Monday, April 30, 2012

Boots and a Bucket: Fun Garden Planters

Fun Garden Planters WM Banner
This weekend, our focus was on outdoor instead of indoor projects.

On Sunday, we had a beautiful day of sunshine to get all the gardens looking presentable. Our yard waste is finally being picked up this week (it is very sporadic in my city) so we had a deadline to get it all done.

The front porch also got a little makeover.

I had this beauty from Home Depot adding a bit of Spring throughout the month of April but everything had finished blooming so it was looking kind of pathetic.

Porch Planter 2012

No worries! For less than $20, I was able to make three planters to replace it.

For all of my planters I used pansies and/or violas.

I have been told they are very hardy which is great because our weather just can’t make up its mind!

Chalkboard Bucket Planter

I made this bucket in the Fall to hold mums. It has held up really well.

I started with a $2 galvanized bucket from Dollarama, drilled holes in the bottom for drainage, painted it with etching primer (not necessary but one of the perks of Mr. Mechanic’s work), and then sprayed it with multiple coats of Krylon Chalkboard Paint. If you’re in Canada, I bought this at Canadian Tire.

Once it was dry, I “seasoned” the bucket by rubbing chalk over the entire surface and then I wiped it off with a cloth.

The pansies are turned around because what you see in the photo is the back of the bucket. This bucket actually says my house number on it, but I’m not sharing that with you!

I didn’t want to use up my all of potting soil filling just one bucket so I packed the bottom 2/3rds with crumpled up newspaper and then covered it with soil. I have no idea whether this will work in the long run, but so far they are doing well (I actually assembled this and my wrought iron urn planter on Earth Day).

Then, yesterday, I made these:

Rain Boots Planter Banner

These boots were the finishing touch for my porch.

I knew I wanted a display of three planters but it needed to have a bit more character. I know they would be really cute if they were kid’s boots but I had already had a pair collecting dust in the garage (they give me blisters) and they matched my colour scheme perfectly.

Two packages of pansies later, my trio was complete!

Rain boots Labelled Layers

I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage, added a layer of rocks so that they wouldn’t tip over, filled the height of each boot with newspaper and then added soil and pansies to the top.

Next time, I would like to add a trailing plant to each boot as well.

Fun Garden Planters WM

Now the porch looks like this (the blur near the mailbox is my house number):

Front Porch WM

In the future I would like to change the door mat, add vinyl to the mailbox and refinish the rocking chair. For now, I’ll just focus on this pretty little vignette!

Fun Garden Planters WM Square

I hope you had a productive weekend, too! 
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P.S. I actually gasped when I opened the door this morning to find that a creature had uprooted the pansies in my bucket. Any tips on how to keep squirrels and chipmunks out of your flowers?

Linking up here as well as to these great parties!
Thank you to all the hosts!

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38 comments:

  1. Claire-- These are fantastic...so clever with the rainboots! I just featured this on my FB Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/ishouldbemoppingthefloor

    {HUGS},
    kristi

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  2. Looking great, Claire! I have a boot planter too - only it's an old pair of work boots that my aunt planted several "hens and chickens" and now they overflow with green.

    I hope you weren't planning on wearing your boots in the rain again! Too many holes!!

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  3. Wow! You were very productive this weekend my friend!! I love all your planters.. the boots are too cute :)

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  4. Cute projects.........found you @Creatively Living party:)

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  5. WOW!!!! the planters are over the top adorable! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! thanks for sharing! hugs...

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  6. Super cute Claire! They look great with your black door and mailbox. The hair looks great too! Love the colour! How are you liking it?

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  7. These turned out super cute! I especially love the rain boots!! :)
    xoxo,
    Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things}

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  8. Wow. What a great way to display your flowers. I LOVE the rain boots. I am sure your neighbors are in awe as they walk by your front porch.

    amy @ whilewearingheels.blogspot.com

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  9. Fantastic display!! Love the rain boots idea! And the bucket with the "welcome" is just as cute! Thanks for sharing:)

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  10. Beautiful Claire! I have not done any outdoor decorating yet, because just last week we had snow! Crazy I know! Superstore just got all their outdoor plants in, so I am going to find something for the front door soon! Love it all! Angie xo

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  11. Love the boots and the bucket! So cute and fun! I'll be linking this to FB later tonight!

