Mossy Gardens Part 2

For Part 1 go here.

Materials:
You'll have enough to make several good sized terrariums. Why not make some for Christmas gifts?

Activated Carbon ($5)
Keeps your Garden clean and stink free. Can be found in any aquarium section of a pet store. One bottle will treat lots of terrariums.

Dirt ($4)
Use some nice potting soil so you know its free of disease and bugs (Free if you've got some lying around)



Small rocks/gravel or sand ($3)
Keeps your carbon from going to the bottom of your jar.



Covered Jars (less than $2/piece at thrift store)
Covered is key here, less maintenance and makes your garden virtually kill proof.



Moss (free)
Take a nice walk with your family to a local park and watch the ground as you walk. You'll be surprised at the different varieties, textures, and colors you can find! Bring a ziploc baggie with you to transport the moss home. Be careful of not taking too much moss form any one place, we don't want to mess up nature's beauty!



Bigger Rocks
Pick these up on your walk too, or if you have some of these glass gems lying around, feel free to use those!



Spray Bottle
For watering. I bought one of those little travel size spray bottles (like for hair spray) for about $0.50 and keep it next to my mossy garden. If you are giving your gardens away, it's nice to include a spray bottle as well.

So how do we put it all together? First wash your jars in hot soapy water. Then layer your ingredients in this order:

• A thin layer of larger rocks, enough to cover the bottom
• An even thinner layer of gravel/small rocks or sand. Just enough to fill in the large crevices of your previous layer. This is to keep your dirt and carbon from falling to the bottom of the jar, and for drainage
• A small handful of carbon (it does not need to cover the previous layer)
• Add a nice even layer of potting soil. You can create "hills" by adding more soil up against a wall of the jar
• Now gently tear pieces of moss to your desired size and place on top of the soil. Add interest by mixing up the different kinds of moss.
• For the first watering I like to use a cup to gently pour water into the terrarium and make sure everything gets watered. A little water goes a long way.
• Cover your jar and you are done!
• Water with your sprayer once every 2 weeks or so. Just a couple of misting sprays is all it takes!

This is my favorite jar ever! $1.75 at the thrift store and it is mushroom shaped! Perfect for a Mossy Garden!


Look at all the different textures!

Pie Safe Update

So I went with black for the pie safe. Mainly because it is a safe (no pun intended) color choice for me. While I really loved the aqua colored pie safes, I thought it would be harder to display my lovelies in it. There are not many colors that can go well with aqua and I didn't want to be limited by what I could display in it (I'm a color geek like that.) On the other hand, black is a fairly neutral color and for the most part will set off whatever I choose to place inside the lovely pie safe.

Rather than using a paint to refinish the pie safe I chose to use Minwax water based stain in Onyx. This stuff was so easy to use! After thoroughly sanding the piece to remove the varnish, I used Minwax water based Pre-stain Conditioner. This helps the stain absorb more evenly into the wood. I applied 2 coats of stain with a sponge brush. After letting it dry I finished it up with a coat of wipe-on poly. What I really loved about using the stain instead of a paint is that there are subtle hints of wood visible under the stain. I think it adds more depth to the piece and definitely more interest than a straight deep black.

Now I'm just waiting for Mr. PD to get crackin on removing the door panels so I can finish those up. I'm also planning on painting the inside and off white color so that it will really show off anythign I put inside.

Here it is in my dining room. It is still waiting for one more coat of poly, thus the plastic bags under the legs.

Kitchen Table

Shortly after we got married Mr. Debutant and I inherited a dining room table and 2 chairs from his parents. Mind you this table had been theirs for years and years. Mr. Debutant has years of memories of home cooked meals at this table. I really have no idea how old the table was when we got it, at least 10 years old but I think it was closer to 15-20 (I'll have to ask him later.) Needless to say that while the table was sturdy it was lacking in visual appeal. Mr. Debutant comes from a family of 4 kids, needless to say they took their toll on the table.

So one day about 4 years ago I decided to do something about it, and as it goes with all of my major projects I did it without consulting my husband. My theory behind this is as follows: If I ask or mention that I intend to do something to any piece of furniture that is solid, or solid wood for that matter, Mr. Debutant tends to get all negative on me. He thinks I'll ruin a sturdy item, never mind that it looks like it's been through a garbage disposal. If it's sturdy and solid wood, you don't mess with it. he just doesn't catch my vision. So I've learned to just do my own thing, preferably when he is out of town so he won't interrupt until he sees the final product.

I think he's come around some now. After all he did agree to let me paint our blue kitchen counter tops (see next post.)

Anyway back to the table, I don't think I have any before pictures on this computer so I'll have to search my old hard drive to see if I can scrounge some up. But believe me, I was putting it out of it's misery by giving it new life. I think I've since seen the unfinished top and base at Lowe's (in case you are interested)

So here is the mini tute:
Materials:
1) an old table that has seen better days
2) floor tiles
3) tile/mosaic adhesive (found at Michael's in the mosaic section)
4) decorative gems/half marbles (frosted works better than smooth)
5) spray paint
6)grout
7) some sort of sealant

How to:
1) Do what you like to the base and side edge of the table top, sand paint etc. Don't worry about refinishing the actual top. My table was in decent shape in these areas so I only darkened the wood with a stain.
2) Place all your gems bubble face up on some plastic and spray paint with some paint made for glass. The frosted gems tend to hold the paint better because they are textured. I painted mine black. Allow to dry
3) Once dry glue all your gems (using mosaic glue) to the outer edge of the table top.
4) Break up your floor tiles into pieces ( I left fairly large pieces) You can do this by placing the tile between 2 rags so little pieces don't go flying all over, and then take a couple of good whacks with a hammer.
5) After you've vented all your frustrations on your tile, put the hammer down and step away from the hammer.
6) Now start gluing your tile pieces onto the table top (using the mosaic glue)
7)Once dry mix up your grout (I used black) and apply to the table top just as you would a floor. Clean up the excess. For this step follow the manufacturers directions.
8) allow to dry and seal with some sealant


I must admit I never got to step 8. And my table has done great, with the exception of the little glass marbles. So this last week I went back and re-painted the marbles by hand using a little brush and some black paint.

Table as it looks now

Close up of marbles with peeling paint

Re-painted marbles on the left and old marbles on the right