10 Mosaic Projects Using a Variety of Ordinary Everyday Items

I'm a big fan of mosaic tile work and am always on the lookout for furniture pieces that will work for my purposes.  A quick Pinterest search revealed many more applications.  Take a look at ten fabulous projects I found that use a variety of base materials.

1.  Wood furniture pieces are ideal and top my list of things to look for.  You could mosaic the top, drawer fronts or go for the gusto and cover the whole piece.  A great way to update a piece of furniture and give it new life.

countryliving.com

12 Creative Crafts that Take Broken China from Trash to Treasure

2.  I love beautiful metal trays and have bought quite a few over the years but never thought to mosaic them.  What a cute project. 

From Reclaimed Designs on Etsy

3.  Chairs make wonderful mosaic projects.  I've seen them covered in marbles, buttons, paper mosaic and the like.  All are fabulous.  

from mosaicodelsole

  Check out her site, lots of great glass mosaic project ideas.

4.  Wood is a wonderful base.  Look for trays, boxes, lengths of any kind.  Love how they added hooks to these.  

Found on Pinterst

5.  I can't help but love these.  Always plenty of tools lying around, we break a multitude of shovels with all the projects we take on... glue them babies back together and give them a mosaic treatment. 

Don't mind me, I'm just raiding the shed for broken shovels!

from Pinterest

6.  Never would of thought to do this but I love the end result.  Such a cute piece.

Adorable Mosaic Teapot found on  Pinterest

7.  This is fabulous.  Take a wood or metal box, drawer, trough... whatever and give it a mosaic treatment with teacups added for extra storage.  What a cute idea!

 From Pinterest

8.  Doors and windows make great mediums for mosaic.  You can get as creative as you'd like and personalize a piece in a variety of ways.  Just beautiful.

Gorgeous Mosaic Window by LeAnn Christian... on Flickr

9.  I bought a guitar (a couple years ago mind you... it's a sickness) for this purpose and have yet to get started.  It's on my "someday" list.  Right next to about 100 other things that I may or may not get to "someday". 

Isn't that adorable?

From ehow.com with a tutorial

10.  Lots of glass bottles and jars are just waiting to become unique works of art... what are you waiting for? 

 From Inspiration Sandwich

Mosaic is an easy project anyone can do that'll transform simple, everyday items into unique, creative art pieces for your home.  With a quick "how to" search using google or Pinterest you'll find everything you ever wanted to know, and then some, about mosaic work.

 I've got plans for a variety of projects here at the shop.... "someday"!  Here's a peek at a couple of the things I'd like to do here at #TheFrog:

ptlincolnproject

I bought a wicker couch and chair at Goodwill years ago that I would like to turn into concrete sculpture.  Big plans, now I just need the time to work on a new project.

midwestliving.com

I'm hoping to work on the landscaping out front this fall and am planning to add a little personality and funk with the yard art.   

Have you done any mosaic work?  I have dabbled a bit and love it.  Would love to see some of your work, feel free to share.

Easy Concrete Planters

5 Words This Girl Loves To Hear:

"we've got some extra concrete"

I took off at a run for the house to grab some supplies.  On such short notice all I could come up with was a couple spring pans and a jello mold.  Don't forget the veggie oil and a rag or some type of non-stick spray. 

 I had some buckets in the shed (where we were working already) so I grabbed a few sizes and got started.  I filled the spring pan 3/4 of the way full and placed the bucket, adding rocks to add some weight and continued filling the pan. 

I did that with another spring pan and my jello mold as well.  I used my hand to level off the top and covered the whole thing with a garbage bag.  Leaving it to sit for a couple days before taking my forming off.

That bucket slipped out like butter.  I've tried this before but forgot the oil.  Yeah, that didn't end so well.  

The spring pan was even easier.  Bottom popped right off and once I loosened the pan it slipped right off.  How easy is that.

I need to run a sanding block over it and am thinking about adding some color to finish it off.

I really love how the jello mold piece turned out.  The fluting is wonderful!  I had two nesting sizes so I used one on the interior also.  I couldn't find much heavy to hold it in so I've used all kinds of junk, looks perty doesn't it?

This one was a little tricky for the demolding process.  The outer mold popped right off.  The inner mold, well, that's another story.  Doesn't that look great!

See all that concrete.... none of it should be there.  I didn't do a very good job cleaning it out.  I chiseled it out as best I could and muscled the inner mold out (quit laughing, I have some muscle).

Then, the bottom piece on the mold is removable and refused to come out.  I had to tear it up to get it out.  I'll have to change how I do that next time.

 Here's all three pieces that I did (too bad I couldn't figure out more molds quick, I just hate to throw the leftovers away).  Next time I'll be better prepared.

Now, how to finish them off.  Stay tuned, not sure what I'm going to do but I've got a few ideas.  Pictures coming soon!

