden

4. Grout the ball. I used two different colored grouts (one gray and one black), but both colors were sanded grout. A large 20 pound bag costs about $15 at your local big box store. Grouting is messy work so I recommend you do this job outside. I used paper bags for cushioning but sat the ball on tin foil hoping the foil would not pull the grout out from between the cracks. Paper bags have a tendency to wick moisture away from the grout and will pull the grout out. I grouted both of my balls all at once. Wear disposable gloves to protect your hands. I allowed the grout to dry for a few hours before gently wiping it off from the glass. Be careful not to wipe too much grout off from the ball because it helps to support the glass you have glued onto the ball.


5. The last step I do to my balls and other grouted material I put in my garden (including my glass mosaics) is to coat the entire ball with a good grout sealer. In the case of the balls I used a high gloss sealer (it is the yellow bottle visible in the above picture). The high gloss gives the balls a finished look and brings out the best of the grout.


6. Now place in the garden!

From In the Garden

Now for my additional 'disco' ball. This is an old gazing ball I've had for a few years. I desired to bring it closer to the house so I could enjoy it from inside the house during these dreary winter days. I placed the ball on a stand on my porch right outside of my living room window where I can easily view it. This ball is sheltered on the porch from all elements-except the sun. And what does the sun do to this ball?

From In the Garden

The sun reflecting off from the glass creates a wild effect inside of the house on the ceiling that brings me so much pleasure. I can only liken the effect to that of disco balls in the 70s. Can you imagine the whole ceiling with these 'stars' on it? Delightful indeed....

in the garden....

Pine cones and Sweet gum

Posted by: Dawn

My kids had last Friday off from school; some workshop, in service, that sort of thing. So what to do with a free day, no snow, but bitter blowing cold? My seventeen year old didn't care, he bugged out to a friend's house and spent the night and it took him a full day and full night to recover.

My daughter and I decided to make the best of a quiet spring day.

I saw this somewhere in my travels and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

What you need: Use the skewer to poke a hole through the center of each ball,

**missing the day of photo shoot...a plentiful supply of pine cones and sweet gum. Thanks, Skeeter for the sweet gum!

use the sharpie to draw the idea,

Make sure you have glue designed for styrofoam. Oh, use the snipers to cut a well in your design.

Glue.

And...glue some more.

Estimated drying time: One day.

String one bead through the twine that you cut at the size of 6x's bigger than your biggest ball. Tape both ends of twine to the end of skewer, thread through your pre-made hole.

Cut the twine of and string both ends through the smaller ball, place the last bead on top, knot both ends together.

Time for the secret ingredient!

Three part peanut butter to one part birdseed. Coat with seed and wa-la! This feeder is up really high, just outside my daughter's window, she has promised me to tell me when a little birdie lands on it.
Until then, sweet tweets In the Garden!

Happy Birthday to Lola!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Making Plant Labels for Tiger Gardens

From In the Garden

I think it was last year or so that there was a meme about plant labels. Ever since then I've been wracking my brain on how I could make some really nice plant labels for my garden-on the cheap. The requirements for my labels were that they were easy to read, long lasting, inexpensive and functional. I think I've got it figured out.

Long lasting means no wood can be used so I reasoned metal would be best. I then had to think of how to mark the names on the metal. Writing with a permanent marker, paint pen, or etching was not going to work because in my experience the markings just don't last. I figured stamping the plant names into metal labels would be best. I found a perfect stamp kit at Harbor Freight Tools for under $10. This is a premium stamp kit, quite heavy and made to last. I chose 1/4" because I thought it would be the easiest to read while not taking up too much room with large letters.

The next step was to find the metal and make the metal plant tags-oops wait. That post will come another day because as of right now I have only made an alternative type plant label-those made from Sculpey clay. I learned of Sculpey from my sister. I purchased a good sized block of sculpey for about $6. I first cut the block into 15 equal pieces and kneaded each piece into a ball. I then used a full coke can to roll out the balls into oval shapes. I next took my stamp kit and imprinted the names of some of my choice trees and shrubs (more to go-this is only a start). I baked the clay for 15 minutes at 200 degrees then let them cool down. My last step was to stain my pieces. Staining brings out the imprinted plant names. I used Minwax (love this stuff!) but you can use watered down patio paints too. The main goal of staining and sealing the clay is to protect the label and to bring out the plant name. Adding some stainless steel wire to each label (be sure to punch a hole in them before you bake) finished off these plant labels. They have all been hung on the appropriate trees and are holding up quite well so far. It is a relief for me to know which tree is which at a glance.

These 15 labels costed me about $7 (clay $6, wire $1). I do not include the stamp set in the cost because that will be reused again and again. So for about .50 cents per label I have a long lasting plant label that is specially designed for my garden and my needs....
in the garden....

Today is Skeeter's Birthday so here is to a very
Happy Birthday Skeeter!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Grapevine Project

By Skeeter

Remember that big yellow Daffodil Bud I showed you on Tuesday? Well look at her shining in my Georgia Garden now! After a day of 77 degrees, she popped open and look, she has some friends that will soon join her...















We finally got that Elm tree cut up and off the ground this past weekend. We were real careful to remove the grapevine which was twisted all around the tree trunk. Here you see the grapevine on the ground just waiting for me to carry out my plan of action.
Do you know where I am going with the grapevine yet?
I love this swing but always thought the frame a bit too plain for my taste. I perked it up with the Tipsy Pots, Wind chime and Hanging Plant but still do not like the look. So into action with some modifications we go. We had a nice breakfast then trip to Lowe's for supplies. We picked out three 10 foot treated 2 x 4 pieces of wood. We carefully measured and cut them into 40 inch pieces and gave each side a 45-degree angle cut.Little did we know we would have to replace the top 4 x 4 with a new piece. So off to Lowe's a second time for a new 4 x 4. Back home and as the Saint was removing the screws, two of them snapped in half, argggg. The screws were not galvanised/zinc so over time, they rusted. We make sure to always use the correct items when doing outside projects. Too bad the previous homeowners did not install the swing frame correctly. So back to Lowe's again for 6 inch Zinc Lag Screws. Keeping up? That makes 3 trips to town for supplies, consisting of 4 pieces of wood and 6 screws!
With new top of frame in place, the Saint went to work installing the 40 inch slats.
Ta-Da! We now have an arbor type swing frame. But wait, there's more...













The Grapevine now comes into play. We twisted and worked for quit some time to get the grapevine on the frame of the swing.

It took some muscle and lots of mosquito bites (that warm day) as we could not swat them off the legs due to holding the vine in place while hammering a nail here and there! But we finally got the grapevine to look as though it were naturally climbing the Frame and Arbor. The vine does not touch the ground as we do not want to encourage pest such as termites.
The Wind chime was relocated and the hanging pot removed. I have seeds of Cypress Vine, Morning Glory and 4 O'clock (Thank you Nina and Tina for those gifts) that I plan to plant at the base of each side. Hopefully, this swing will be full of blooms this summer.
With the smaller left over grapevine, I tried my hand at making a Grapevine Wreath.
I hung it on the side of the Wood Shed/Mower garage.
The wreath was a bit time consuming but very easy to make. I think it will add interest to the wood shed.

Mother Nature knocked down a tree but gave us 2 GRAPEVINE PROJECTS, In the Garden...


Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden