Wood Burn Garden Signs

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I made these signs for a Christmas gift. My Auntie loves to garden. I saw the saying "Trespassers will be composted" and knew my aunt had to have that in her garden.

I found some scrap wood. I didn't cut anything as my scraps determined the size of the signs. I glued two pieces of wood together with wood glue. Then secured the two pieces to a longer piece of wood with a couple screws. 

I designed the letters on a publishing program and printed them on a piece of paper. I transferred the lettering using the pencil transfer method (or you can use transfer/carbon paper. 

The fonts I used :"Color Me Purple"
 and "Roscrift Clean". 

After transferring the letters on the wood with the pencil transfer method, I wood burned the letters using my wood burner I purchased from Michael's. I found the chisel tip to be the best tip to use but I suggest you take a scrap piece of wood and practice on it to see what tip you feel works best for the sign you are making. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Image Transfer on a Can

I am loving the acrylic gel medium. Remember my garden stakes? That was my very first project - I transferred an image on to wood. This is my second project using this medium - transferring an image on a tin can. So basically, this gel medium transfers the ink because you take the paper off - although it does take some work getting the paper off. But what you are left with is a paperless photocopy on objects like a tin can - it is so neat. I love how vintage this can looks! Here is how to do it....

1. Prepare the can - you will need a laser copy of a label or some kind of art work. I used a pumpkin label from Graphics Fairy. There are so many neat labels on that blog that you can find. I am going to do a few more cans. Make sure you flip or reverse the printing before you print out the label if it has printing on it. Oh yeah - the can I used was a HUGE tuna can. It is almost the size of a large coffee can but not as tall. 

2. Tape around area of the label. To do this I taped the label on and taped around it, and then took the tape off the label. 

3. Prep the can with gesso. I experimented with putting a transfer directly on a can, or using gesso, and using the gesso helped the image stick better. I put on a thin layer of gesso and let it dry for a few hours.

4. Paint over the gesso. I used silver so it looked like tin. After painting remove masking tape.
5. Using the same technique I used with my garden sticks - put the acrylic gel medium on the ink side of the label. Get out as many air bubble as possible. Let dry over night.
6. Wet down the paper - and slowly and gently take it off. Because this label had a lot of black - it took a lot of scrubbing to get all the white of the paper off. When it is cleaned to your liking and dry - spray with a clear paint to protect.

I am going to plant something in this can - but you can use it for all sorts of things. I hope this gives you some ideas!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to...
Graphics Fairy - Brag Monday

Image Transfer Garden Picks - Tutorial

I love these garden sticks that I made. I have wanted to try image transferring with acrylic gel medium since my daughter asked me to buy it. She is an artist - and I love the ideas she brings home from art class. Here is how I made the garden sticks....

1. Make your transfer. Find images of the garden stuff you need and make labels on your computer. I found some of my images on the Graphics Fairy blog. I have links to the specific images below. Reverse all the printing. Take this to a copy place and get them to laser print the image. Cut out each transfer.

2. Prepare the wood - I put my transfers on basswood that I bought at Michael's. I wanted my garden picks to be vintage looking so I used wood. I originally was going to use tiles - and I might do that next year. I am not sure how these will fair out in the weather - but this is a creative trial so I guess I will find out. I did stain these so I am hoping that will protect them enough.

3. Cut the wood to fit each transfer. Sand the edges.

4. Now for the gel medium. I bought Liquitex Matte Gel medium. I went into Michael's to buy gel medium and there are so many different varieties that I didn't purchase it the first time around. The clerk at the store had no idea what to use so I went home to surf the internet and did some research on what to get. I decided on buying Liquitex matte gel medium.

5. Apply the gel medium to the transfer. In my studies I read that you can apply the medium with a brush or with your fingers. I opted for the fingers because it is less clean up. I only applied the medium on the image - but I did read with wood to apply it to both surfaces. I will try both surfaces next time.

6. Adhere the transfer on to the wood surface. Press out the bubbles and let dry over night.

7. Remove the paper. Wet the paper and remove it.

8. Wet the paper again and remove what you can. With the wood being very thin, it will curl up a bit - so try not to use an insane amount of water. Bits of the image came off during this process - which is okay for a vintage effect. I am thinking if I apply the medium to both surfaces in the future this won't happen - but it was okay for this project.

9. I used my fingernails to get some of the paper off - and then wiped again with a damp cloth. Getting the paper off took some time - but eventually it will come off. Let the wood completely dry before the next step.