    Thanks for linking at Creatively Living!
    --Katie

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  12. love your fun garden planters!

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  13. What a fun entrance, it looks perfect with your black door! I would love for you to share this (and any other creations) at Pin It and Win It Wednesday @ www.cheapcraftymama.com- where you can win free ad space on my blog!

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  14. These are super cute. They look really nice with your black door. I really like the rainboots planter. sooo cute!

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  15. LOVE this!! I especially love the chalk planter - great job!!

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  16. This is so pretty! Love the rain boots!

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  17. Those boots are just adorable! I think I'm going to make these for mother's day gifts :)Thank you so much for sharing this!

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  18. I love those boots! Great idea!

    Would love it if you would link up with my Thingamajig Thursday party going on now…
    http://radcrafter.com/2012/05/thingamajig-thursday-23/

    Alida

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  19. That's so cute! Thanks for sharing at The Winthrop Chronicles.

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  20. These are so cute and functional too! Your porch looks inviting and fresh...nice job! So glad I found your blog via the Live Laugh party. I'm a new linky and GFC follower, and I would love if you stopped by and followed too, so we can stay connected. Nice to meet you, Lori

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  21. How creative! I've been looking at ideas for using chalkboard paint. Love this one!!
    Have a great weekend! Ann

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  22. I love them!! The gum boots are fab ~ I'll have to go thrifting for a pair!! We're in Kelowna BC and it was REALLY close to snowing yesterday... alas no planting for me for a while! Found you on TTJ, now following!
    xo
    Heather

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  23. You probably already know this, but Tatertots & Jello just featured this post!! It's so fun when she does that!! :) Have a great week!! Thanks for stopping by and linking up already...you're awesome!! Can't wait to check out what you've been up to!
    {HUGS},
    kristi

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  24. Old boots (I use my girls), chalkboard paint and galvanized buckets ... what's not to love?!!
    Kelly

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  25. Oh my word! I adore those rainboots! Brilliant idea!
    I'm co-hosting the link party with Lines Across and I would love it if you would stop by and share, if you haven't already. Hope to see you there! http://chase-thestar.blogspot.com/2012/05/co-hosting-cure-for-common-monday-linky.html

    Barbara @ Chase the Star

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  26. Love the fun planters. I'd love for you to link them up to my link party. http://qualitycheaphome.blogspot.com/2012/05/piece-of-cake-linky-party-5.html Gotta love spring!

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  27. I love the planters. The colors of the flowers are gorgeous as well. The boots are adorable. THanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays.

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  28. This is such a cute idea! We hope to see you back next week to our "Strut Your Stuff Saturday." Thanks for coming!! -The Sisters

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  29. Hello fellow Canadian (I live in southern ON)I just became one of your followers. I bought the same bucket on the weekend! Having an awful time getting the label off. I love what you did with it.

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  30. Claire!
    This is so stinkin fun! I am featuring you tonight at Get Schooled Saturday Link Party:) Thanks for linking up
    Kim

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  31. Too cute! And so simple!

    I Pinterested this a couple hours ago, and it's already been repined over 100 times. Yay you!

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  32. The rain boots as planters are darling! I wonder if my plants would live if I put them in fun planters?

    I feel your squirrel pain ...

    Oh, and I pinned this because it's just too darling not to share with the Pinterest world!

    :)

    Linda

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    Replies
    1. You know I love this idea! And I followed one of your tips and put some rocks in the bottoms of my terracotta pots for drainage ... just trying to give my plants a fighting chance!

      ... so very happy that you shared your amazing creativity with us at our Great Outdoors link party!

      :)

      Linda

      ... and I'm pinning again; this time to our link party board!

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  33. So very cute! I have a can of chalkboard paint on my desk right now and am itching to fix up a little galvanized pail that's on my potting table. It will be just the right size for my long, skinny porch.

    So glad I found your blog!

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  34. You know I love everything about this - the chalkboard paint, the boots, the flowers ...

    So glad you joined our party!

    Pinning this cuteness!
    Kelly

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  35. So fun! I have a little rascal uprooting my plants too- my dog! It's hard to keep her away from the lettuce and herbs.

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  36. Those boots are too cute! I'm totally pinning. Thank you so much for sharing at our party!
    Karah

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  37. Very, very cute! I have this linked to my planters post as well today, nice job!

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