Wizard of Ozsome!

All of these garden projects I have worked on were leading up to my annual garden party. You may recall some of my previous parties. The first was Enter Eden, followed by the Blogiversary, and last year's 50 Shades of Fabulous! My girlfriends have come to know that I always throw a party with a theme, so they were especially excited when I announced this year's theme was inspired by the Wizard of Oz. My dear friend Melissa dubbed it "Wizard of Ozsome"
The inspiration for this party actually began a few years ago. One of my "long term" garden projects was to transform my ugly concrete into the yellow brick road. I want to create the magical whimsy feel in my yard and the yellow brick road was one way to do it!
Last summer I tried using a yellow tinted concrete stain but it did not achieve the look I wanted. So this year I went over the stain with a darker stain, and then used exterior paint that I sponged onto the sidewalk. The results were fantastic! Here are some before and after pics.

 

BEFORE

AFTER

  

With a sidewalk like that the Wizard of Ozsome party was only natural!

Unfortunately it was really windy that day so my rainbow backdrop didnt look as neat as I would have liked. But the effect was still phenomenal! 

 

Its not a real party unless I've got glittered wine bottles somewhere!

 

 

I had some bricks in the garage that I painted yellow. I used stained glass paint and a Dollar Store vase to create the Emerald City candle centerpiece. The poppies were also handmade out of crepe paper.

   

The buffet table

 

I made sure to add some whimsical touches to the buffet as well!

 

I made the Tin Man from soup cans and designed a custom wine bottle label too!

  

My Mom had made me a Dorothy inspired hostess apron, which went along perfectly with my current foster dog, Moxie.

 

 

We of course had to have a photobooth set up inside too! This is one of my favorite shots of the group.

Lastly, here is another one of my favorite photos that I instagrammed that night.  

 

This may be my favorite of all of the parties I've thrown! We had such a magical time!

DIY Garden Globes

Yes, I am still posting about garden stuff even though its October. In my defense it was sunny and 70s here in Minnesota yesterday. Im in denial that its autumn.
Today's project is a Pinterest Win!!! I saw a few tutorials on how to make your own glitter Christmas ornaments and I thought, well, why not turn that into garden art?!
I had purchased some plastic and glass ornaments at Michael's at the end of last season. I had grand intentions of making something cool out of them, but as a lot of projects go, I never got to it. I decided to use them for the garden instead.

 

Supplies you will need:
Variety of glass and/or plastic ornaments
Glitter
Pledge Floor Care Finish Cleaner (I was only able to find this at Wal-Mart)

Supplies not pictured:
Wood dowels that will fit inside your ornaments
Floral wire

To make the glitter globes is really easy. Pour a little bit of the floor care solution into the ornament. Pour a bit of glitter into the ornament. Cover the opening, swish and swirl around until the globe is covered. Add more glitter if needed. Do not add more floor cleaner though, it will make the glitter clumpy.
Set the ornament back in the try to dry. Repeat with all of them. I let mine dry over night.

  

To make them into garden stakes, I removed the hanger hooks and kept the cover piece for each ornament. I had to use my Big Bite Hole Punch to make the openings wider to slide the dowel through. I wrapped floral wire around the dowel, thick enough so the ornament piece wouldn't slide down past it.
Once secure, slide your ornament onto the dowel and into the cover. The dowel should hit the top of the ornament for it to sit right. Don't worry, I didn't have any problem with it ruining the glitter finish inside.
You may need to adjust where the wire/cover sit on the dowel.
Once this step is complete, insert your dowel into the ground and......

  

VIOLA!!! A beautiful glittery garden globe stake!

 

Pretty fun huh?

 

I am into quirky garden art so I made a few to go around my carousel horse too!
What kind of fun garden art did you make this season?

 

Mushroom Garden Art

Mushrooms have been really popular this season. Or maybe its just me. I dont know, but I decided that I needed some in my yard. I got this crazy idea to use up some left over PVC pipe I had in the garage and some Dollar Store bowls I picked up. Check out how easy it is to make your own garden mushrooms!

  

All you need are some plastic bowls, PVC pipe, spray paint, and heavy duty glue. I used E6000.

I picked up some red bowls at the Dollar Store and spray painted white circles on them. I simply used my Cricut to cut a circle and then used the negative paper as a stencil.

    

Once the bowls are painted and dry, turn them right side up, place a layer of glue onto an end of the PVC pipe and set it inside the bowl. Allow at least 24 hours to fully dry.

    

I just dug a hole a few inches deep and secured each mushroom into the ground. How fun is that?!

   

I love how easy this was and the charm it adds to my gardens!

You could even get really crazy and make different colored mushrooms! Perhaps I'll add some blue or green ones next season!