- lraedesign

DIY Holiday Porch Pot

Supplies:

*Flower pot with soil/dirt

*Christmas tree branches.

*Christmas picks

*Bow(optional)

Every year when we get our live Christmas tree I make a holiday porch pot for my deck. As I was starting to make mine this year it dawned on me that I should do a blog post on how to make your own pot instead of spending $20-$50 on buying one! So, I am doing just that.

Like I said, each year we get a live tree so I just use the branches we cut off of our tree to make my porch pot. Now, if you don’t get a live tree don’t worry. You can buy bundles of live tree branches at certain stores. I have seen these at Menards or any place that sells live trees.

I like to start off my sticking my bigger, taller branches towards the back of my pot. I then fill in all of the bare areas with my remaining branches, saving the shortest pieces for the front of my pot.

I know it doesn’t look very pretty just yet but once you start adding in your picks it will all start coming together! I like to use several different sizes and styles of picks. I found mine at Hobby Lobby and Menards. These work great as fillers so don’t be afraid to use several to make your pot look fuller.

Once I had all of my picks stuck in where I wanted them I decided my pot needed a bow. I simply took a bow that I had on hand and used the the twisty tie on the back of the bow to secure it to one of my pine cone picks and stuck it in the front of my pot.

Can you believe what a difference adding the picks can make? I used some flocked branch picks to add some dimension to my pot but if you can’t find them you could just lightly spray over your branches with the fake snow spray that you can buy almost anywhere in the Christmas section.

I also like to add a solar light or two to my porch pot to light it up during the night time. I found this cute solar light at Menards last year and love how it looks!

- lraedesign

DIY Scrap Wood Scarecrow

You all know I love me some scrap wood projects and I am really excited to share this one with you!

Supplies Used:
*6- 2 1/2 x 40 Inch boards for the body
* 1- 2 1/2 x 26 1/2 for the brim of the hat
*2 1/2 Inch Screws
*1 3/4 Inch Screws
*Drill
*Stake and supports(optional) we used 1/2 in. x 1 in. boards
*Sanding Block(optional to add distressing if desired)

To start off we used saw horses to lay all of our boards on. We laid the board we were using for the brim of the hat across the underneath of the longer boards. You will want to lay all of the backs of your boards facing up when your screwing on the brim of the hat. Once you have your boards how you want them your ready to put the screws in. We used the 2 1/2 Inch screws for this step.

Next we took some smaller pieces of scrap wood we had laying around to make a support for the bottom and added some stakes so we could stick the scarecrow in the ground. Where we live the wind is never ending so in order to have anything not blowing away or tipping over we have to make sure it’s staked down.

We did pre-drill these before putting the screws in to avoid the wood splitting. We used the 1 3/4 Inch screws for this step. Our stakes were 14 inches long and we just cut the point in the ends with a miter saw. Once we had our stakes screwed on we added a 1 inch x 12 3/4 board in between the two for extra support. We also pre-drilled these holes as well. These steps are optional obviously if you didn’t want to stake your scarecrow into the ground.

Now that you have your stakes and support screwed on it’s time to start painting and designing your scarecrow. There are so many different ways to design scarecrows so i’m not going to do that step by step as it’s fun to add your own spin on these kinds of projects.

Here are a few pictures of my scarecrow while I was dressing it up!

I painted my hat and brim and then once dried i used my sanding block to add some distressing.

Next it was time for the face! There are TONS of different ways to paint a scarecrow face so I just did a combination of several different ones that i have seen.

I added some polka dots to his hat and used my Chalk Couture supplies to write “WELCOME” on the brim of the hat. I also added some raffia for the hair. You know I always have to add a bow to my projects so I just used some mustard colored burlap, polka dot burlap and some raffia and made a super easy and cute bow to finish off my scarecrow. Once I was all finished I did spray my scarecrow with a clear coat to seal it.

I absolutely love how this turned out so I also made a mini version to sit on my deck! What do you think? Stinkin’ cute, right?

- lraedesign

DIY Harvest Porch Sign

Supplies:

*Piece of wood- I got mine from Hobby Lobby and it was 9.5 x 48 in.

*Waverly Chalk Paint-Pumpkin and Agave are the colors I used.

*Galvanized HARVEST banner-Hobby Lobby

*Paint brush

*E6000-grab this here with my Amazon affiliate link.

*Sanding block-optional

I started off by painting my whole board with my agave color. I let that sit for about 5 minutes and then I painted over that color with my pumpkin color. I like to start with my second color before my first color is completely dry as it helps the 2 colors mesh together more. I wanted some of the agave color to show through so I just brushed lightly over it with my pumpkin paint. Once my paint was dry I used my sanding block to distress it and make a little more of the agave color to show through.

Next, I used E6000 to adhere my harvest banner on to my board. Be sure to use plenty of E6000 on your letters. Remember, it takes E6000 a full 24 hours to cure so be patient. I recommend using this instead of hot glue for any project that will be used out doors as it will withstand the heat or the cold. I chose to leave the jute twine on my letters but you could certainly take it off if you if you choose.

Once I had my banner glued on I decided it was still missing something. I simply took some jute twine and wrapped it several times around each end of the board, securing with staples.

I do recommend spraying your finished project with a clear coat if you plan on using the sign outside to help it last as long as possible.