a mother's day planter with new house numbers

The kiddo and I dipped into our scrap lumber pile to put together a new planter + house numbers for his grandma for Mother's Day. Actually, it was partially a birthday present for his grandpa, too, whose birthday had been a couple of weeks earlier. They've been needing something like this for awhile as someone (they both swear it wasn't them) had run into the previous house number post quite awhile ago.

Here's the before and after:

 

The Mr. picked up some potting mix and we picked out a plant at the hardy plant sale (it's an ornamental grass that's drought resistant and will eventually have golden plumes on top), but otherwise, we had all of the materials on hand.

If you make a planter out of your own scrap pile (old fence boards, leftover trim, etc.) your dimensions will vary based on what you have on hand, but here's a general guide:

Decide on your dimensions and sketch it out. A sketch will help solidify your plan and guide you as you work . I decided to make this planter three boards wide and two feet high, to make maximum advantage of our leftover and recycled wood.

Making a four-sided box planter, I constructed two sides with the trim overhanging a bit to cover the ends of the other two sides. I used 1x2 lumber scraps leftover from another project screwed onto the top and bottom.

On the backs of these two pieces, I added a couple of scrap lengths of 2x2 to the edges to act as interior braces.

The other two sides were built with the trim even with the ends.

Then I screwed the four sides together using the 2x2 braces to make everything secure, and screwed bottom boards in place. Spaces between the boards make for efficient drainage.

(Grainy early-evening photo alert!)

 

Four short stubs of pressure-treated 2x4 (leftover from a fence project) make great rot-resistant feet (the Mr. nailed them in place from the inside), and I let the kiddo help me stain the planter. He helped me pick the stain color, too. (It's Benjamin Moore Arborcoat in redwood color).

I managed to stop him from coating the front panel, though, which left room for the house numbers.

(If you make a measurement error {like I did} when planning the sides, some lengths of cedar garden stakes can be added at this point, too, to cover the corner gaps and add a nice design element.)

Not pictured here is the layer of black plastic I stapled to the inside (with holes cut through for drainage) to protect the wood from the wet dirt. Most of the planter is made with cedar fence board scraps, but my hope is that the plastic will keep the supports from rotting right away.

We waited until we had the planter in place before filling with soil, then planted it and added about six inches of mulch to the top to keep the plant happy and the soil moist.

As with any project, there are things I'd do differently next time around (like hiding the screws by screwing from the other side, measuring better, stenciling instead of free-handing), but the good thing about building anything for the first time is that you learn little things that will help you out the next time. And you know what? No one who loves you will complain about small imperfections anyway.

Thanks for reading!

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My Repurposed Life

giveaway day may 6th: win measuring tape growth chart fabric!

Update: winners announced! Click here!


Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day has inspired me to give away 2 pieces of my measuring tape fabric to  blog readers! Want to win one? Just add a comment below letting me know one other blog post you've liked on my blog -OR- add a comment below letting me know one way you feel you've really measured up to a challenge this week. Deadline is midnight, PST May 10th 2013.

Two lucky winners will each walk away with enough measuring tape fabric to make his or her own measuring tape growth chart. Note: this is not a finished product, but the fabric you can use to make your own. With free shipping, this is a $14 value.

Sorry; free U.S. shipping only. Others can buy the fabric in my Etsy Shop or on my Spoonflower page.

Winners will be announced on May 12th, and notified by e-mail if possible (I'll click the name by your comment, and follow any e-mail link available; otherwise, just check back on the 12th to see if you've won). After five days, non-responsive winners will miss out, and new winners will be selected from the pool of entrants.

Want to know how to put one of these growth charts together? I did an earlier blog with step-by-step instructions.

Okay! Get to entering! Thanks for reading, and good luck!

calaveras de azucar : perler sugar skulls for dia de los muertos

This is a little story about how I sometimes start out making one project, and end up making something completely different. It always reminds me of the artist who spent an afternoon with my second grade class (shout out to Ms. Champion, second grade teacher extraordinaire!) teaching us an art project. I kid you not; to this day, whenever I make a mistake in a project, I think about that guest artist's advice to turn "happy accidents" into even better art. It's rarely led me astray.

I pinned this awhile back because it seemed like a really nice, fast way to use up some Perler beads I picked up along the way. 

Alas, it didn't work out for me. The beads started to smell pretty early into the process, and I had severe second thought about having my kiddo in the house with me while plastic fumes were filling the air. After half an hour in the oven at the suggested temperature, all I had were some hot beads and nasty air quality, so I nixed the plan. Now, possibly, because the site isn't from the U.S., the temperature mentioned is a celsius temperature instead of a farenheit temperature, but I didn't really feel like risking it. I think melting beads in the oven is just not a good fit for our family. 

Then, when I was trying to pull together a project for the YHL/BP Pinterest Challenge, I was browsing my boards and found this lovely pin of some calaveras de azucar flower pots. And just in time for Dia de los Muertos! I'd actually pinned it close to three months ago thinking I'd find time to make some before the holiday, but I started working part time again, and a lot of projects have been put on the back burner.

As it happens, I was making some Perler bead robot magnets for the kiddo the other night. One of them started to look a little like a Day of the Dead sugar skull, so I abandoned my robot project three robots in, and instead made a fun little trio of sugar skulls. My once-upon-a-project turned into something completely different.

I used this large peg board from Ikea (where they cost $2 for a set instead of $6 for two), but the pattern is small enough that you could make a skull on one of the smaller Perler boards they include with the bead sets.

And here's the pattern you can use to make your own! As you saw in the above photos, I made three different color variations. All you need to do is replace the white beads with turquoise beads, etc. and you can make any color combination you want. Iron the beads onto your board according to package instructions.

Ours are going to be refrigerator magnets, but you can use your calaveras de azucar for ornaments, window hangers, coasters, etc. 

You can also use this pattern for crochet, cross stitch, etc. Just don't sell, it, mmmkay?

 Thanks for stopping in and reading, and thank you to Sherry, Katie, Carmel and Sarah for hosting this season's Pinterest Challenge!

p.s. you can make these pictures larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that!

happy labor day!

We spent the recent Labor Day holiday taking turns masking off the windows and priming/painting the first two sides of the house. Even more exhausting with a toddler!

We used this primer and paint in Sweet Corn Yellow. We'll let you know how it holds up! This is our first experience painting with recycled paint; the price is good, and the paint coverage is pretty decent.

What did you keep busy doing over the long weekend?

Thanks for reading!