Backyard Spraypaint Shennagins

During my recent Garden Ridge trip, I eyed up several wire art pieces for the fence in the backyard. 

This is the current piece that hangs on the fence door. I bought it at Big Lots about two years ago. As you can see, it had lived a full sun burned life. It's rusty and even crumbly in some places. Hence the need for something new!

I popped into Five Below and in browsing came upon these two wire photo holders.

I held them up next to each other and volia- I had my newest fence decoration. And to the tune of ten buckaroos! Oh yeah, I love some Five Below! I dug through my paint collection, and decided on a bright primary yellow, since there are already yellow accents in the back yard including our giant umbrella. Using the cardboard that the medallions came in as my painting surface, I popped open the paint and started with the first coat. 

 

 After a few minutes, I quickly decided that the paint was clumping and not the best for this project. So I decided to revisit my old friend, spraypaint. The array of spraypaint colors has really exploded and there are so many cute shades! Using a sunshine yellow, I used three coats on the medallions letting each coat dry in between. Once totally dry I hung the medallions up. Here they are-

While, I was on my spraypaint kick I thought I'd jump on another mini-project. Last fall I purchased two metal vanity chairs for five bucks each. At such a low price, I could not leave these cute chairs in the store. My plan was to paint them and use them as plant stands. Although, I love a good fake gold finish I wanted to make sure they would hold up against the outdoor elements. I forgot to take a before of both chairs, so here is one before-

And after three coats of yellow spray paint, here is the second one after-

Oh, I am seriously in love with this little yellow chair/plant stand. Its so cherry and cute! And not to mention it's a unique plant stand for only five bucks!

Also, as you can see in the above picture the yard is sporting a brand new coat of mulch. I'm feeling so ahead of the curve this year, usually we put off mulching for as long as possible but it's such hard work. Our back yard is completely grass-less, with a small deck, brick patio and plants flanking along the right and left sides. While we LOVE not having to maintain grass, we do have to put in a full day of mulching and mulching preparation (removing leaves, sticks, dead plants/weeds). So I'll leave you today with some photos of the newly manicured backyard.

(lemonbalm)

(mint)

(pumpkin seedlings)

(hen and chicken)

(snap dragon)

Week Day to do: Ball jar plant holders

So as I mentioned before, I have a Ball/Mason jar problem. Every time I come across a jar at the thrift, large or small, I find myself automatically putting it in my basket. I prefer the the very large and small jars, as the standard size are quite easy to come by. Previously, I shared the Pin Cushion Ball jar, that I found here. Today I thought I'd share another super easy diy ball jar project. Can you tell I'm obsessed??

My grandma has these two super human (or should I say plant!) spider plants at her house. They are ginormous! Every time I visit her, I always snip off a huge bag full of baby spider plants to bring home. After my last visit when I returned home, I was digging around the house for some small containers to sprout my new babies. I have used all sorts of containers in the past (coffee cups, vases, jars), pretty much anything that can hold water. Well this time I had an idea to improve on my usual ball jar and allow for it to hang from my kitchen shelf. And volia, the bar jar plant hanger was born (well in our house anyway!).

Items needed:

Jar of any sort, as long as it has a rim around the edge
Metal wire
Plant baby
H2O

Using your preferred jar or other container, start wrapping the wire along the mouth of the jar. Don't start at the very end of the wire, as you will need additional lengths to form the hanger. I suggest pulling about a foot and then begin wrapping very tightly. Depending on how big you jar and how heavy your plant is, use more or less wire for support.

Once you have wrapped the mouth of the jar, loop the wire back over and twist it around you extra length to form a loop for the jar to hang. Twist the extra lengths together to form a stronger hanger.

For added design and whimsy, I curled about an inch of wire on each side of the jar. Fill your jar with water, and add your baby plant. Hang in your desired spot, and you're done! All in all, this is about a 5-7 minute project.

I made two hangers for either side of my kitchen shelf, one a small wide mouth ball and the second a standard size ball. Here are a few pictures of my kitchen shelf and the hanging spider plants. The wire holding the jars disappears, and it give the illusion that the plants are just hovering. I love it!

Regular Size

Mini-me size

Spider plants are seriously the easiest plants to care for and propagate, even for those without a green thumb. I also suggest philodendron or any other vine plant. I have also tried to propagate other plants, on a whim, like my Christmas catus, and found success. So when in doubt, I say try it! You never know, it may just sprout roots! Just remember to change the water about once a week or so, or else you'll run into a very funky odor coming your jars. After your plants sprout roots, you can plant them in soil or if you're like me- prune and maintain them in their "water beds." More on plant propagation here, here, and here. Not only is this an easy project, it also makes a super cheap, homemade, eco-friendly, springtime gift!

And while we are in the kitchen, here's a close up of the awesome vintage needlepoint I scored last summer on a thrifting excursion with my buddy, HBB. It originally had a dark brown frame that I repainted to match the kitchen. I think that it found a perfect home above all of the plants and sink.

Additionally, here a few close ups of some of the old spice tins that I score from my grandma awhile back. I just love them, especially since they are very Richmond being from the Sauer's factory! You can also see a spider plant that I propagated and transplanted to soil in a pot, in the background.