Hand-made Goodie of the Week: Fishnet Hanging Garden

Since we live in an apartment and I don't have an actual yard, my little garden is pretty much limited to what I can grow in a pot on my balcony.  That can get a little cluttered and FAST!  I needed a solution that was both functional and nice to look at.  I had seen a post where someone had used old coffee mugs as planters (if that was you or you know who it was, please let me know so I can give them credit) and I liked that.  But then I thought, I'll just have a mess of coffee mugs all over my porch.  That won't do.  So I thought about what I could do to use the mugs without the clutter.  Here's what I came up with:

To make your own hanging garden, you'll need:

Decorative fish net

Twine or jute

Coffee mugs-I picked up a bunch for cheap at Goodwill.  I think I got all four for around $2.

I picked up this net at Michaels.  It was around $.50 and I had a 50% off coupon-gotta love coupons!  

Using your mug as a guide, cut a circle out of the net that's about an inch shorter than the rim of your mug.

 Cut a length of twine that is about 4 inches longer than the circumference of your mug.

Then weave it through the loops all along the outside edge of your circle.

Place your mug in the center of the circle, bring it up and tie the ends of the twice together to secure it to the mug.

To hang, cut 2 lengths of twine about 3 feet long.  Fold them in the middle and tie in a knot about 2 inches down from the middle, creating a loop like this.

Tie the four ends around the edges in the "four corners" of the mug.  

To attach the second mug, cut four lengths of twine about a foot long.  Again, tie to the four corners of the mugs-with the twine going from the top edge of the second mug to the bottom of the first mug.  Repeat as with as many mugs as you'd like.

And there you have it-a cutesy hanging garden that's small and functional.

Hand-made Goodie of the Week: Silverware Garden Markers

In case you didn't make it over to Red Heads Craft More Fun last week to see my guest post, here is what you missed:

Silverware Garden Markers

Today I'm sharing with you how to make your very own garden markers from old silverware.  I've been seeing these popping up everywhere and decided to put my own spin on them.  All of the ones I had seen involved stamping of some sort, and I don't have stamps, so I decided to try something else.  It's a cheap, easy and fast way to dress up any garden!  To make yours, you'll need:

Various assorted silverware

Drawing paper

Fine-tip permanent marker

Mod podge and brush

Glue stick

I found a whole bunch of silverware at Goodwill for $1 a bundle and I got 4 HUGE bundles (I've got some other silverware-related projects I'd like to do so I stocked up.)  I started by going through my silverware and choosing the ones I thought would work best.  I used 4 spoons and 4 forks.  

Then, I traced around the top part of one of the spoons on the drawing paper 

to give myself a rough idea of how big the labels should be.

Then I wrote out the label (I actually ended up not using this one, so if you don't see it and get confused, you know why.)  Then I tore the paper around the word, leaving a small border and glued it onto the spoon.

Or in this case, fork.  See I left enough around the word so if I needed to trim it down a little bit more, I could.  I then painted on a thin layer of Mod Podge.  This seals it and keeps water from ruining the paper.

Let the Mod Podge dry completely, which should take about 20 minutes.

Then stick them in your garden!  And that's it!  They're really fast and easy-which is how I like things.  This is my little herb garden that I've got going on our balcony.

I've got some big news-I'm about bursting trying to keep it a secret until tomorrow!  But I promise you'll love it, so be sure to come by tomorrow : )