10. Stain the wood. I did a couple of coats as these are going to be outside.

11. Collect and prepare stakes. I used some sticks from a broken lawn edge fence that I bought at a $store. I cut the ends to make a v shape.

12. Glue wood pieces on stakes. Let dry.

Here are three of my garden stakes with images I got from Graphics Fairy. Click on the words to 

go to the direct link....

1. Pumpkin

2. Strawberries

3. Carrots

 I added on some of these stakes "Ferguson Farms" to personalize it as that is my last name. 

This project was a lot of fun! I love trying new things.

Linking up to....
The Stories of A2Z

Graphics Fairy - Brag Monday

Stencil a Wood Planter

My neighbor asked me if I wanted a couple of wood hanging baskets that she wanted to get rid of. Of course I obliged! I took off the hanging accessories as I wanted them for a herb garden on my outside stairs. I also decided to stencil them with butterflies and dragonflies.

I cut a couple of dragonflies from the Home Decor Cricut cartridge, size 4 and 2.

I cut a couple of butterflies from the same cartridge, size 5 and 2.

I use cardstock that I have oodles of for my stencil.

1. Clean planter. I really just dusted mine off - I wasn't too fussy.

2. I cut the images so the stencil would fit where I wanted it to. I applied spray adhesive to the stencil.

3. Using a sponge dauber, I applied black acrylic paint. Wait a couple minutes and carefully take off stencil.

4. I applied the smaller stencil using the same technique in step 2. I used a scrap piece of paper to cover the wood planter along the edges of the stencil so I could fill in the stencil with black paint without getting the paint on the wood where I didn't want it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to....

How to Make a Live Ivy Topiary

I have had this project on my "want to do list" for over a decade. It feels good to get this one off my list. I found this project in a book called "Creative Home Decorating". I do not have a green thumb - but I do try to have one. Making your own live topiaries has so many possibilities. Ivy topiaries I think would be the easiest - but I would also love to try making lavender and rosemary topiaries. One topiary down, two to go. Here are the instructions...

Plant ivy in desired pot. Make sure it is planted firmly. The ivy should have at least 2' long trails to begin creating a topiary form.

1. Make a wire form. Cut two 30" long pieces of galvanized wire or wire from a hanger. Make two lollipop shapes.

2. Join the two lollipop shapes by placing one inside the other to form a sphere. Twist the two stems together to secure. This can be reinforced by wrapping another piece of wire around the stems.

3. Place the topiary frame in the middle of the prepared pot. Working from the bottom to top, wind the ivy around the wire frame, covering as much of the wire as possible. The instructions from the book say to use galvanized wire pins to anchor the base firmly. I didn't have those - and I also found that my wire center was really flimsy, so I attached a steel skewer to the center. I am thinking next time I will use a wooden dowel when I make my lollipops.

I pinched off some of the ivy from the center stem and stuck them in the soil. I am not sure if they will take root and grow but I thought I might as well try it.

This is how the topiary looks at this point. The book has the following instructions for further care....

- keep the topiary in good shape by winding any new growth around the topiary form and pulling out dry leaves. 

- prune the plant regularly to maintain its unique shape. Pinch long shoots so the plant remains full and compact.

-with proper care, a beautiful ivy topiary can provide years of enjoyment.

Several different shapes can be made with the ivy. Try a star, a wreath, or even a spiral. There are so many creative possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by!
The Stories of A2Z

Garden Planter Makeover

We bought a couple of large plastic planters a few years back at Costco. We bought them because they were a really good price for the size. A lot of other people had the same idea. These pots are all over the place. I never really liked the color. We bought two of them and one was darker than the other. The dark brown didn't really match our house either. These pots had two strikes against them - they were all over the place, and the color - blah. It never occurred to me before I entered the world of blog land that I could paint them. All the spray painting projects I have seen motivated me to do this planter makeover. 

Doesn't it look so much better? Here is what I did. After cleaning and sanding the pots, I spray painted them with two light coats of "Prairie Grass" plastic spray paint. When the paint was dry, I rubbed on some grey acrylic paint with a cloth. I wiped the pot with a slightly wet cloth to reveal bits of the green underneath. After the pot was dry I sanded it lightly with steel wool to scuff it up a bit.

I love the way these pots turned out. They don't look like Costco pots any more. They also go with the sagebrush wreath I made for my front door. 

Thanks for stopping by!