Garden Art - Nature’s and Mine

I want to show you some fun craftiness I had a couple of weeks ago.

After checking out some delightful garden art on Etsy and Pinterest, Bruce and I made a trip to the thrift store (well, a couple thrift stores actually, but who’s counting?) and purchased some fun glassware.   Then Bruce went to the hardware store and got the necessary things, and the next day I put these together.

Instant Birdbath (click to embiggen; I got my blog restored to the old picture viewing format).

The birdbath is three pieces; a large glass flower vase turned upside down, a ceramic vase with flowers, and a large glass platter.  I use waterproof silicone that comes in a tube, and apply it like hot glue with a caulking gun.  Let it cure for several hours (although it feels pretty sturdy within an hour), and voila!

Then I decided to make “flowers”.  This is just four pieces stacked and glued as described above. The large outer plate is a floral ceramic, but you could use colored glass. I think the wavy edges look better than the plain edges. The next layer in this case was a clear glass dish - again, just the cheapies from the thrift store.  The next layer is a frosted and fluted candle holder and inside that is a green shot glass.

Below is the “bird bath” in the backyard, which is slightly smaller and doesn’t impress me as much as my other one in the front.  :-)

This is the other “flower” I did; three plates of varying sizes,  and the center was a candle holder thingy that had beads wired on from its previous life. 

You can see it a bit better here.  These are all waterproof, but I do plan to bring them inside in the fall.

Here’s a picture of the attaching arrangement on the back. I glued a piece of PVC pipe on the back of the plate. It was plain on one end and had a threaded female area on the other. Into that I screwed a corner (elbow), and then a longer piece of PVC as a stake.  Inside the stake is a piece of rebar that we pounded into the ground to the desired height, then we just slipped this contraption and plate over it.  Soooo simple!

And speaking of Garden Art, Boomer’s favorite place in the backyard is here, next to his Stone Cat friend. Boomer is NOT an outdoor cat, but when we spend time out on the patio, he often wants to join us. If the weather is not too cold, too hot, too windy or too wet (he is very persnickety), he will come out and join us. And he is safe because our yard is fenced in, he has no front claws, and he is OLD. He will be celebrating his 17th birthday in July.  This is his favorite sunning spot, but when the vegetable garden gets bigger, he likes to lay under the corn.  And he usually ends up jumping up onto a wicker chair cushion and curling up to sleep on the covered patio.  :-)

This is a shot of some of our front pots a few days ago. The heat has made them just explode with color!

I loved the way these wilted and almost-dried roses looked, so before I began deadheading, I snapped a few pictures.

And here again is our troublesome side yard.  A couple months ago I posted a horrendous “before” picture. Ghastly. But I have worked away, slowly but surely, and gotten the grass and weeds pulled (it looks even better after my session yesterday).  Everything has been trimmed. Now I am just waiting for August and September to begin dividing and replanting the irises, lilies, some goldenrod and my poppy.

That’s it for now, garden-wise.

I have decided to take the pink ribbon trim off my May CQJP. It might have been OK if I had chosen a better path for it or used a bit narrower ribbon. The truth is I just wanted to get rid of some of my old Bucilla crap.  But off it comes, and I will figure out something else. The silk ribbon, however - and a better brand - will be used to fill in the “black holes” that are being created by abutting blocks. And since I haven’t really finalized what blocks are going where, that will be saved for the end.

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Hugs,