Gazing Ball Bunny

Old is new again ... with a simple crafty solution this old garden bunny is glitzed up and ready to shine again!

This bunny used to have a large gazing ball on it's back many years ago. But it has long since been broken. Kept the bunny in the garden but always had to tip water out of the depression left by the gazing ball. 

Today inspiration struck! Just mixed up some all-purpose preblended concrete and filled the hole. Then I took three old unbreakable gold Christmas balls and stuck them upside-down in the concrete.

And voilà, bunny is ready to sparkle in the garden again!

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂

Garden Penny Post

A cute little garden accent that might just keep slugs away from those tender new shoots.

Similar to penny balls except I didn't have a ball, so I used a post and spike from an old solar lamp instead.

An old solar lamp post, clear marine silicone and some pennies (dated before 1983 for best copper content) are all you need.

Stick one penny on top of the post then, using the waterproof marine silicone, glue a column of pennies up one side of the post. Lay flat on that side and let them set a few minutes before starting the next row. My post fit exactly 4 columns of pennies.

Let it set completely for at least 12 hours before exposure to water, then stick it in anywhere that you might want to keep slugs away. I don't know if copper really does repel slugs but I like this quirky little garden art.

If you have marine silicone left over how about another garden craft?

Beaded Mason Jar Solar Light

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2020/07/beaded-mason-jar-solar-light.html

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂

Lavender - Growing and Using It

Growing lavender ... the bees love it and we all know that we need to save the bees! They go about their business getting nectar and collecting pollen and are happy not to bother you so don't bother them.

But we can share the lavender with the bees. It has many uses. Like in sachets (does everyone's Grandma smell like lavender?), crafting, cooking and baking. I've shared a couple of ideas here, but for more just look on Pinterest or google lavender and there are tons of  things to do with lavender!💜

Cut flowers in the morning for the freshest blooms and leave a 4-6" stem. Tie in small bunches.

And hang them upside-down in a semi-dark room. This storage room in the basement has only one small window so it worked fine. Leave space between the bundles for good air flow.

Or you could tie bundles together then tie them to a wreath, overlapping to cover the strings.

Work them all the way around or you may choose to leave some of the wreath exposed like I did.

Once the bundles are tied to your liking set the wreath lying flat in a darkened room to dry before attaching a ribbon to hang.

Now back to those bundles that were hanging upside-down to dry. Remove the leaves and flowers in separate piles and store them in jars with tight fitting lids to keep the oils and scent from escaping. I like these tins from David's tea because of the see-through top.

There are many uses for both lavender leaves and flowers. As lavender is an herb and a close relative of rosemary it's leaves can be used wherever you might use rosemary. 

The flowers, also edible, can be used (sparingly) in salad for instance. Start off slowly ...don't want to make your food too "perfumy"!

Blueberry Jam infused with Lavender is another way to use the flowers, adding a very subtle taste to the jam.

Here's the link to the one I made:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2021/07/blueberry-jam-with-lavender-infusion.html

Or try lavender in baking like these shortbread cookies:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/06/honey-and-lavender-shortbread-cookies.html

It's a pretty hardy plant that doesn't need alot of fussing. Cutting the blooms and giving your lavender a "hair cut" will promote more blooms... so more lavender to use in whatever you like! Just leave some for the bees! 

Peanut Butter Oil Painting with your Dog

Your dog might be a "Pawcasso" too!

This was a fun and yummy activity to do with Karma on her 8th birthday! (We both had the fun but she had the yummy 😃)

Take a blank canvas. You can get one from the dollar store or what I did was gesso over an old painting. I gave the background a wash of Payne's grey then dabbed on some colours in oil paint. All the Pinterest posts I've seen of dogs painting using this method have used acrylic paint but we only had oil so we went with that.

I slid the canvas into a large ziplock baggie and tried to remove as much air as possible. Then spread natural peanut butter all over the bag. Make sure your PB does not contain xylitol as it is toxic for dogs.

And here is Karma Pawcasso ready to "paint"! 

We did it out on the grass to keep the painting in one place. I imagine it would have slid all over the floor if we'd done it inside.

She started on the outside edge of the canvas...

Then worked her way around her masterpiece until all the PB was gone.

And here is her masterpiece! 

Garden Directional Sign DIY

After a few years of contemplating (procrastinating) we finally made our garden directional sign.

Using leftover pine or spruce from something or other (probably fence boards) we set to work. Pallet wood would work as well. (Try saying that 5 times fast!)

I googled the mileage from home to some of the different places we have been to over the years. Then I printed out the info in large font. Using carbon paper and a stylus I traced everything onto the wood. If you don't have carbon paper you can blacken one side of any paper with a lead pencil, then use an old ballpoint pen as a stylus for tracing. A little time consuming but it works.

