DIY Curb Appeal with a Quick Flower Bed Border

Quick Weekend Stone Border Project for Your Flower Beds

I love pulling up to the house and being happy just looking at it. Unfortunately, our front needed a big pick-me-up. The side flowerbed had fallen into disarray. The wood that used to hold the dirt in had rotted and last fall's leaves still covered up what was trying to grow. It was time to make a change.

First thing was to measure the length of the bed. I wasn't prepared to spend a fortune on this project so scoping out the cost of materials ahead of time was vital. In my case, I had 21 feet of flowerbed edge.

Next was pricing out my border options to make sure this fit my $100 budget. Good news, concrete garden wall blocks at Home Depot are a foot long and relatively cheap. When I looked they were about $1.80, not to shabby. Knowing I had 21 feet and that I wanted to go 2 blocks high I went for 44 bricks. (It's always nice to have some wiggle room.) Throw in a few bags of paver sand, several bags of top soil (this bed was severely lacking dirt) and some manure for the roses I planned to throw in the bed and I estimated right around $100, the magic number.

Home Depot doesn't always have the most hands-on help, but don't be afraid to ask someone in the garden center to help you load 500lbs of stone onto the trailer or into the back seat. Believe me, it's to much to want to do in on your own. I brought my husband and our light trailer and we still asked for a hand. You can see, between the rock and the dirt we needed it.

Now the work begins. Removing the old wall was easy. Like I mentioned, most of the wood had rotted out anyway. Once that quick step was through I took my flat ended (Transfer Style) shovel and started making my trench. This type of shovel works best if you aren't needing to dig in, but rather, move things around. In this case, I was scooting gravel out of the way and pulling a bit of dirt up and onto the flower bed. I found that my transfer shovel was the exact width I needed for the stone so it made a great guide.

After I had a shallow trench the width of the stone and the whole length of the bed, I started leveling everything with a layer of sand. Paver sand is nice and coarse so you get an easy to level surface with wonderful drainage.

Once my trench was sandy and level, I started placing stone. Layer 1 is what took the most amount of time. Take the care to get your line straight and to space the stones in the best way possible. Each stone was about 20lbs and once you place level 2 you are't going to want to move anything. Finishing this path was tricky. It took about 3 tries to get the edge to finish exactly where I wanted. In my case I needed to make a bit more room so played with the curve of the bed. The shape of these stones makes it fairly simple to add or takeaway space.

Layer 2 follows right on top of 1 with a brick pattern. It goes much faster than layer 1. I was blown away by how much progress you feel like you're making with level 2. Before you know it, all your bricks are set and you can see what the finished product will look like.

Once the heavy lifting was done, I stirred in my new dirt and manure and moved some long over-crowded plants into my new bed. Filled in the gravel that I had moved at the beginning, gave everything a good watering, and was done in less than 3 hours. If you have a second pair of hands I'm sure you could do it in 2.

This quick garden project was just what I needed to brighten up the driveway and bring a big sense of accomplishment to my weekend. It's given the house a mini face-lift and was relatively easy.

Putting a Brick Border Around Flower Beds

Brick borders between flower beds and the lawn can go a long way in making a wild jungle look intentional. I have quite the "English Garden". Meaning I over-fill my beds and love when my flowers run into each other and fill the space. The only drawback is that this can make my garden look wild, and run into the lawn. My solution: Put in a Brick Border.

I only had a few hours and a few dollars so I went with one brick's width around the whole bed. With more bucks you can add width and more of a design, but the same steps apply. 

To start, I cut into my lawn all the way around. You can use an edging tool, but my shovel did a great job. This cut line is the path you are going to follow for all the other steps. TIP: Some people use garden hoses to make a nice curve, I drove the curve with my lawn mower before settling on the line I wanted. Beautiful curve and easy to mow.

Once you have the line you want, dig out a trench about a half an inch deeper than the bricks and about a half an inch wider on each side. Try and get the trench as even with depth and consistent with width as possible. This is the part that takes the most work.

After the trench, I laid down about a half an inch of sand. I'm sure there is fancy sand you are supposed to use, but playground sand was on-sale at the time, so that's what I put in. Take the time to even our the sand and make you trench level. If you have bumps, you'll have bumps in your border.

Bernadette was a big help in patting down the sand. I think it was her favorite part.

Now comes the fun part - laying down the brinks. If you've been paying attention to your trench height and width, this should do pretty quickly and is the most satisfying. You really see you border take shape. I left about 1/4 of an inch between bricks.

The last step is filling in any holes. I started filling in big gaps between my bricks and the yard with a little dirt from when I dug our the trench. For the small gaps and between all the brick I used more sand. This keeps everything draining well. TIP: Use a broom to sweep the sand into all the cracks. I kept packing it in and then adding more.

The very last thing I did was rinse off the path with a light sprinkle of the hose. That washed off all the left over sand and dirt and left everything looking great.

That's all there is to it. I think grand total was under $50 bucks and the path looks perfect. All my wild and reckless plants are in their place and the yard is easy to mow and keep separate from the flowers.

Surprise Picnic with a View of the USNA

Tyler, the husband, surprised me with a picnic lunch today and the view was too good not to share. We went to the Jonas Green Park, right over the USNA bridge on the other side of the Severn River. Our weather was perfect, and so was the water.

