Flowers for the Garden

After making my garden hose mat, I found I had a little hose left over. Not wanting to waste my scrap materials, I decided to make a flower for my fence. Have I mentioned how much I love flowers?  

The most time consuming aspect of this little project was waiting for the paint to dry.  Other than that, this was a snap to put together.  Quite simply, I cut three equal lengths of hose and used electrical tape to keep them in a "petal" shape.  Next, I used a little more electrical tape to tie the "petals" together.  A pretty little yellow spray paint job and my ugly old hose bits became a cute little flower for my fence.  

This flower now hangs on a fence in an area that gets a little dark at night. Considering I do not like dark little corners, I decided to add a little glow of my own.  I placed a solar light in the center of the flower.  This small landscape light emits a sweet little glow each night.  Now I can enjoy my flower day or night!  The silliest things bring me joy!

Gotta love a $2 lampshade!

Our monster-sized puppy struck again!  In her haste to "play" with one of our cats, the clumsy girl slid into a floor lamp ... again.  And broke, or rather cracked, the lampshade one more time.  Sigh.

Time for some creative problem-solving.  I can remove the lamps, buy new lampshades, get rid of the dog or purchase lamps which could be hung from the ceiling.  Quite frankly, I did not like any of those options. Our clumsy puppy may make messes, destroy household items and dig in the yard, but I love her to pieces.  She stays.

Further brainstorming, followed by a trip to Dollar Tree highlighted one more option.  I could make my own inexpensive lampshade. When I say inexpensive, I really mean cheap. As in less than $5.00 type of cheap. Odds are good, our little darling will crash into the floor lamp again.  Even better odds are that I will be making this shade a few more times.

So ... this is what I came up with.  Two plastic salad bowls and a hole saw drill bit.

I checked the diameter of the metal piece that connects the shade to the pole.  Next, I inserted an appropriately sized hole saw bit into my handy dandy cordless drill and got to work.  I placed each bowl on a piece of scrap lumber and gently began the drill.  It didn't take long for me to realize the colored bowl was a little thin as I drilled through.  Thankfully, the UPC sticker on the base of the bowl prevented any cracks while I was drilling.

Once I drilled through each bowl, I stacked them together and inserted the metal ring.  All that remained was to put the shade on the base pole and add a fluorescent light bulb.  We had used an incandescent bulb within the previous (plastic) shade, but I am hesitant to do the same with this one.  Melting plastic is not one of my favorite smells.

As you can see, I tried to photograph the lamp while it was on. However, I do not feel the picture shows how beautifully the lamp glows and sparkles.

Using the colored bowl inside the mock cut-crystal design bowl creates and lovely look.  Let me know what you think.

Frugal Holiday Greenery

Rocks and dirt;  that's just what I want in the house!  Okay, I admit, I exaggerated a little bit.  I am not fond of having rocks and dirt in the house, but I do like having flowers and plants.  Even if one of my cats does like to eat them!  That would be my Garfield wannabe cat.  He LOVES to eat flowers and greens.

Since I know any flowers or greens will not last long, I hesitate to spend money on those types of pretty things.  Not only does my cat eat them, he makes a huge mess while doing so.  The stinker.

This year, I decided to add a little holiday greenery that won't irritate me when the cat destroys it. That means it has to be free.  And small, to minimize the clean-up process.  My little cutie pie greenery "bouquet" fits the bill.

I grabbed an old salsa jar (we go through a lot of salsa), some rocks and dirt from the yard, and left over winter grass seeds.

First, I filled the jar about half full with rocks.  Next, I put the dirt and grass seeds in an old pantyhose leg and tied it off.  This, I hope, will minimize the clean-up process when the kitty goes to town.  I finally added some water and waited a few days for the seeds to sprout.  Once the seeds sprouted, I added a little ribbon and a paper towel tube ornament to add a little sparkle.

When all was said and done, I think I ended up with a cute little holiday greenery "vase".  A sweet little whatnot that adds a little cheer.