Herb Garden

   

Earlier this year, I found this iron holder with metal flower pots on sale at Hobby Lobby and thought it might make a good altered project down the road.  That time came in April when I was designing my monthly Spellbinders gallery project.

The pots were already this rustic white color and I decided to dress them up a bit with a technique one of the Spellbinders Design Team members (Heidi Blankenship) did the previous month.  (Here's a link to Heidi's gorgeous bird feeder!).

First, I used Spellbinders Daisy Delight die to cut & emboss craft foil flowers. 

You can find the foil either directly through Spellbinders or Ellen Hutson carries it, too.  It's thicker & sturdier than regular kitchen aluminum foil and comes in different colors, which reverse to silver.  I used the silver side for the flowers.

Next, I glued the foil flowers to the metal pot using Beacon Adhesives Dazzle Tac Jewelry Glue because it said it was incredibly strong and would hold well with all kinds of metals/jewelry -- and they were right!  (Click on photos for a larger view).

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Then I gave the flowers a few coats of cream acrylic paint that matched the pot >>

<< Next, I dry brushed a little green acrylic paint on top, to bring out the embossing.

And here's the finished pot:

Now for the garden stakes . . . I found those at the Target Dollar Spot this Spring, 4 in a package for $1!  They already had the copper metal wrap and this is what I did to get the herb names on them:  This time I used the colored side of my green foil and the Whimsy alphabet to cut the letters for my words.

The green of my foil wasn't quite what I wanted for this project, so I dabbed Ranger Pesto Alcohol ink on the foil:

Then I used the same adhesive as above to glue the letters onto the copper stakes:

 

 

I used Copic marker E08 to outline the letters, give them a bit of a shadow and the copper an aged look.

Now for the topper:

I thought the oval handle on this planter would look cute with Karen Lockhart's Gardener's Clogs and this sentiment: Gardeners know the best dirt!  The clogs were stamped once on the green BasicGrey Boxer paper, once on the white patterned paper and once on the rust paper.  I cut out the insides of the red paper clogs and adhered them to the insides of the white clogs.  Then I cut out one white shoe and adhered it to the green paper (left), and cut out the other white shoe and popped it (right) up over the other shoe.  Copic marker E08 was used gain to color the soles of the shoes.  YG63 Copic was used to color the grass and ground shadow.

Here's a closeup that hopefully you can see a little better:

Some rust colored Creative Impressions wide grosgrain ribbon ties this sign onto the planter and finishes it off.  Sorry for the long post, but I hope this project helps you look at your dies in a new way and gives you some inspiration to try cutting some out-of-the-box things with them . . . they aren't just for cardmaking or scrapbooking!

Comments

[Karen M]

1.

Sharon, this is so cute! It looks like a lot of love went into it as all your projects. TFS :)

[Stefanie Staniak]

2.

Incredible! Saw this on SCS and had to come here to get the complete story. I love everything about it. TFS! :)

[Linda Marie]

3.

BRILLIANT!!

[Lori Craig]

4.

Love this project...so much detail.

[Beth]

5.

Oh my goodness, Sharon! All the usual complimentary descriptions just won't do this project justice! I absolutely love everything about this! Thank-you so much for sharing how you created this effect! You are one super talented lady!!!

[Lynn Larson]

6.

Sharon,

What an adorable project! Very classy and functional. Great job!

Lynn

[Yvette]

7.

Sharon, I love your work and the ideas you share.I am definitely going to try the terracotta pots! LOVE that idea, and right up my alley. Thank you.

[Shari]

8.

WOW!! Fabulous project, love your work!

[EllenH]

9.

INCREDIBLE project Sharon! The details are so fabulous.

[Heidi Blankenship]

10.

Sharon, I absolutely LOVE your Herb Garden!! It turned out Beautifully! Great Job on the foil technique!! I have actually been working on a post for the birdhouse, I hope to get it up tonight after the kids are in bed. ;) It's summer & the free time is limited! lol!

[aileen]

11.

the planter is fabulous! I love the colors and the topper is so cute.

[Conniecrafter]

12.

very cute project, great way to decorate the piece!

[Kathleen]

13.

Sharon--This is so fun! I love seeing your altered posts! You always have the greatest stuff! I really love the letters! What a great idea! Thanks for the details on this post!