The-Artistic-Garden's Blog

A Really Cool Wind Chime Project

Hi everyone. I often come across really creative and not too hard to do garden art projects that I’d love to try to make, and I also know there must be lots of you out there who do have the the time and would like to make something new and unique.

So, I make note of each site where I found the project for my future reference. Plus.. you know … I can’t think-up every project in the world either, and passing along links to other people’s projects stays in line with my main reason for this blog – that I want to share fun and creative stuff with everyone.

Well, this coffee cup/tea mug wind chime project is just one of those projects that caught my eye.

This DIY project requires just a few items that may already be laying around in your craft box and garage, or are easy to find in a craft and hardware store, and without having to drill a hole in the cup … you’ll have a fabulous new garden art accessory to hang outside.

This idea comes from Kathy’s “Crafty Chica” blog. Read the entire post here: http://thecraftychica.blogspot.com/2008/04/tea-mug-wind-chime.html

For Those of You Wondering About How Large
a Hypertufa or Concrete Sculpture Can Be …

I get asked just how large you can make a hypertufa or concrete garden art object more than a couple times each month, and my standard answer to everyone is simply, “As large as YOU are capable of making it.”

I’m not trying to be smart or curt with that reply, but honestly, my answer is the truth. After all, if you can dream up the idea, and you have the skills and know-how to figure out how you’re going to construct the frame on which to apply your ‘tufa or concrete recipe … then by all means, go ahead and tackle the project. The size factor is basically not a big stumbling block if you know what you’re doing.

But the core issue is: do you know how to properly construct a super-sturdy frame (also called a form) that is capable of not only providing the proper surface on which you’ll be applying your wet recipe, but will of course remain firmly connected over time? Yes, you could argue that once a hypertufa or concrete mixture is cured, it pretty much has the framework “sealed” in quite well. But, depending upon the intricacy of your form – do you have slender appendages coming out from the central frame, as one example – you really ought not rely solely on the rock-hard nature of your cured recipe to be the only “glue” that bonds everything together.

So … as a bit of inspiration for you today, I thought I’d share a photo from the website of Little and Lewis, who are maestros in the art of sculpting with concrete.

If you’re not familiar with their work, I’d certainly take a little time to peruse their site. You will certainly see garden art items that ought to make you say, “Wow!”

This concrete sculpture certainly shows that large and grand is possible! It just takes the creativity to conceive the idea, and the wherewithal to construct it. Simple, huh?

And please note that this sculpture is 5-feet tall by 4-feet wide. That’s quite an impressive size. I am sure the people who commissioned this sculpture and arbor installation are in love with it.

So, for those of you that are bored with making smaller and simpler type hypertufa or concrete objects, perhaps a sculpture or other object even one third the size of the Little and Lewis 5-foot tall sculpture could be in the works for your next garden art project.

Let your imagination flow. Good luck!

I’m No Super Artsy Crafter -
Here’s the Mailbox Decoration I Made From Scratch

I thought I’d share information on making homemade mailbox decorations for the Holidays, because often times we either don’t have the time to put up all the outdoor decorations we’ve amassed over the years, or we really just don’t have the enthusiasm or physical ability we used to, to haul out ladders and all the strings of lights, and tackle that whole “decorate the house” project!

I pretty much fit all the above! But, I don’t want my house to look totally ignored over the Holidays either and the mailbox is a nice spot to add some festivity.

I thought you might like to see how I decorate mine, and how I went about it. I am sure you’ll be able to either try to duplicate what I’ve done, or spin off from the main concept and make a creative masterpiece all your own.

Steps to Make This DIY Christmas Decoration

Here’s a photo of the completed decoration adorning my mailbox. Not too shabby, eh?

The basic components are:

• Wire ribbon (ribbon that has very thin   wire running down both edges);

• Artificial evergreen garland – it’s the kind   made on a very stiff bendable wire;

• Plastic (don’t use glass!) Christmas   ornaments;

• A rope of shiny metallic-type green and   red fringe; and

• I can’t forget to mention I used my hot   glue gun and a fair number of glue sticks   (sorry, I didn’t count).

Construction basics:

I determined the length of evergreen garland I needed to make each section that would go on either side of the mailbox post.

What is helping to hold the entire decoration onto the mailbox post is a loop of garland at the top of one of the sections. I placed this over the top of the section of post that sticks out above my mailbox. Your post may not be constructed the same. Use your ingenuity, like I did!

The second section is basically one long straight piece of evergreen garland, which I attached by bending over a few of the evergreen “sprigs” to latch onto other sprigs from the top garland loop. The wires in the garland are pretty flexible, but stiff enough to hold any twisting and attaching you need to do.

I wrapped the red and green tinsel garland around all the evergreen pieces, making sure to snug it in between the springs.

I then decided where I wanted to place the ornaments and how many would be needed. I decided I wanted three ornaments grouped together with some space in between each grouping. **REMEMBER: odd numbers of anything you’re grouping together normally always looks better than items grouped in even numbers!

I hot glued the ornaments onto the garland. Let me warn you … be generous with the glue – don’t skimp. Otherwise, you might find that your ornaments fall off as the weather gets colder. I learned this the first year after I made this. I had to reglue many of the ornaments. So the next year, I yanked on each ornament, and if it stayed stuck, fine! If it came off, I used a very generous amount of glue and those ornaments have stayed stuck now for many years.

