Transform a Birdbath into a Succulent Garden

Birdbath gone bye-bye...hello new succulent garden!

I bought this birdbath a couple of years ago and had high hopes of listening to gently flowing water and jubilant birds!  (it had a solar powered water feature in the center)  Some days (lately quite a few days we don't see the sun) so I became a little disappointed in the water feature and no birds...the weather took its toll on the poor thing and it just sat in my un-loved backyard for quite a while.  Transformation time!

See the other treasures in the background I have to decorate my backyard? 

 The birdbath was made of resin or some kind of 'soft' material (read that as not concrete) so holes were drilled into the base for drainage.

Standing at the ready...I placed some rocks in the base then added some cactus / succulent 'potting mix' available at a garden store (or you can mix 50% regular potting soil with 50% perlite / sand).

I can't wait for it to fill in a little bit.  I'm looking in my stash for just the right miniature to add interest.  Meanwhile I added some rocks that I found in my front yard.

 

A friend gave me all the succulents.  I can't wait for them to grow so I can share cuttings with others.

Artistic Wire Spooktacular Spiders

Check out these fun spiders I made ages ago for Artistic Wire (I must give credit to Paul Fee for the idea).  I so remember making it!
Go to www.artisticwire.com then go to projects, then holiday and click on Spooktacular Spiders - they're so fun!

Knitted Bus

Check this out!  A knitted bus wrap by Magda Sayeg.  There's an article in the October 2011 More magazine that tells all about it.  Pretty cool!  Can you imagine how long it took???

Garden Ideas

Garden Before (and after) Photos

This is looking down from the deck off my kitchen.

There should have been a before, before picture - in the spring my nephew weedeated (is that a word?) my backyard - it was covered with weeds - all that rain last winter sure brought them on!

 The garden is still in process, but I love the six-pack of tomatoes I got at Home Depot - each plant was a different kind of tomato.

 Green beans - I had a big serving from them this week.

 Can't wait for the sugar snap peas to come on!

The mailbox will be transformed soon - no details quite yet, it's going to be a Christmas present...

There was part of my dinner.

More pictures soon of my other garden projects including transforming a birdbath into a succulent garden, the mailbox and I have a child's headboard and two sets of folding doors hanging out back there waiting for some lovin'.

The Front Yard Renovation

 I live on a hill and parking (even walking) is a challenge.  So here are some before and below are after photos.  I think it took us three LONG weekends and I still am waiting for an orange tree to go outside the bottom window then I'll add some Portulaca's (something we had planted in front of our house when I was a kid).  Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the yard had not been loved for 32 years!!!

Nasturtiums were EVERYWHERE and I'm battling them even with tons of mulch in the new flower beds.

 Looking down from the second story.

In process - I think we had 5 'yards' of fill dirt / sand brought in.

Stepping stones and retaining wall blocks await their new home.

Here's my bro.  He manned the Wacker Packer that took all the dirt and compressed it to make a new parking area.

 We moved a TON of dirt - one shovel full at a time!

 Making headway...

The project transformed as we went along - the 'steps' here were never part of the original plan but neither was putting the parking area where it's at.

Done...it was fun picking out plants (with the help of my sister) to finish off the project.

 My new path lets me bring my trash out to the street with ease - we have clay, sticky, yucky soil so it was always a challenge when it rains.

The hole is ready for my orange tree - it's supposed to be in next week.  I need to work on the steps to the faucet before I plant Portulaca's.

 Done...

 Done...well, almost.

 My front door ushers in fabulous fall!

View from the second story.

Side Yard Makeover

Side Yard Makeover

So, here we are before starting the front yard renovation!  Tons of ivy (I see I'll be battling that for quite a while), weeds and who knows what?

 Before from the street.

In process...

 After...a friend here in town gave me tons of succulents and my high school friend, Dan, brought me some Fountain Grass when we got together for our all-class reunion in June (yup, I was able to keep it alive until now.  I used the Fountain Grass (and the flag) to cover up some cracks in the wall (the wall belongs to my neighbor).  Yes, my brother still needs to come back and cut a few more stepping stones to fill in the gaps.  Oh, how I wish they'd textured and painted the wall further back...

Hat Winners!

Creativity was EVERYWHERE at my club's hat contest!!!

Patty won Most Beautiful - wish you could see the details and smell the wonderful sweetpeas - can you guess her favorite color???

 Shary is our president so she declined to be included in the voting - you can't see from this picture but that's not her hair, it's feathers!

 Jo was ready for Halloween - I can't wait for our Holiday Home Tour - she's generously accepted to be one of the homes we get to tour!  I hear she puts up 14 Christmas trees!  Check back in early December and I'll post some pictures of the homes we visit.

 Raggedy Ann and Andy topped off this winner!

 Always have to include a butterfly or two...

The details of Cathy's hat were amazing!  I hear a friend brought over kitchen utensils to help decorate her 'strainer' hat!  Love the apron too!

This was the backdrop for our meeting...lucky aren't we?  A bit overcast, but we'll take it!

 The bar was intriguing to me. 

 The footrest was welded together chainlinks.

 More hats!

 Anna matched her hat to her blouse.

If you live on the Central Coast (or have visited) can you identify what her hat represents?  BTW - it's something HUGE!

 Here's my amazing artistic friend.  She does wonderful watercolors so she placed some paintbrushes in the ribbon of her hat - that's a picture of otters too - that's her next 'conquest'.  Last month it was a pig before that she dedicated her talents to agricultural art.

 Not the best picture of me, but I won Most Creative...hmmmmm...in case you haven't seen the previous posts, each element on my hat was a photo I had taken, printed off, 'dimensionalized' and attached to a hat.