If you’re familiar with my hugely popular website that has lots of DIY unique garden art projects The-Artistic-Garden.com, then you KNOW you’ll be just as pleased with all the great information and how-tos found on this new site.

So come on in, and take some time to look around. If you’ve got information to share after reading a specific post, then please leave a comment or helpful suggestion. Everybody can benefit from each others trials, tribulations and great tips in making handmade garden art items. Me included.

I thought I’d talk about a great product you may not have heard of before – water crystals, aka water gel – that can make your outdoor container gardening watering requirements a bit easier. These little white granules are a type of absorbent polymer that can absorb up to 400 or 500 times their weight with water (there are different brands on the market – there may be variances in their absorption rates). When hydrated, the water crystals swell up, holding the water, and will look like little pieces of ice. Plus, water crystals are non-toxic and safe to touch with your hands. They are eco-friendly too, decomposing harmlessly over time. They can be purchased at big-box stores, many garden centers and online.

If you have a number of planted container gardens and hanging baskets, you’ve probably run into the issue of having to do more frequent waterings in the hotter months. Many of us live in very hot climates, or our summers get awfully hot, and I find that during the height of summer I may have to water my container plants two, if not three times a day! That can pose a problem if no one is at home during daytime hours. A drooping, stressed-out plant is not a good thing, and sometimes a plant can’t even handle this situation once, let alone many times. So, watering of potted plants can become quite an issue for the home gardener.

How to Mix Water Crystals Into Soil Before Potting the Plant

These crystals can absorb a lot of water, thus will get very large. This is one issue to keep in mind, as the expanding crystals can literally push the soil out of the pot, so be very careful with how many you add to the container’s soil. I would suggest you use less than the package’s label says to. It’s up to you, but many of us using them do find that if we use the amount stated on the label, that the moistened crystals do indeed push the soil over the top of the container. Perhaps you might want to expert by adding soil to a small pot, mix in some crystals, water and see what happens. This might help you get a better idea of how many to add in.

Also, thoroughly mix and incorporate the water crystals into the soil – don’t get too many in one spot. As they swell they can push a plant right out of it’s pot!

Here’s a highly suggested method/trick to help you figure out the right amount of water crystals to use: water the crystals FIRST before you mix them into the soil. The crystals will adsorb the water like a sponge and immediately turn into their gel-like substance. I assure you that you’ll be very surprised at how much larger they become. Then, keep adding water until it is obvious that they can’t possibly absorb anymore water.

Then, mix them into the soil. Then go ahead and fill the container. You can either wet the soil again before putting the plant in, or just skip this second watering and plant the container.

However, here is a general guide of how much to use in relation to a pot’s size – again remember to experiment first to determine how much the crystals you’ve purchased will expand when moistened:

 6″ pot = 1 tbsp. dry granules
 8″ pot = 3 tbsp. dry granules
10″ pot = 4 tbsp. dry granules

How to Use Water Absorbing Crystals in Already Potted Plants

Here’s a few tips on how to incorporate these crystals into container soil that has plants growing in it. This is reverse of the above instructions, but I recommend that you add in the granules DRY.

First, thoroughly moisten the soil. Then, using the handle of a wooden spoon or pencil, poke holes down into the soil all around the plant. A good rule of thumb to follow is to poke one hole for every inch around the diameter of your container. Make the hole about 2/3′s of the way down the depth of the soil.

Using about 5-10 or so DRY water crystals per hole, carefully drop them down into each hole. Then water well.

Note: I will mention that if I were wanting to ADD these crystals into an existing planting, I’d go to the trouble of unpotting the plant(s) and going through the steps as listed above for adding moistened crystals to loose soil. Then I’d repot the plant. It really isn’t that much of a hassle, and you’ll have the assurance that the crystals are distributed better throughout the potting soil.

Watering Tip for Container Gardens and Hanging Plants Using Water Crystals

A last tip I’ll pass along is to how to get the greatest water absorption of the crystals once they’re mixed into the soil in your containerized plants.

