Painting patio and firepit furniture + outdoor cushions on a budget

Summer is here and it is time to enjoy the out of doors! We are working with a small backyard in our new house here in Alaska. We already have patio furniture but it is tired, rusty, and even has chipping paint is some places. While we have a seating around the firepit, it doesn't match our patio table and chairs. Our old yard was a big enough space that you didn't notice it but now that we have much smaller quarters it stuck out like a sore thumb.

My solution?

Spray paint, ofcourse!

Read on for the full story and before-and-after photos...

Pick Your Own...'cause these are MINE!

One of my husband and I's favorite family pastimes is to go to U-pick farms and harvest berries, produce, flowers, you name it. We were planning on going this weekend to pick blueberries, blackberries, and lavender but we have decided to go on an impromptu camping trip to the Whidbey/Camano Islands instead. Just because we cant go berry picking this weekend doesn't mean you cant, so I still wanted to share this awesome website with you! To find a pick-your-own farm near you check out this site, PickYourOwn.org.  Late July and August are the best for finding a wide array of ripe fruits and veggies. This is an awesome site that I have been using for years. You click on the country and state of your choice and it organizes all the farms based on counties. Before you grab your berry buckets, make a quick call to the farms. The website tries to stay as up-to-date as possible with hours and closures but you don't want to show up at the farm, drooling with anticipation only to find they are closed that day or worse yet closed up shop for good.

Blueberry photo credit, Blackberry photo credit

I wish you all a berry-stained-fingers-and-faces kind of weekend! When I return from our camping trip I hope to have some good pictures of a special campfire treat I have been waiting to share with you!


Linked to Friday Fun Finds @ Kojo Designs, A Few Of My Favorite Things,

My black thumb just got greener!

This is a typical sight around my house. I love flowers and plants, I really do, but I have proven time and again that plants can't survive on love alone. I just can't seem to slow down my life enough to water regularly. I still water, just not when the plants want it I guess! After this gerbera met its fate, I got thinking about all the products out there that claim to prevent this such as the new Miracle-Gro soil and the Aqua Globes. Not wanting to spend money on these products this late in season for my outdoor patio plants, I came up with a free solution to take my plants from looking like that to looking like this...

All you need is an empty water or soda bottle and a needle or pin.

Poke 2-4 holes in the bottle with a needle or pin. After some experimenting, I found it best to poke as few holes as possible and locate them near the neck of the bottle.

Next cut off the bottom of the bottle...

Leaving the cap on the bottle, fill it with water and place it in the soil of your pot, garden or flower bed. 

This won't solve all your watering woes but it will help those specific plants that just seem to need to be watered more often. 


Linked to The Girl Creative, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sew Can Do, Finding Fabulous, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design

DIY No Soliciting Sign

I have been bugged by alot of door-to-door salespeople lately. If you have have small children you know how this irritating sales tactic becomes downright vexing when they ring the doorbell at nap time!! Anyway, I couldnt find a decent looking "no soliciting" sign, so I remembered my garden markers and came up with a solution!

Supplies:

• Large Stone
• Acrylic Paint Pen (Elmer's Painters, black fine point. Mine is from JoAnn Fabrics- $3.99.)

Linked up to these link parties: TGC, Keeping It Simple, C.R.A.F.T. MMM, Hope Studios, Silly Little Sparrow

Garden Stones

I have seen a few different types of plant labels for the garden, usually made out of tin or wood. I really liked the idea but I could never find them labeled with the same veggies and herbs I have in my garden. So, I had an idea to paint river stones. I love it! So natural looking and I can label any and everything! Here's how I did it...

Supplies:
Stones
Acrylic Paint Pen (Elmer's Painters, black fine point. Mine is from JoAnn Fabrics- $3.99.)