Mother's Day Gift 2013

Last year while in a resale shop I found this old chandelier stuffed in a backroom.... on the top shelf.  Visions of Pinterest flashing through my head I knew I had to buy this old lamp and bring it back to life!  I think I actually got dizzy.  I got my haggle on and bought it for $5.00.... less the  glass shades.

 I took it home and stripped all the wire & ceramic light sockets out.  The sockets have been saved (hoarded) for a different project down the road!

I then took the fixture to my shop and placed it on the top shelf until I could figured out what I wanted to do....well I knew I wanted to make a bird feeder, but just did not have the full vision yet.  Color....additional pieces etc...

I was painting some night lights with my most favorite color in the whole wide world when it hit me that this was going to be the bird feeders color.  I thought to myself ....How great would those bright orange "Fire King" cups & sauces my sister sent me look next to this color.

I got the spray paint can out and started my project... Mothers Day was coming and as much as I wanted this for my back yard I knew this was   going to made for Mom! 

I added the cups & sauces.... then bling-ed it out with some faux pearls! 

Now all I needed to work on was "how I would hang this in her tree"?  I had saved (hoarded some rusty old pulley's from a mower) and knew this would be the perfect item to use to hold the feeder straight.  FYI that is Jack's hand in the photo!  

I purchased this old wooden pulley off Etsy a while back for a TV stand I wanted to build and hang on my back porch.  We could hang this pulley up in her big tree and it would work so she could raise and lower the feeder!  I guess I will just have to find another one....Darn the luck!

Jack worked his magic on the pulley and now I have a "thingy-ma-jig" that will hold the feeder straight.  I  feel I need to explain who Jack is... Jack is my brother in law as well as my go to handy man & fixer upper guy!  

This is the bottom of the thingy-ma-jig pulley holder!

Mom filling her feeder up!  FYI when it rains the bird seed has to be replaces as it gets all nasty and smelly!

Jack found a piece of 20" re-barb & bent a curl in the top.  He drove it into the ground so we could tie off the feeder with the camo nylon rope I purchased.

This is the pulley system, sorry the picture is so dark!

Close up!

Voila...

Happy Mothers Day 2013!

Gorgeous if I don't say so myself!

No time in this bottle, just a frog!

6/1/13

Golf Shoe & Bag Planters

We were cleaning out a office at our shop the other day

 (making me a creating room, but that's a whole another

 story), and I came across three pairs of old golf shoes.  

Ding Ding Ding!!  At first I just pitched them in the trash 

pile, knowing in the back of my mind I would retrieve 

them like one of those poor hoarder people that cannot 

let anything go.  I had also been holding onto an old 

golf bag (hoarder!!), and I knew what I wanted to do!  

I drilled holes in the toe and bottom of the golf shoes for

 drainage & a hole in the heels so the golf shoes could 

easily be attached to the side of the barn.

I also drilled holes in the bottom of the golf bag for drainage.

  I then added empty water bottles to the golf bag so the bag

 would not weigh a ton & waste a bunch of good

soil, not to mention a great way to recycle!  

I filled the bag up about 3/4 the way to the top, 

cramming the bottles down as I went.

I traded some aloe & fern for some succulents with my

neighbor across the road. She grows succulents like crazy 

& I grow aloe and ferns like crazy.  I attached the golf 

shoes to the barn, and then used some old golf clubs to 

hold the bag in place.  I will see how they grow and 

continue this around the barn!  My vision was completed 

in just under one hour!

I know, I know I did not get the golf shoes level!  Urgh!!  

Before & After Backyard

Back of the house before the deck....Yucky!

Back of house after the deck....Yippee!

This was done six years ago, but it is still as pretty today as it was back then & I love looking at this photo.  I also have a few more plants, and four above ground vegetable beds in now as well.  

Garden Art

 So I have been seeing garden art everywhere on Pinterest & Etsy, and I always wanted to make one that was unique, functional & different from all the ones you see there.  My sister Sally & I had been talking about it, and one day she brought me a glass candy dish & a candle stick.  "This should be the prototype for the "Art" we want to build", she proclaimed.  I began searching for a bottom that I could use that were different than just the small bud vases.  Couple of months went by, and I had just about forgot about the "Art" when as usual when you quit looking it jumps out at you.  We were out hitting local resale shops looking for old golf clubs, when we decided to stop at a local Mom & Pop dollar store.  Low and behold I found the bottom I wanted to use on the Garden Art as soon as I walked in the door.  The tall Eiffel tower vases just about jumped off the shelf & into my arms.  I bought a couple and started creating!  These vases are not easy to find, especially the green. Here are some of the creation I have made.   Enjoy....

Frosted vase with Clear top and
Green Center & Water Bucket
on Top ~ Sold

All Clear with Red Tomato
& Red Pepper

All Clear with Green Avon
Center Piece ~ Sold

All Clear with Pink Avon
Center ~ Sold

All Clear with Aqua Blue
Bottle Center ~ Sold

  

All Clear with Green
Chicken ~ Sold

All Clear with Green
Avon Bottle Center

Blue Bird of Happiness
on Plate with Frosted
Bottom ~ Sold

Blue Chicken on Blue
Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Butter Dish on Blue
Bottom ~ Sold

Blue Bird of Happiness
on Clear Plate with
Light Blue Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Chicken on Frosted
Bottom

Blue Bird of Happiness
on Plate with Light blue 
Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Square Top on Light
Blue Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Top on Dark Blue
Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Top on Red Hot Bottom 
~Sold

Clear Top on Hot Pink
Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Square top with Green
Center on Frosted Bottom

Clear Top on Dark Blue
Bottom ~ Sold

Clear Top with Milk Bottle
Center on Frosted Bottom

Milk Candy Dish, Black
Center on Black bottom
& Clear & Red
Squirrel on Top

Clear Plate with Red Avon 
Bottle on Frosted 
Bottom

Lime Green Chicken
on Clear Bottom

All Clear with Green/Blue
Center ~ Sold

Clear Top with Purple Center
on Frosted Bottom ~ Sold

Red, White & Blue

The Collection!

I have decided not to ship these pieces, as I would be so worried that they would break in transit & if I did ship them the cost would be so high.  I might reconsider at a later date.  So if you have to have one or would like to look at one I have them on display at 
West Brazos Golf Center, Brazoria, Texas
They are also available for viewing on my Facebook page @
www.facebook.com/JpsGarageArtsDecor
"Like" my page while you are there!
I have also decided not to call these "Bird Feeders" anymore, so for ever more they will be known as "Garden Art".  One reason is the "Squirrel" issue!  These guys are heavy and destructive, and I do not want them to get broken.  I have played with many types of glue and nothing, I mean nothing will keep these creatures from tearing one up!  So "Art" it is, unless you want to feed the bird!!