Prettier Watering Can

Ever since I saw this picture in Better Homes & Gardens, I have been on the lookout for a cute little watering can to re-do. I figured that with fall season rapidly approaching, some stores would have their gardening items on sale and I might get a good deal. Luckily, I was right.

I found this cute little thing at Joanns last week for 70% off and I snatched it right up.

I immediately removed the little springy sunflower, and then got out my spray paint. I went with Krylon's Catalina Mist, and 3 light coats seemed to do the trick.

The paper that I was using to cover the can was kind of thick and I knew that it would be more difficult to manage covered in Mod Podge, so I needed my paper to be cut pretty precisely to the shape of the can.  I didn't want to waste any scrapbook paper, so I used a Dollar Store flier to cut out a "pattern" for each half of the can. This actually worked perfectly, because the paper was so thin that I just lined it up against the can, ran my fingernail along the edge, and it trimmed the paper right off. I then cut out my scrapbook paper using the pattern as a guide, lined up the scrapbook paper on the can and made a few little adjustments so that it would fit perfectly.

I used just 2 pieces of scrapbook paper to cover the can. They each started at the handle of the watering can and ended at the spout.

I painted a thin coat of Mod Podge on the side of the can, a thin coat on the underside of the scrapbook paper, and then smoothed it onto the can. I went over the paper with a little scraping tool, smoothing out the bubbles and tucking the edges of the paper up under the rim.

The spout was a little bit tricky. I made sure that the first section of scrapbook paper extended about an inch past the spout, and the second section of scrapbook paper stopped just above the middle of the spout. This little bit of overlap ensured that there were no gaps around the spout, and the seams were symmetrical on both sides of the watering can. (Sorry, I'm one of those people that cares about things like that! :)

Now you can relax a little bit, because the hard part is over.

If you can't leave well enough alone want a little bit more detail, you could also cut a thin strip to put down the middle of the handles as well.

Once the paper was dry I covered it with 2 more light coats of Mod Podge to seal it. I only had the matte finish of Mod Podge, so I put a light coat of satin polyurethane on the whole watering can so that the paper and spray paint would have matching shiny finishes.

Well, what do you think? Pretty, huh? And a whole lot cheaper than BH&G's $65 version.

I love this little watering can and am excited that it has made it's way into my Etsy shop! Check it out here if you're interested, or make yourself a customized version!

PS-Did you see that Lemon Tree Creations now has a Flickr account? If you have tried one of our tutorials, we'd love to see your finished product!!! Upload your photos here, at Lemon Tree Creations: Tutorials I Tried.

As always, I'll be sharing this project at these really fun link parties. Check out what everyone has been up to!

See you next week!

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Chalkboard Globe

As I cleaned out my basement and created my "keep" and "sale" piles (as I do every year). I rummaged through the sale pile once more.

I drug out this globe which I had originally planned to take into my classroom several years ago. As I wiped the cob-webs off I decided to put it in the keep pile and keep it I shall.

This simple craft calls for just a few supplies: chalkboard paint (sold in quarts $11.00 at Home Depot..ouch), a globe, some spray paint and a brush. (chalk too!)



I first painted the globe with several coats of the chalkboard paint.





Once the paint was dry I took the globe apart and spray painted the base with white Krylon spray paint.




And last I simply added my drawings to the piece.


A simple art piece for my home.

I will be linking up to these parties this week and I look forward to showing you my Rt 127 Yard Sale finds the next time we meet!

And, look me up at the CSI Project for Kids Crafts this week!

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Freezer Paper Bags

I made these fun tote bags for everyone for Christmas time and just loved them. I shared this on my family blog in January, but since everyone needs a great tote bag to take to the beach/pool/zoo/variety of summertime activities, I thought I would share it here as well! I saw a great tutorial on V & Co a few months ago on making wheat pillows with freezer paper and spray paint, and I was hooked. Unfortunately I didn’t really have a place for this design of pillows in the house, so I decided to see if it would work on these tote bags, and it was perfect!!

I printed this wheat stencil from Vanessa’s site, traced it onto some freezer paper and cut out the leaves.

I arranged the leaves on the bag and ironed them down. Luckily, they peeled off easily and could be re-ironed on if I changed my mind about spacing or layout.

I taped off an inch at the top of the bag because I wanted to keep a beige rim, and then spray painted it with two light coats of paint.

When it was dry, I just peeled off the freezer paper and was done!

It turned out so great! The freezer paper bonded really well to the bags so the paint didn’t bleed at all, and the stencil lines looked really sharp.

Once I saw how well this turned out I had to make more! For this brown bag I followed the same steps as for the blue one, and just spray painted the whole bag, including the handles. It turned out great, but took forever to do the entire thing and used most of a can of spray paint. But I still really like it.