Try this: water the container until water just starts to come out the bottom drainage hole, then move on to the next container until water is just beginning to drain from that one, and so on. Then, go back to the first one, water until the water starts draining out of the bottom, and so on.

You’ll likely be surprised at just how much more water the crystals in each container can hold. It seems that the crystals don’t necessarily suck up all they can absorb instantly.

I hope this information on using a simple product like these water absorbing crystals helps make your container gardening efforts more successful and less tedious to tend to.

I get asked this question on a pretty regular basis. and just the other day I received another private email asking me about this, so I thought I’d put the question and my reply here for everyone to learn from.

I received a really nice email from Steve, an enthusiastic hypertufa newbie:

Hi Claudia: My wife and I just this evening began a hypertufa project that we saw in a local newspaper a few months ago. It was fun working together to make a small trough! I started to browse the Internet looking for more hypertufa info, and found your website. What a goldmine of information!!!

I went ahead and purchased your Hypertufa How-To Manual eBook, and can’t wait to start reading it.

We are pretty enthused about the hollow spheres we saw on your site. Every May, our city has a city-wide garage sale. For a few years, we have been selling assorted glass products, and have many customers who return to us each year. We think we’d like to add some hypertufa items, like the hollow spheres, to what we sell. How much do you think we can sell them for?

We look forward to your reply, and learning the many tips and ideas from your eBook to make this fun and successful (wait – that is redundant!). Thanks for setting up your website, and for offering the benefit of your experience through the book!!! Steve.

My reply:

Hello Steve:
Wow … what a nice way to start my day … thank you so much for taking the time to email me with your kind compliments. I do try awfully hard to provide thorough, clearly explained information on my websites and in the eBook. I needed a pat on my back this morning.

Your idea to sell ‘tufa spheres most probably will be a big hit, as long as you have lots of gardeners who visit the garage sale (of course). Just remember that you need to give any hypertufa or concrete object at least 30-days cure time before you can sell it in good conscience … not only do you want it to be good and “dry” (cured) but the issue of it being safe to plant flowers or other plants in is also an issue. You will find more info on this in the eBook. Also, if you live in a cold climate, the cure times might take longer, depending upon the time of year you make the items.

As I just told another crafter the other day about making some extra income via selling hypertufa garden art items you’ll need to keep in mind you need a dedicated work area (I would NOT advise you setting up a large scale project like this in your kitchen or basement, for instance) AND you need a spot to let the items cure for at least 30 days. Plus, being able to hose them off versus having to dip them in water baths is also a consideration if you start to get into larger items. In your case, I don’t know how large you want to make your spheres!

Even simple troughs/planters (rectangular or even round) would probably sell well for you, too. I have a friend who paid $35 for a very rough, unspectacular looking round hypertufa planter! (I was surprised she forked over that much $$ for it, to be honest, as she is one of the most frugal people I know! lol) It wasn’t very large and I know the cost of materials and time it took for the crafter to make it weren’t that much. (Note: I am sure you realize that larger spheres are going to be somewhat labor intensive.)

As far as price points, I guess it’s the old adage of “what will the market bear”? Obviously size, simplicity or ornateness of an object and consumer demand for that particular item all comes into play. I’d say shop around at garden centers; see what kind of pots and containers they sell and the prices for those, then try and calculate your material costs, time involved and mark-up desired and see if it is a reasonable price. Then try and sell it! If people grab up your pieces left and right … perhaps a slight price increase will pose no problem for you.

And as it always is with selling something, you’ve got to educate the person who might not otherwise have a clue about the advantages of having a hypertufa planter. If you’re at a street fair or farmers market setting, you’ll be able to give sales pitches to people as they are walking by. Grab their attention! Be friendly and work the crowd.

I wish you and your wife lots of fun and the best of luck in pursuing this project!

