PAINTED METAL PLANTER

I see these little galvanized metal planters everywhere....JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, thrift stores and garden shops.  But, usually they are plain, maybe a little too plain looking.  I decided to cute one up a little.

This was a simple project.  I taped off my planter so that I could paint a single stripe on the center.

 I have a can of Krylon paint in a delicious Pistachio color.  Perfect for springtime.  

I also have a roll of flowery fabric lace.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's a little stretchy.  It came in a bag of lace and ribbon I got from my friend Loy at  Grandma Loy's Kitchen when she visited me here at the farm last year.  Again, perfect for springtime!

I wrapped it around the center stripe that I painted and attached it with a few glue dots.  My little potted shamrock that I got for St. Patrick's Day fit perfectly inside it.

 All springified and I can take that flowery lace off if I want a different look later on.  You know me.....I will.

Enjoy your day and enjoy your spring! 

Linking up to any or all of the fine parties listed at the bottom of this page as well as HERE and.....  

EASTER EGG HOLDER

Here is a fun Easter project that cost me a whole 50 cents.

 I was at a tea room that also had some antique booths in it and you could kind of browse around while you were waiting for your lunch.  They had a table in the very back that was just piled with stuff that had no price tags on it and mostly looked like trash.  The owner said one of her booth owners had a relative who had moved into a nursing home and this was all just some leftover stuff that she brought in.  It was all going away in a couple of days and I could just make an offer on anything I wanted.  I found a few items, including this little brass rabbit egg holder and paid her a quarter for it.

I cleaned it up and gave it a shot of silver spray paint.  Then I spray painted the top of an outdoor porchlight that I picked up at our Habitat for Humanity, last year also for a quarter.  I love those old porch lights, they have a million parts and pieces and if you look at them long enough, you can see a lot of projects in one little light.

 Then I just put them both together, stuck some faux flowers in that cute rabbits paws, put a beautiful beaded egg on top and snapped a few pictures for you.

 He's kind of shiny, and hard to get a good picture of, but then so are 2 quarters.

 Enjoy your day and keep your eye out for some of those old porch lights!

Linking up to any or all of the fine parties listed HERE, and at the bottom of this page.

I WAS GIVEN A ST. PATRICK'S DAY CHALLENGE!

So just as I was about to be finished with all of my St. Patrick's Day projects and do a little post on some small projects I've done, my package arrived in the mail from Donna at Distressed Donna Down Home.  

 Remember last week when she sent me a beautiful handmade post card warning me that the St. Pat's were coming and I didn't really know what that meant?  Normally a package from Donna is a sheer delight!  But, they are not usually preceded by a warning!  Now I know why!  It all looked innocent enough.... tied up in a pretty little bundle, wrapped in tissue paper with a hand stamped tag on the front.....

 Here's what that tag says......

  Hmmmmm....a craft challenge.  That was new to me and I am not a girl to back down from a challenge.  Let's take a look at the materials inside.....

 5 cute St. Patrick's post cards, 3 Shamrock tags and 1 piece of blue-green ribbon, plus a lot of green tissue paper.  I decided right from the start to make one project using all of it. Probably in hindsight, I would do it differently now, but, I had a couple of hours to spare and thought I would just get after it.
I decided on a vertical banner. .

Now I don't mind telling you that two things in this package drove me crazy....
This post card....

(Really...what is that girl doing with a giant shamrock and a pig??!!)  She was off center and the colors didn't match anything else in the package, and neither did that funky bluegreen ribbon.  It was maddening for me.  I'm a girl who likes things to match and balance.  But...the challenge was to use it all and so I did....I made this little Irish Banner....

Here's a quick run down, just incase you think I didn't use it all, Donna!  

• I trimmed the images out of the post cards. 
• Punched some gold circles out of the tags.
• Folded the tissue to use as a background.
• Fastened it all to the folded tissue using glue dots.
• Adhered the rest of the tags to the back side for support.
• Used one of the eyelets from a tag as a hanger for the top.
• Used the tag strings as a bottom piece and added some beads.
• Hung it up using that funky green ribbon at the top.         

It might not be my favorite  St. Patrick's decoration, but it was by far, the most fun!!  Thank you Donna, for a fun challenge! (And just so you know....I'll be using that funky blue-green ribbon for another project!)
Now, if anyone else wants to send me a package of fun stuff for a craft challenge, please do because I enjoyed doing this and it certainly made me think outside of the box!