Once the transfers were done my husband cut the boards and tapered the ends. 

I watered down different coloured acrylic craft paints and gave each sign a wash, making sure the lettering showed through the wash.

Once they were dry I painted little things that were memories of those places (like bears in Algonquin Park) and finally painted the lettering in black.

Hubby gave them all a coating of this outdoor varathane to hopefully protect them from the elements.

 

Then he used his pneumatic nailer to attach all the signs to an existing post we have in the garden. Good thing he did it because I would have just nailed them on and would probably have split the wood.

So there you have it, our garden directional sign... yes people have pointed out that the arrows are not all pointing in accurate directions. That doesn't matter to me. I just love it!

Wine Cork Wreath

We've all been in Covid lockdown or something like that for months now, so I know you've  had a few bottles of wine. And if you haven't there's still time to start... I mean strictly so you can collect corks for this craft 😉🍷

To make this wreath you'll need:

A straw wreath for the base

A bunch of corks (you can always buy a bag at the local winemaking store)

Glue gun and glue

Pinecones

Berries from a dollar store garland

Some bells and a bow

It's pretty simple, just start gluing corks on and around the wreath base. Once you have them all on the front, place pinecones here and there. Then start filling in spaces with berries and bells. And finally add a bow.

I didn't take any in progress pics but here is what the back of the wreath looks like. You can see how the corks are not lined up evenly but are staggered (LOL funny choice of word for winecorks!) around the wreath.

Feed a string through the back of the straw wreath using a darning needle and make a loop for hanging and you're done!

Candy Cane Sleigh Place Markers

These easy to make candy cane sleighs can be used as table place markers, gift toppers or added to any Christmas display. These were made for last year's Christmas before Covid-19 came to challenge the world. Here's hoping we can be together for family celebrations this year, but if we need to stay apart this year then we will, so that we WILL be all together in the future!

What you'll need for each sleigh:

glue gun

2 candy canes for the runners

a chocolate bar to fit as the base of the sleigh

a chocolate Santa (of course😀)

and a pile of candies for his pack 

Make sure the chocolate bar for the base of the sleigh fits the length of the candy canes. I used minis here. Tuck the wrapping ends of the bar underneath and glue. Then glue the bottom of the bar to the candy canes. There you have your sleigh bed and runners. Glue Santa's feet to the front of the bar (so he can stand up to drive the sleigh!) And stack chocolates and candies (or a little toy) behind him as his stash of goodies!

If you are going to use this as a place marker just leave enough room behind Santa to tuck a name card in.

These mini Santa's sleighs sat neatly at each place.

Upcycled Jeans Clothespin Bag

There's nothing like the smell of fresh towels and sheets dried on a clothesline! And here's a cute place to store your clothespins. This little craft will literally take you only 10 minutes to make...I swear!!

What you'll need:

an old pair of jeans

a plastic hanger

Mark where you want to cut the legs off with pins. Leave enough room to hold all your clothespins, then cut both legs off. Turn the jeans inside out, then cut out the crotch seam and sew the sides together on both the front and the back where the crotch had been. Sew a hem along the bottom to close off the bottom of the bag. Turn it right side out.

Now place the hanger in the waist and sew along the top at each side 2 or 3 inches to hold the hanger in place. If you are using larger jeans/larger hanger you may need to sew a bit more to hold it in place. (These were my daughter's "teenie" jeans 😒)

Open the zipper and fill the bag with clothespins. You can even tuck more in the pockets!

Beaded Mason Jar Solar Light

Here's the how-to on a simple DIY garden art project. No tools required!

All you need is a Mason jar, a solar light that fits inside it, some glass beads (dollar store gems) and a tube of clear marine silicone. It's waterproof and weatherproof. I had first tried using a glue gun for the job. It only took 20 minutes start to finish but later in the day the beads started sliding off the jar. 😡 

So stick with marine silicone!!

This is what my little solar light used to look like ↓ Pretty basic.

I only had these few glass beads leftover from something I made years ago. I lined them up, then rolled the jar alongside to ensure I had enough for the job.

Just a dab of silicone and place the bead. 

Start with one line and let if set about 20-30 minutes. I used a shoe on each side of the jar to keep it from rolling.

Once that row set I stuck 3 rows at a time on letting each section set before moving on. A little time consuming but you can go away and do something else while it dries.

And all finished!

If I had more glass beads I could've probably made another row, but I'm happy with how this looks.

Let the silicone completely dry and cure indoors for at least 12 hours before putting it outside.

Then simply turn the jar over on top of the solar light!

The little solar panel on the top of the lamp is not hindered by beads or silicone.

I might have to go buy more glass beads for my other lamps!