Another word of caution: make sure you put something like cardboard or a few layers of newspaper under the garland when you’re gluing as invariably the hot glue will ooze down through openings between the springs. Protect your work surface from a gluey mess.

I made the bow from scratch, and attached it to the mailbox post after I had secured the entire decoration onto the post.

With frugality in mind, I happened to have a spool of this wired ribbon in my supply box. I sometimes buy up things at the end of the season (or any other time of year I see deals I can’t pass up) – love those after Christmas 50% off sales! I bought up all sorts of different colors one year, as wired ribbon can get expensive and the prices were more than 50% off. So, that’s why this particular ribbon was used … I had it on hand and it is rather festive in coloration.

In case you’re not familiar with wired ribbon, it is sold on a spool. Here’s the empty spool – I used the entire spool to make the bow – all 30 feet of ribbon!

Here’s a close-up of my DIY Christmas decoration. I thought maybe a close-up might be helpful to those of you who are like me and not necessarily whiz kids at making something like this.

That’s about it for my basic how-tos. You still have a couple of weeks to enjoy some outside decorations. It’s not too late! I’ll bet you can rummage through your box(es) of decorations and come up with some items that if put together with a little creativity can dress up your mailbox for the Holidays.

My DIY Christmas decoration has been used on my mailbox for about 4 years now and it still looks good and is holding together extremly well. Back up into the attic it will go in early January, waiting to come back out the first of December, once again.

To see more ideas for homemade DIY Christmas decorations, make sure to read my post: Decorate Your Mailbox for the Holidays.

DIY Christmas Decorations to Add Some Holiday Cheer to Your Lonely Mailbox

I decorate my mailbox each year for the Holiday season, one reason being because I don’t go semi-wild stringing lights all over my house anymore. (I used to … but now I just don’t care to deal with the heavy ladder and everything else involved.) But, so as not to have a home that doesn’t exude some sort of Holiday cheer, these past few years I have made it a point to decorate my mailbox with garland and lights and I also have always placed garland with lights around the entire opening of my front door.

You can see the photos and my how-to steps here: My Homemade Mailbox Christmas Decoration.

So … I thought perhaps some of you might appreciate some DIY Christmas decoration ideas for your mailbox. It’s really quite easy and inexpensive to do. You needn’t buy the decorations … even a few evergreen branches and a nice red bow can lend a festive touch to that poor lonely mailbox in front of your house. Easy and frugal is my whole idea for this blog post today.

Also, if you are like me, you’ve probably amassed a lot of Christmas decorations that you don’t even use anymore. Dig through those boxes and I’ll bet you will come up with a few things that, when put together, will produce a fine decoration that you’ll be proud to place on your mailbox during the holiday season.

That’s what I did a few years ago … I have some artificial evergreen garland and 2 boxes of round gold plastic ornaments that I made a very nice long swag-sort-of-decoration for.

Okie-Dokie … Get Out Your Hot Glue Gun …
Here Are Some Nice DIY Ideas Even the Kids Can Help Make

Idea #1: A wreath around your mailbox is pretty darn easy. You might have a small one sitting in your decoration box. Or, you could use a piece of long real or artificial evergreen garland, and then loop it around at least twice to make a wreath. Add a bow and/or a few ornaments.

Just make sure the interior opening of the wreath is wide enough to fit around the exterior of your mailbox if it’s preformed or you’re making the wreath. Otherwise you could just wrap it a few times or more around the mailbox. Make sure it’s bushy enough to look like you did want it to be a wreath, and not a few strands of garland wrapped towards the back of the mailbox.

Idea #2: Here’s a pretty easy idea … make a nice large swag from real or artificial evergreen boughs, slip in some berries, pine cones or small ornaments, maybe add a bow and there you have it, another very attractive DIY idea.

Idea #3: Here’s another pretty and easy to make DIY Christmas decoration … a variation of a swag for the top of the mailbox.

Idea #4: Evergreen boughs can be tied at the top the the bunch and attached to the post under your mailbox. This idea should be easier to attach than swags perched on top of the mailbox.

Idea #5: If you’re not able to get your hands on any real or artificial greenery, or perhaps just not wanting to decorate your mailbox that way … how about using Christmas lights? Just wind them ’round and ’round until you’ve got enough of them to make a nice visual presentation.

**Caution … if you have to use an extension cord to get power out to your mailbox (I do because mine is out on the street curb) make SURE you use an extension cord meant for outdoor use.

I will assume that if you plug that extension cord into an outdoor socket, that the socket is a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter). Nowadays in the USA and Canada it is a building code for every electrical plug in a home, whether inside or out, to be a GFI socket.

Last but not least … Idea #6: I just had to post this photo … kinda sad looking, isn’t it? (Note that it appears half of the lights aren’t even lit!)

The first thing that entered my mind when I saw this photo was “Gee, why did they even bother?” I’m sorry, but it is just not attractive and I think it would have been better for these people to not have bothered. I’m not meaning to be cruel, but really!

What I’m merely trying, and hoping, to convey in the photo is what NOT to do with a string of lights.

Well, there you have it, some easy DIY Christmas decoration ideas (and one “don’t do this” idea) to help give you some inspiration, especially if you need to do a last-minute Holiday spruce-up to the outside of your house. Dressing up youre mailbox will help give a nice impression and show your Holiday spirit, don’t you think?