Rescue Gardening

Before I begin discussing my garden I must explain where and why I am rescuing plants!  The adorable shop, Sea & Green, (shameless plug) that I am a part of, has a unexpected treasure just outside the backdoor.......a garden!

This tiny oasis of flowers, herbs, and organic edible veggie plants has become a town favorite. Becky, the owner of the shop, does a fantastic job of selecting beautiful and unusual plants and even better she cleverly plants them in all manner of planters, like an old metal tool box, clam steamers, even a grocery cart.

Anyway, as it happens with plants they get leggy, out grow their pots etc... so all those that are not looking so great or well, to put it honestly, mostly dead are sent to me. I have a pathetic soft spot for all things green and growing so they come to my garden for revival.

Sad Sun Flowers

Now when I had the farm, it was a little easier to rehab these poor plants but here in my new place I am a little space challenged but nevertheless I still rescue.

Here is a shot of the pale unhappy sunflowers mixed into my side flower garden. 

A little sun and new soil and dirt and that green will really come back.

I'll add a quick post in a couple of days showing their progress.

In the mean time, I have gotten the approval of the Etsy crew to sell my gardening books, 

Check them out and happy gardening!

Sign Me Up!

A Good sign can say just what we need! 

These signs I made just the other day and thought I would show how fun and easy it was.

First I want to mention that I am painting with the fantastic GREEN, Ce Ce Caldwell paint!

Now for those of you not familiar with this paint it is super easy and great to use. It is a clay, mineral and chalk based paint that requires no stripping or sanding of previous finishes. Ce Ce has all sorts of great finishes too; such as waxes, plant based polyurethane, glazes, dusts, and on and on.

(FYI..we just started carrying this paint at Sea & Green in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. LOVE IT!!!)

On these signs I used what I felt were "fall" colors and just kept changing the combinations.

Step one. The wood. 

I used the never ending picket fence boards I have that are crying out to be made into something!

 I picked some pretty beat up ones since I was going to be covering them with color.

The Ce Ce Caldwell Paint!

I used: Smoky Mountain Gray
Sedona Red
Santa Fe Turquoise
Kissimmee Orange
Mesa Sunset
Georgia Clay
Cinco Bayou Moss
Young Kansas Wheat
Traverse City Cherry
California Gold
Michigan Pine

My Picket Fencing!

I just painted the boards a solid color and let them dry in the sun.

Then I cut them in lengths that would make good signs.

Now this is the really easy part that makes you look really good...I used sticky letters on the boards to make the words. I only had the basic font but if you had script letters or something fancy it would be really cool!

So, stick on your letters.

                                      

Paint over them. Try to use your brush like a stippling stencil brush, there is less bleed under the letters that way. Let them dry.

                                      

    Carefully peel up the letters. Stick them back on a piece of plastic or wax paper so they can be reused.

I then used a small brush to touch up where needed, let it dry and sanded it with 60 grit sandpaper. Just barely touching the letter area. Really mostly on the edges. Then to finish, I brushed on Ce Ce Caldwell's Endurance finish. (the plant based polyurethane I mentioned before)

A couple of nails and a wire for hanging and there you have it!

Easy, Fun, and would make a great gift......!

Enjoy!