I thought that a quicker way to make a bag like the one above would be to just start with a brown bag and spray paint the stencil area white, but this didn’t work. The paint just soaked into the bag and didn’t show up at all. So I used a few leftover scraps of linen from my cheater pillow, taped off little squares, cut out leaf and tree stencils with the freezer paper and spray painted those.

I then went against my no-sew policy and hand stitched them onto the bag. I was reminded why I don’t like to hand sew-it took forever!! But the end result was perfect and I was really happy with it. The spray paint did bleed a little on the linen, but it wasn’t that noticeable and still looked good.

Everyone loved their bags and I got finally got to make one for myself. I used a perfect summer blue, and went for a big flower design instead. It turned out just how I had wanted (a rare thing around here), and I can't wait to take it to the beach!!

Once I made this one I had so many ideas for fun summer bags: cute stripes, circles, letters or any other fun shape that you are willing to cut out of freezer paper! I'm lucky that I only had one blank bag left or I would have made a half a dozen more summer versions.

I'm linking to these fun parties this week, including the CSI Project, so click on the link here and see what everyone else has been working on. See you next Monday!!

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Mason Jar Band Wreath

After months of anticipating my yearly travel down Interstate 127 for the world's longest yard sale, I could wait no longer. One of this year's "to find" is old mason jar bands after seeing this fantastic wreath back in November featured on FunkyJunk Interiors So I stopped by Big Lots and picked up some bands for this weeks craft.



Hence my very own Mason Jar Band Wreath, but wait..it's in color!




The first thing I did was pick out the colors of spray paint I was going to use and gather up the bands (this really is a simple project, hardly no materials and just a few steps)




I sprayed several coats on the bands leaving some of the brass showing through.

While that was drying I created the base of my wreath from a wire hanger simply by unwinding it and then forming the wire in a circular (well close to a circular) shape. Once the bands are dry, slip them on the wire, twist the ends of the hanger together, tuck in the edges to hide the wire and wallah!






Last, I hung my wreath up for my viewing pleasure, added a bow, and little polka dot here.

And there you have it my friends. I still plan to look for antique bands for a vintage style wreath, but this will satisfy my needs for now.

Stop by these link parties and admire their awesome creations! Have a great weekend!

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Re-vamp into a Blue Lamp

I got these lamps forever ago, as in over a year ago, and have just been sitting on them waiting for just the right idea. Sometimes inspiration comes in the most unlikely places.

As in, Parents magazine, at Easter time. This is typically the magazine that I read to try to be a good parent, not for crafty inspiration, but sometimes you get a bit of both. For some reason, I looked at that string-wrapped-looking egg and thought not of eggs but, "I must do that to those lamps!"

I will admit that my first attempt at these babies turned out to be a big fail, because in my excitement over finally having a direction to go with this project, I neglected to first dull the glossy surface of the lamps before painting them. Don't do this. A few days later you will end up with a very sad situation on your hands.

The second time around, I dulled the surface of the lamps with a fine sandpaper, covered the sockets and cords with plastic bags and tape, and then spray painted them with a white primer.

When the primer was completely dry, I got some raffia, wet it slightly and wrung it out well because I wanted it to lay completely flat against the surface of the lamp, and started wrapping. I wanted a crisscrossing kind of look, so I alternated between wrapping it just around the middle, and wrapping it around the top and then under the bottom of the lamp. When I got to the end of the raffia, I carefully tucked it under one of the first strands that was pulled tightly so that the whole thing wouldn't unravel.

I then pulled out my trusty Mediterranean spray paint (by Valspar), and got to work. I got down level with the lamp (meaning on the ground, but if you could elevate your lamp it will make this part easier), because I wanted to spray straight onto the raffia, as opposed to spraying from a top angle where the paint might run down underneath the raffia a bit.

I did 2 light coats, mostly because I was still nervous about the paint running. But it turns out that this was just enough.

When the paint was dry, I carefully peeled off the raffia strands, and held my breath. Luckily, dulling the surface this time worked! No little maroon spots were glaring up at me, just a fun blue and white pattern.

I love the texture that this approach provided! I followed up with a satin polyurethane for protection.

What do you think? Aren't they fun?

I don't have a lampshade "before" picture, but it was a basic shade that was yellowed with age and had a few stains. I covered it with some white burlap, which more than covered the stains, still gave me the light glow that I was looking for, and added just a bit more texture to the mix.

I'm pretty pleased with the results. This is my first venture into anything to do with lamps, so now going to start looking at the other lamps around my house and to see how I can change them to give that space a little boost.

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