Alderberry Hill

DIY: Shabby Mini Toparies

Now that fall is right around the corner,

here's a project that can be done while

catching up on your favorite show.

Supplies Needed:

Small Tin Buckets or Pots

Styrofoam Balls

Dowel - cut to size or Sticks

Floral Foam

Moss

Artificial Greenery

Hot Glue Gun

Paint

The pictures are pretty self explanatory for this project

but I`ll tell you what I did.

Cover your foam ball with the artificial

greenery using hot glue.

I picked up the artificial greenery at

my local Dollar Store.
Push dowel through styrofoam ball.

I painted the dowels a dark brown and the buckets an

ivory which I then distressed once dried.

To get the detailed line just add a thin piece of masking

tape before painting then remove while paint is still tacky.

Place a piece of floral foam in the bucket

then push dowel through, add hot glue

to keep nice and secure. Then top with moss.

The longest part of this project is covering the

styrofoam balls with the greenery.

But a little Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire or Dexter

can make it more exciting...

just don`t burn yourself!

I have been known to link to these fantastic parties:
Kampen Lane Designs Motivate Me Monday The Cure for the Common Monday A Diamond in the Stuff Just Something I Whipped Up Polly Want a Crafter Sew Can Do Boogieboard Cottage DIY Home Sweet Home Brassy Apple Polish the Stars Serendipity and Spice Destination Craft Mrs Happy Homemaker Made for You Monday Make it Yourself Monday Ask Anna C.R.A.F.T. The Southern Institute The DIY Showoff Craftomaniac Raising 4 Princesses BetweenNaps on the Porch Bedazzle Me Monday The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife Make Something Monday Stringtown Home Organizing Home Life Tuesday Tutorials Giggles Glitz and Glam Be Inspired Tuesday Time Out A to Zebra Celebrations My Favorite Finds Eye Heart Our Delightful Home The Inspiration Board Frugal Treasures Tuesday Too Cute Tuesday Sugar and Dots Topsy Turvy Tuesdays Trick or Treat Tuesday Chef in Training Sugar Bee Crafts Hope Studios Tell it to me Tuesday Your Cozy Home Party Turquoise Lovin’ Tuesday To Do Party Cherished Bliss Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays Type A Adventures of a DIY Mom Show Me What Ya Got Get Your Craft On Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Tuesday Confessional Teagan Travels How to Nest for Less A Bowl Full of Lemons Tuesday Trade Off Tip Junkie T2T Tuesday Tuesday Treasures Ladybug Blessings Creative Itch Toot your Horn Tuesday Jillify It Tutorial Tuesday Pin Cushion Creations Embracing Change Junk in their Trunk Polkadots on Parade Laugh Love and Craft Rock N Share Clean & Scentsible Uncommonly Yours The Trendy Treehouse Beyond the Picket Fence School House Scraps The Thrifty Home Sew Woodsy Savvy Southern Style Your Whims Wednesday Wow me Wednesday A Little Tipsy Women Living Well Primp your Stuff Wednesday Show and Share Mrs. Fox’s Sweet Party Whatever goes Wednesday 36th Avenue Live.Laugh.Rowe Adventures in Dinner Easy Digital Scrapbooking Mom on Timeout The CSI Project Share Your Cup Thursday All About a Bloom Fabulously Flawed It’s Sew Stinking Cute The Shabby Creek Cottage The Crafty Blog Stalker Christina’s Adventures Crafty Scrappy Happy 52 Mantels Bear Rabbit Bear The Vintage Farmhouse Bloom Designs A Turtles Life for Me The Taylor House Rhinestone Beagle Schoolhouse Scraps The Brambleberry Cottage The Shabby Nest Tidy Mom Joyful Stamper My Simple Home Life Remodelaholic Delicate Construction Happy Hour Projects Chic on a Shoestring Decorating 504 Main Hating Martha The Creative Paige Here Comes the Sun Cookie Nut Creations Bacon Time Joy in the Jumble The Grant Life Dotted Line Crafts Love Notes by Lauren Raising Oranges Making Lemonade Redoux Interiors Sassy Sites Whipperberry Tidy Mom One Artsy Momma My Romantic Home Petals to Picots Pandoras Craft Box My Repurposed Life French Country Cottage At the Picket Fence Just Us Four Mommas Kinda Crafty Craftionary Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons Sweet Tooth Friday 30 Handmade Days Lovely Crafty Home Mama Mias Heart to Heart Homemaker in Heels Family Ever After Lolly Jane Lady Bird Lane Serenity You The Gingerbread Blog Cherished Treasures Re-made Just Right Under the Table & Dreaming The Sweet talk Shop Sassafrass Salvation Simple as That My 1929 Charmer Heatherly Loves The Sasse Life Joy 2 Journey The Foley Fam Petite Hermine Flamingo Toes The Sweet Detail Sew Many Ways

Labels: DIY, Paint, Topiaries

Shutter Display - Bright New Look & Awesome Sign

I love shutters, I just wish I could come up with

something creative to do with them.

For the longest time, this is how

they looked in my craft room.

I love the yellow, I love the lanterns

but something just isn't flowing.

Perhaps it's those ugly orang-ish candles

in the lanterns for a start!

I gave the shutters a fresh & brighter coat

of yellow paint. I also cut out a little

banner from scrapbooking paper and glued

it to some bakers twine and draped it across the shutters.

And I painted those aweful candles.

They were just for display anyways, I wasn't going to

spark them up so I slathered it on, nice and

thick - wax is hard to cover with paint!

And now for the " AWESOME " Sign!

I started with a ceramic floor tile,

painted it a pastel turquoise.

The best part is that I bought a Silhouette!

Hooray for me!

So I got to work and cut out the words on cardstock,

and placed it on the now dry tile

I painted the first 4 words grey.

And the AWESOME a variety of pretty pastels.

Now here's the new look!

Bright & Beautiful

I may give this to my super daughter

for her room because

she is AWESOME !

Make sure you are all AWESOME today,

and everyday!

Labels: Banners, candles, lantern, Paint, Shutters, Sign, Silhouette, tile

Choosing The Right Stain For Your Deck

This year we had to stain our deck.

We didn't bother last summer and once spring rolled around it was evident that our deck was in much need of some TLC in the form of stain & paint.

We had stain left over, a whole gallon. But when my husband went to the hardware store to
pick upmore stain they told him that oil based stains will no longer be sold in Canada starting in September.

So home he came without any stain.

And we wondered what we were going to do. Should we buy oil based stain anyways and deal with it next year (or the year after)? How would water based stain adhere to the remaining stain on our deck? How can we get the remaining stain off of the deck?

A couple of weeks went by and finally we both went back to the hardware store and purchased deck stain stripper and a pressure washer...and we were dreading all the pre-stain work ahead of us.

Then the in-laws visited and my Father in-law,
who happens to work at a hardware store told us about

Sico Exterior Stains.

It's a water based stain that can go right over your existing stained surface. So your wondering why I didn't think to ask him since he works at a hardware store?

Well, that's just it - It never crossed my mind to ask him.

So anyways we returned the stain stripper & pressure washer and bought the Sico stain.

But wait...I had a brilliant idea! I thought that it would
be a great time to change the color of
our deck, I was thinking of going with something
in the blue color family.

But as it turns out, it was a horrible idea.
An epic fail.