I received an email the other day from Tess asking me:

Hi! We are going to try to make a 4 ft diameter millstone garden fountain out of hypertufa. I believe your recipe for the Hypertufa Recipe With Fiber Mesh for Added Strength is the way to go. Any idea how much of the ingredients we will need to get to accomplish this? Will this hold up with constant water and hard winters?

Thanks in advance, Tess

My reply:

Hi Tess:
About the quantity needed – here’s a nifty free concrete calculator on another website that you can use: concrete calculator.

In the “Round Footing” section, I filled in 4-feet 0-inches X 6-inches high and I got 9.4 80-lb bags required. So you fill in the calculator and see what result you get and then buy at least that much Portland cement. Then buy the rest of the ingredient(s) you want to use in proportion to the cement. **Better to have more on hand than needed – you can always return a bag of cement if it is unopened.

However, why are you making it in hypertufa, rather than a “pure” concrete recipe??? The peat moss will decompose over time, especially being that it will be in direct contact with water 24/7. Do you want small pits and crevices in your millstone, or do you want it to be more authentic looking like smooth stone? Don’t use a hypertufa recipe if you want a smoother stone.

Yes – your finished project, whether ‘tufa or ‘crete, *should* hold up to freezes and thaws for many many years, that is IF you concocted the recipe correctly and IF you allowed it to cure properly. I suggest you try your hand at a smaller project with the recipe you decide to use first … give it a month to cure and at least see if it holds together properly, etc. Then tackle the big millstone project. Better safe than sorry and wasting LOTS of product.

Best of luck with this project!

Many of us LOVE attracting wild birds to our backyards and surrounding property just for the joy of watching them. I’m one of those people. I’ve had bird feeders in my yard for many, many years and have filled my feeders with hundreds, now probably thousands, of pounds of Black Oiler sunflower seeds (my wild bird food of choice) too. I’ve also had good luck attracting birds with safflower seeds – loved by gold finches (and to deter the squirrels) – and suet placed in suet cages that all the birds gobble up.

But sometimes, people do have trouble attracting more than just a few birds, and wonder what else they can try. Well … here’s some ideas you probably haven’t heard about, and a couple you probably have, but maybe were skeptical to try.

Grape Jelly

Grape jelly, fed in a VERY SMALL portion like a tablespoon full at most, is favored by wild birds such as woodpeckers, orioles, tanagers, finches and many others, too.

Again I will stress – please only feed a spoonful. Place in a small shallow dish or you can use a jar lid.

The sugar content in the grape jelly makes it a high-energy food for feeder birds. But … don’t overdo it, as the sugar content is not at a normal level for the birds, let alone the artificial coloring.

Oh … and it looks like grape jelly is the #1 jelly of choice to feed. However, try other fruit jellies. You may find that another flavor will also attract lots of birds. I mean … what’s wrong with trying flavors like raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, or currant?

Note: Many experts will argue that feeding grape jelly is a bad thing to do. And I can see why, because as I stated above, grape jelly and its sugar content isn’t “normal” for wild birds. However, I don’t see why a little jelly fed occasionally, especially in the beginning stages of trying to attract more feathered friends onto your property, is a horribly bad thing to do.

Here’s a link to an informative post on “Laura’s Birding Blog” discussing this very topic on the pros and cons of feeding jelly.

Fruits

Feeding fruit is probably the more commonly suggested method to help attract wild birds. But, with the rising cost of fruit these days, especially for those of us that don’t live in regions close to fruit growers and orchards, many of us may not be able to keep a constant supply of fresh orange halves, pomegranate halves or apple halves available for the birds. But perhaps occasionally you can try putting out fruit. All types of birds enjoy fruit. Even grapes will be eaten.

You can secure the fruit halves or sections to the side of a tree by pounding a long nail into the tree, and then pushing the fruit onto the nail (yes, you may have to wiggle it a bit to get it past the nail head); or place it in a suet basket. There are other methods, like piercing the fruit with a dowel and then hanging the dowel, which has a rope loop secured to both ends of the dowel.

