A Mini-Lawn Gnome House (that lights up!)

Alas, the one thing I never knew I needed.

All these years, my poor gnomes have been living in the frigid rain. Or worse, stubbing their toe on rocks and things while trying to make it back to their homes at night.

I bought some $1 mini steak/stake solar powered garden lights, and wanted to do something more. With  the help of my artistic husband, we went to Michaels, bought some Sculpy clay with my 40% off coupon, and began.

I found a glass bowl and a glass.. drinking glass, and wrapped them in foil. My husband thought "hey, lets do a coil wrap" yada yada yada. It is basically getting the clay into a worm like position, then wrapping the object in a circular fashion. When you are done, you kneed it smooth.

For the cup (the base of the lawn gnome house), I punctured a small quarter sized circle on top. This would be for the lawn stake (that I am NOT about to put in the oven!). The mister added in some 3D texture art, to make it have  a door, window, and some vines.

As you can see, we used those awesome newspaper grocery advertisements to line the table. Using another coupon for Michaels, I got some mosaic tiles (a GIANT bucket.. blue shades), and started adding to the bowl part (which would be the mushroom). Now, for this, We cut out another circle, the size of the solar part of the light (see light below). We used the mini lawn gnome as a reference, as to how big the door should be.

 

Baking was a breeze, we just followed the Sculpy directions, and then got out some old Acrylic paints (which wont wash away with rain). I did not paint it, which might be why it looks so good! I did however use the Gorilla Glue to attach the top part of the solar light to the "mushroom" top. It really does expand, so check it often to wipe the excess.

 

 

 

After everything dried, we coated it with Mod Podge for outdoor stuff. It said to leave for 72 hours, which we did.. but then it rained later that week, and all this dirt got on the house and wont wash off.

 

 

As you can see, it looks good !!

 



 

 

I know what you are thinking, that gnome changed hats! It's true, now that he has a house to keep all of his stuff in, he can have a wardrobe. Below is a picture of it at night, again it was a $1 solar light, I think it is pretty bright!

 

 

 

If we do this again, we would NOT use outside mod podge. It just makes everything sticky, and dirt sticks to the new object... So, leave it as is!  Hope you have fun and try this! Show me your mini lawn gnome houses you made!!  I will upload the exact sculpy we used later..

A Raised Garden Bed...

I was noticing that my seedlings were starting to sprout, and would soon need to be transferred into another, larger home.

When we moved into our house, the previous owners had put up a deck (to help the house sell), and left a bunch of deck wood in the shed. This wood was about 12 feet long (deck board), 1 inch thick ("2 inch"), and 6 inches wide (my "height"). I immediately saw the opportunity and had my husband test out my new miter saw (I got it on sale for Black Friday online, and haven't used it yet.. but I will! a lot!)

 

The way these people (THESE PEOPLE that used to live here) made the deck, it already had a "garden bed" around the deck, and they must have used cement and 2 ft nails, because I could not pry it up. So, we decided to follow the plan, and make 6 beds that were 3 feet by 3 feet. If you have read Square Foot Gardening (or are in any new gardening fan club), you know that certain plants need certain amounts of space (height and distance). So, this method would give each box 9 squares to do with what I wished! Which is NOT kill plants, baby steps.

 

 

So now that all of my wood was cut (3 feet sections), I found an extension cord and plugged in my drill. I bought a corded one because I always remember my dad complaining about how his battery would always die and not hold a charge and "it was cheaper to replace the whole thing than get a new battery". Well, maybe it is because my dad used his a lot. My husbands cordless still charges up fine.

 

Using some very advanced math, I marked with my high lighter a "cap indention" down

 

 

and a "cap" on each side. I drilled these holes only on one side of each board.

 



 

Now, I was able to drill a hole all the way through, but this wood was DRY. I recommend getting fresh wood, and doing it right away. It may smell nasty (the hot metal action on wet, treated wood), but at least it will be easy.

 

 





Honestly, pre-drilling the holes were the hardest part. but once it was all put together, it was going to look great! Optimism! And in my case, if this didn't turn out well,.. well.. the wood was free for me! (I think its like $10 a board at HomeDepot, a little more at Lowes.. I ended up needing to get one more board).

 

On the other end of the board, I marked a "cap" on each side, and drilled a 1 inch hole (or what I thought was 1 inch).

 

 

Making the boards meet at right angles, I started drilling the WOOD DECK GALVONIZED screws the previous owners so graciously left in the shed o crap. I think a box of a zillion is like 15 bucks at the hardware store. 

 

Now, I will admit, this is where it got heavy. Not really too heavy, but awkward heavy, having to keep the boards tight against each other, or the screw would go in, but there would be a gap. If there is some sort of clamp out there, I would have used it, but I didn't want to invest too much into this.

 

 

I later stained the deck, and the boxes to match. Otherwise they turn a dark grey wood color (since it was deck wood). I know a lot of people say to use pine, but I think this will be fine.

 

On some, I put some wire underneath, as if rabbits would dig in and get my produce (stuff has to grow first, right?), and next year, maybe, I will put a second layer and have 12 inch high planters. 6 inches is good enough for now.