Relaxing, and delicious, a great break in the day!

This park is the starting point for the Baltimore-Annapolis trail. The visitors center has maps and information on the walking/running/biking trail that can take you all the way to BWI airport. It was a wonderful find!

Painting on Ceramics - A Better Mug

I wasn’t wild about the way my Sharpie Mug turned out. It wasn’t that bad of an idea, and the project is great for a fun kid’s activity, but I wanted something of a higher quality for my dad thank-you gift. So I did a little research. The whole – sharpies on ceramics – phenomenon is really a quick and dirty method for painting on ceramics. So I got to thinking… how hard can painting on ceramics be? The truth – not that hard. Here’s how to get a much better mug than the usual sharpies on a mug.

I started with a similar image. A compilation of three photos of me and my sisters with the brightness and contrast cranked up. Throw in a mug, enamel paint, and some carbon paper and you've got yourself an easy project.

Next, rather than using charcoal for the image transfer like I did in my previous post, I used carbon paper. You can pick up carbon paper at any craft store. I think it is a little pricey for how many sheets you receive, but you can use the pages over and over and they are much cleaner than charcoal so it’s worth it.

Cut your photos and the carbon paper to fit, and then tape both to your project. (Carbon side down)

Using a mechanical pencil, or ball point pen, trace around your image. After you have fully traced, take off the papers and take care not to smudge the transfer.

Using enamel paint (also from the craft store, less than $4 for the whole bottle) and a fine paint brush, paint in the design.

One huge benefit to the enamel paint over the sharpie method is that you can correct your mistakes. The paint isn’t permanent till you bake it in the oven (or allow it to cure) so you can take a damp Q-tip and wipe away mistakes.

Once your piece is finished, bake it according to the directions on the bottle. (In my case, 350 degrees for 30 minutes)

That’s it. Easy-Peasy and it looks fantastic. When comparing the two methods this is above and beyond my preferred way of designing your own ceramics. Which do you prefer?

Design on a Mug with Sharpies

There are several different methods floating around for personalizing ceramics. They got me thinking – what a great gift. It sounds cheesy, but I never know what to get my dad and since he has quit the coffee addiction, I decided to make him a mug with his daughters’ faces on it. (I know, ridiculous. But I have a feeling he’ll love it.) I’m going to try 2 methods:

First – the quick and dirty method. Sharpies on a mug. This had some big pluses. It’s fairly quick, not to messy, and most people have all the supplies hanging around. I would recommend this for someone who needs a fun kids project, or has a design that is a lot of lines. As you’ll see from my mug, the sharpie gets a little streaky when you are filling things in.

I started out grabbing some photos of us girls and mashing them together on the computer. Then played with the contrast and brightening tools to take out all the details. For this one I used a basic photo editing program. You don’t have to have Photoshop or to be an expert to get the look you need.

Next, make sure the photo is the size you are looking for and print.

I was looking for an easy transfer method to trace my design and went with charcoal. (Because I had charcoal and didn't want to run to the store) Just rub it all over the back of the photo and tape the picture to the mug. You want to make sure it can’t move at all. Charcoal can get messy and you want to make sure you get the best possible transfer.

Take a pen, pencil, stylus, knitting needle, whatever is around, and trace the outline of the photos. You want enough traced that you know what the photo is, but not so much you are spending your whole time filling in your tracing. You can see the pencil line on my mug –just enough to see what’s going on with your design.

Pull off you photo. BE CAREFUL. The big bummer about charcoal is that it smudges easy. You probably won’t have the world’s most precise tracing. It works – but you are going to have to be sure you don’t smudge the mug.

Grab your sharpies and fill in your design. This is where I recommend not using a design that takes a lot of filling in. Lines are your friend, streaky hair is not.

Once you have everything drawn in, just wipe off your charcoal. (Hopefully without getting it all over your clothes)

Now is your last chance to fill in any details, sign the bottom, or rubbing alcohol-off a design.

When you are good to go, put the mug into your oven and set the temperature to 325 degrees. You want the mug to warm up with your oven so it won’t shock the ceramic and break it. Bake for 30 minutes and then let it cool.

There you have it, sharpie design on a mug. This method has a couple pluses: You probably already have all the supplies, and it’s really easy. This is the way to go if you want to design plates with your kids for mother’s day, or just want a quick project. The other method of putting family portraits on ceramics, I tried, works well for those that want something a little more precise or want a more polished finished project.

Stay tuned for method number two.

The Ever Important Introduction.

Well hello!

This silly compilation of how-tos, fun-facts, and general nonsense has come to be after a good push from friends. Thank you friends, all the comments have been noted. 

Affectionately (I hope) nicknamed "Martha", I'm an odd combination of things. As a social media/techy, with a love kicking it old-school and creating and building things with my hands, it's been a little hard to find a place of normal.  After discussing at length what makes a good pie crust, how to re-roof your house, and how non-profits should be using Twitter,  friends suggested putting it all together and finally attempting a blog. 

Hence: the blog. 

Thanks for taking a look. In future you're going to find projects for the house, garden redesigns, recipes, and hopefully a little of what you're looking for. 

So hello world, I'm Sarah. Let's get started.