As long as you can secure the fruit in some way to help the birds get to the fleshy part, and to keep it from getting carried away by other predators … you’ll be good to go.

Berries

Whether picked fresh berries, or store bought ones – even those that are a bit shriveled up but not bad enough to throw out – will be appreciated by your feathered friends and will of course help attract more to your property.

Berries that wild birds seem to love are: wild grapes, pokeberries, sassafras berries, and even sumac berries. If you’re like me and really don’t have access to wild berries, then use store-bought ones.

Store-bought berries to feed can be: blueberries, raspberries, and cherries.

Mama Mia! Try Pasta!

“Pasta?” you say. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

Nope, I’m not. I’ve read about many people feeding SMALL AMOUNTS of plain boiled pasta with success. Many birds, from titmice to woodpeckers will chow down on pasta. If you decide to give this food a try, I will suggest trying to offer it during drier weather.

Please …. just don’t include the spaghetti sauce and meatballs!

Eggshells

The calcium in eggshells is beneficial for female birds during the nesting season. But your wild bird friends will also benefit from the extra calciuim during the winter months. So save up some eggshells – make sure to rinse them out in the sink first – and then place them in a shallow pan. Bake the eggshells in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes. This “purifying” method eliminates any chance that your wild birds will be exposed to harmful bacteria that could be passed on from domestic chickens.

You can place crushed eggshells in a small dish, scattered on your garden soil, or even sprinkled on your sidewalk or patio. You’ll soon find that the birds will be happily nibbling up the eggshell pieces.

My Favorite Peanut Butter Suet Recipe

Before I end this post, I thought I’d place a link to my easy homemade bird suet recipe. I’ve received some nice feedback via private email from people who have tried it and are now getting more birds in their yards. Plus, they remark how easy it is to make and how much cheaper it is than buying store bought.

I hope you give one or more of these foods a try, and that you’re able to attract more wild birds in no time.

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

I received a comment from Consuelo on a previous post about making your own bird suet. She wanted to share information she’d found about peanut butter being potentially dangerous to certain bird species. Peanut butter is one of the ingredients I recommend using for the suet recipe.

I’d like to add a more detailed response to her comment here in a post, so that it properly addresses this subject and provides more information for those of you who perhaps have landed here, looking for information about “potential hazards of using peanut butter in a bird suet recipe”.

If You Are Really Concerned About a Bird Choking On Peanut Butter …Then Do Not Feed Peanut Butter All By Itself! Add a Gritty Ingredient as Well

Through my research to determine if what Consuelo shared was correct information or not, and of course to educate myself about the “hazards of feeding peanut butter to birds”, the bottom line from all trusted authority sites is:

There is no documented evidence that birds will choke (or die) from ingesting peanut butter all by itself. However, mixing peanut butter with grit or cornmeal or oatmeal will break up the stickiness and can give peace of mind to those who might be
concerned.

My recipe calls for cornmeal. So, in my humble opinion, there is nothing “dangerous” about any bird suet cake that has peanut butter as an ingredient if that cake also has a “gritty” ingredient, too.

More Resource Links With Information About Peanut Butter in Bird Suet Recipes

Everyone, please take a look at the following information I have uncovered from very reliable sources. Come to your own conclusions, but I believe you need not worry one bit about adding peanut butter into a recipe for making suet cakes.

Here are just a few of the better links I discovered with not only information about peanut butter in suet, but other great bird feeding information as well:

• Bird Feeding Basics from the National Audubon Society. Please look at the topic: “Mix peanut butter and corn meal”
• Backyard Bird Feeding from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Conservation Library. Look about 3/4′s of the way down to: “Can birds choke on peanut butter?”
• Feeding the Birds from the Massachusetts Audubon Society. About 1/3 of the way down, look for the topic: “Peanut Butter”.

There … with the above information I’ve provided I do hope the issue of feeding peanut butter to our backyard birds, whether it’s an ingredient in a store bought suet cake or in a homemade bird suet recipe, will no longer be a concern for anyone. Happy birding!