15 Unique Planter Ideas Made From Repurposed Items

Years ago, when we lived in a subdivision and were going through the initial HOA set-up, we seriously considered adding a toilet for a planter in our front yard.  Yes, that's exactly how we felt about all that jazz, but still, it would have made a cute addition to my landscaping (and ticked off a few annoying neighbor nazi's as well.  Win,win).   I still love the idea and have seen it done numerous times, very cute!

 I love seeing unexpected items used as planters.  So many creative ways to add interesting elements to your landscaping.  Here's a few great ideas I've collected from Pinterest.  You can find more great planters ideas and suggestions for planting on my Pinterst Board:  Landscaping- Planters.

This gives all new meaning to the term "flower-bed"!

Found on Pinterest

Love the trash can idea.  Put something heavy in the bottom (to keep it from wanting to tip over), fill the center with plastic bottles, styrofoam or some other type of filler and then use the top portion for a planter.  Adorable!

thelilypadcottage.com

An old table base and a wash tub make an adorable planter.

organizedclutter.net

I cleaned out my grandmother's home a couple years back and she had a huge old sink in the basement (original to the home), I'm still kicking myself for not taking it out and bringing it home with me.  What was I thinking?

                       thriftyrebelvintage.com

I am in love with this!  Don't think it'd last very long but wow, what a statement.

Found on Pinterest

Bold pop of color makes this chair planter even better.

betterhousekeeper.com

Feeder turned planter, another great idea!

Found on Pinterest

This is gorgeous.  Don't throw out that broken fountain just yet.

suculentasminhas

Such a great idea for old fan covers.  

ranchoreubidoux.com

Firewood... planter.... firewood...  planter.  Decisions, decisions!

indulgy.com

pinkpolkadotcreations.com

Love this.  What a great idea.

redheadcandecorate.com

I don't know about you but I can always find old work shoes around here.  Such a cute planter.

Equinox27 on flickr.com

Wow!  Makes me want a bathtub planter in my yard.

Karol Franks on flickr.com

I found these a couple years ago with every intention of making some.  Hasn't happened yet but they're still on my radar.  Easy project to make a statement in your yard.  Love them!

szinesotletek.blog.hu
Yep, there's a tutorial.  No, it's not in English. 

Have you made anything creative or used unique items for planters in your yard?

Concrete Flower Bed Borders

We love concrete, can't help it. There are so many options, you can do just about anything you want. Our last house had exposed aggregate borders for the flowerbeds, this time we opted for wider (and deeper since they'll probably get driven on at some point) and then we stamped and stained them. Here's a look into our process. 

When we bought the property there was a rock driveway that just died about halfway across the land. We added a circle drive once the house was done and of course, began working on the landscaping. Above is the island that we plan to border with a concrete edge.

We framed it up in stages. We had lots of pours going on for patios and the like so we would try to do a portion of the island when we had a need for concrete already. The red you see is a stamp liner so the portion you'll see will have a decorative edge.

This was my job through the pouring process. Nice! I have shoveled and pulled concrete before, mimally and it's really difficult (that stuffs heavy) plus I stink at it. Just not strong enough. This is the perfect job for me!

We did do a little edging (not shown) and we will be stamping.

Jason is off finishing whatever pour that coincided with this one and I'm left to get it stamped.

Here it is. The darker area with the framing is the most recent pour. We've already removed framing on other sections that were done earlier.

Got it stained. I used saw dust and coffee grounds to get the color effect and sprayed it with stain. I used two colors. I can't remember the main color (a dark brown) and then spritzed it with some black.

We got the border poured within a summer's time but the rest of the island, from the first picture to this one was year's in the making. It has really filled in nicely.

Have you done any interesting flower borders in your yard?  

Vertical Carved Concrete Pump House

I have flower beds all throughout the yard. Which, in the heat of summer requires hoses all over the place. I'd like to say "he loves me" and that's why he trenched water lines everywhere to help me keep my flowers alive, but the truth is he was really sick of hoses! I'll take it- watering is so much easier!

Now, to hide the pump, sounds like a good summer project doesn't it? (This project was completed a few summer's ago).

First, we dug out and poured a pad with footings, then the framing begins.

Inner framing is nearly done.

Inner framing and rebar, getting closer.

Ready to pour. Inner framing is done, rebar in place and outer framing with supports is in.

Here's a look from the lake side. Pour in progress.

I won't be doing anything to the top so he's stamping it.

Removing the forms. Almost my turn...

Here's the finished product. Took me a couple days to get it carved and another couple of hours for color.

Someday it'll get a door. Not sure when, but someday!

Now when I want to water all I have to do is flip that little switch and turn on faucets located strategically throughout the yard. (Some still require hoses while others are now hooked to a sprinkler system). Thanks babe- works great!

 In a couple weeks I'll be doing a similar vertical application to "The Chirping Frog", the wainscoting across the front of the building and the piers holding the pine trusses hubby made for the entrance.  Can't wait to get started.  Right now those trusses are loaded up on a trailer waiting to make their grand entrance, also only a couple weeks away.