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 received an email from a sweet lady named P.J. asking me about how doable a “large” DIY hypertufa flagstone project might be and I think lots of you can benefit from her questions and my answers. So here goes:

Hi Claudia,

I love your website and blog and I have been reading all your info about hypertufa but I have a few questions. I want to make a patio in my yard and I would like to use the flagstone or slate mold. I am a widow and I will be doing this myself.

I guess my question is can I do it myself? I know the regular stones are too heavy for me to lift by myself and thought that the hypertufa stones would be lighter. I live down in Southern Florida where we do not usually get any freezing so I don’t think that I have to worry about the cracking of the stone. How long will they last with people walking over them?

Would your e-book on hypertufa address making the patio stones? I love the look of slate or flagstones and I will be doing the work myself. I am quite handy at repairing & fixing things so I know I could do it if it will not be too heavy.

Thank you,
P.J.

My reply:

Hi P.J.:
Thank you for contacting me and for the kind compliment about my site.

To answer your questions, yes I am sure you can tackle a project making hypertufa flagstones if you are at least a mildly active person.

There isn’t anything that is going to be horribly difficult in the process, but I guess the biggest thing to consider is the weight of the bags of Portland cement and sand you’ll be having to take out of your vehicle and transport to your working area.

The bags are normally between 40lbs – 80lbs. Can you wrestle 80lbs of dead weight?? (It’s not as easy for me as it used to be, I must admit.)

Next, though you won’t have the need to mix up huge batches at one time – as I am going to guess you’ll only have a few molds that can be used at a time – be aware that the mixing up and blending can put a strain on one’s back. Lots of crafters will mix up everything in a wheel barrow to keep from having to bend way down to mix up everything. Or many folks rent a small concrete mixer – it all depends upon how many flagstones you’re going to have to make, to determine if the cost of the mixer rental is worth it.

Yes, the ‘tufa stones will be lighter, and over time the peat moss will decompose leaving a more natural looking stone – that is unless you want super smooth stones (with minimal texture) like real slate. Then I’d use a pure concrete recipe. No peat moss (which means you can’t call the recipe a hypertufa recipe).

As I teach on my website (and in my eBook) … IF the recipe ratios are correct; IF the mixing and application method is correct; and IF you allow the object to cure properly, then you ought to have stones that will last almost indefinitely. But I always advise that you do some test runs – and I think especially so for this project. Make a small batch; record the exact ratios; the curing time, etc. If you have success (or failure) with your test run, then you know you are either good to go with your project … or if you’ve had a failure … then it’s back to the drawing board!

I caution you to NOT attempt this project without first getting a real hands-on feel of what working with concrete and such is like. It can be a temperamental animal … but not so bad because thousands of people are successful all the time once they get the hang of ingredient ratios and proper curing methods. After all, hypertufa making is NOT rocket science!

Yes … my Hypertufa How-To eBook does go into much more depth on the subject of hypertufa, however I can tell you that for the project you are wanting to do, you’ll find everything you need to know for free on my site. (How is that for being honest and not trying to sell you my eBook?)

Your main decision is what recipe to use. I would suggest one that includes a bonding agent which will help add more strength. I don’t suggest using reinforcing fibers in your recipe for a variety of reasons – mostly to make the project easier for you. However … even one of the basic hypertufa recipes most likely will do fine, too. But make a test batch first!

To review all the hypertufa pages on my site, you can easily see all the pages listed under the “Hypertufa” sub-heading on my website’s directory page. Check out the different recipes and projects – I do have one for flagstones – and I know you’ll find one that will fill the bill for you.

Oh … I had another crafter who wanted to tackle a “make homemade flagstones for the patio” project tell me she bought nice flagstone molds on eBay. I think the the cost was around $100, but a deal when you consider how much you’ll save in the long run if you DIY and of course because the molds are reusable.

Does this information help? I hope so. Keep me posted. Good luck with your hypertufa flagstone project!

Claudia

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.