Some ideas for the Yard and Garden

This great project was made by fellow junker csudderth
She writes "This is the mailbox that I made for my sister. She wanted something unique so I think this definitely qualifies, especially since my sister is a bona fide junker like me. I doubt anyone has one like it anywhere! Her body is made from the blower that my sister's kids used to use to dry their show animals for FFA. Her head is an old kerosene flare that used to mark road construction, her arms and legs are old pipe, her hair is old fence wire, and her shoes are old hinges. Her skirt is rusty old tin and her hat is thingamajig that came off of an old car--don' know the proper name. She was a lot of fun to make and hopefully brings a smile to the mailman's face every day! Now, if I could just figure out a way to make her make bills disappear!!!!!"

Isn't this birdhouse from an old gas can wonderful. Thank you Teresa for letting me feature it. Teresa says:
"I spray painted a panel of ceiling tin brown, then dry-brushed it with turquoise paint and folded the tin in half. I then had my husband remove the handle from a 5-gallon metal can so that I could use it for the hanger for the birdhouse. I punch holes in the tin and attached the handle. After that, I attached it to the can with some painted screws. That is all there is to it!"

Be sure can is clean and empty, proceed with caution, as sparkes from a drill could ignite residual gasoline.

My friend Vickie posted this project on her blog and I just had to share it with you
I had picked up a couple of old shutters at a garage sale and painted them blue, and had my son make me a flower box to put on this window.

See more of her blog here

She Writes
Shortly after completing my first bunk bed bech, I found someone offering two more head/foot boards for free. They were all the same size so they weren't ideal for making another bench (plus I still had the remaining pair from the first bunk bed curb shopping spree). They did however, compliment my garden shed nicely as a fence! (garden in front and brick pathway not done yet.)

Thanks for sharing Svage

Christy lives in Ardmore Oklahoma, and is a school Librarian. She has learned to Weld and I'm very impressed with her creations. We shared a room on the Junk Bonanza trip last year and got to know each other. I gave her a box-o-junk (metal stuff and return, she gifted me with this wonderful bird bath. Isn't it adorable, I think I get the better end of this deal. Isn't she talented, look at that sweet little bird made from various bits of this and that. I smile everytime I walk by it and think of my friend Christy. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift.

From Reader Doris Stratton:

"The potting benches are made from old doors. I saw this idea in a Country Sampler magazine a few years back. The sunflower next to one of the benches is made from an old hog feeder pan, an old metal fence stake and old garden hose."

I love looking for and finding those small items that are great for embellishment of other projects. I've managed to assemble quite a collection of the "small" junk. When I saw this wind chime in a magazine I just had to copy it. This piece uses lots of bits and pieces right out of my junk pile, All put together with wire (fishing line could also be used). Look around your stash of stuff and see what you have to make this project.

Sandy's Comments:
I like to add old wood gingerbread and an occasional plate. You may recoginze this as part of an old dressser cheval mirror frame.

Here's another version of the same project.

Linda Smith of The Blue Gate in Wills Point, Texas. Made these great Bird Baths from old Light Fixtures. She told me that she didn't need to drill any holes. She bought the ones with holes already in them. You can also see that she added Crystals on them. They are oh-so-sweet, and a Quick Project for your wildlife. You can see more of Linda's wonderful one of a kind garden accessories at Canton Trades Day in Canton Texas

Here's mine

The hardest part of this project, and most of my quick projects, is finding the supplies. For this project, you'll need to look for a light fixture with 3 holes already in it. Many were made like this and they come in many different styles and even colors. Once you have your light fixture the rest is easy. For mine I simply cut 3 pieces of wire, threaded them through the holes, added glass knobs and twisted the wire below. Then I gathered the 3 pieces, twisted them together at the top and fashioned a hook. This project can be used as a bird bath, Bird feeder or even a candle holder indoors. For a little extra sparkle you could hang prisms below the knobs.

Sandy Writes: "I found this old cast iron ashtray at a flea market and saw a birdbath right away! I checked my stash and found an old aluminum tray with a handle that fit perfectly in the top, so sprayed them both and sanded so the iron would show thru. I had this cute little china bird which is really an old salt shaker and epoxyed him to the handle."

Linda from Garden web made this great plant marker out of old license plates. I'm cutting them with plain old tin snips. Most plates are aluminum and easy to cut. Some are steel and a little harder. I've scored and bent them back and forth in a vice and they break off pretty straight. They can also be cut with a jigsaw with a metal blade. Safety glasses and gloves are a good idea. They can be sharp. I use any drill bit to drill them. Ditto on the safety equipment while drilling them. They tend to spin. Read more and see more pictures on the post here

This is a window greenhouse that I saw when I was out shopping recently. It's different than the other's I've seen and thought you might like to see this design. It looks like it only uses 2 windows and some old wood siding. The lid appears to be on hinges and lifts up. What a great way to keep your plants warm in the winter.

These wire cloches were made with chicken Wire. First I made a tube, then I cut the top sections about every 3". This was done so I could bend them in to make the dome. Then I used the wire ends and bent them back on themselves to tighten everything down. I added an old wooden knob to the top and then added some thicker guage wire down the sides to give it some strength. All done by bending and crimping wires, No glue on this project. Then I spray painted them. That's all there is to it.

"I love your blogspot I look at your projects all the time.. I love old items and junk myself and I wanted to show you some of my birdhouses that I build you will see where alot of my junk finds go."

Dress up an old chicken feeder with seasonal Plants.

Steve Baran makes these wonderful birdhouses and benches out of reclaimed items.

John Writes
I just recently started selling them a few months ago. My yard has enough of them now. lol I have had 7 articles including the May issue of Canadian Home Workshop magazine done in the last 2 months so they are just starting to get some attention now.

I also want to attempt to set a world record for building the worlds largest log birdhouse next year. There is no record for such a thing, yet. It is over 9 ft wide and over 8 ft high and made from 150 year old barn wood. I have about 4 or 5 days left on it to finish it.

This is re-posted from the Garden Junk Forum. making cute animals out of old Propane type of tanks is real popular right now. Please read this and DO NOT USE PROPANE TANKS FOR YARD ART OR OTHER T2T PROJECTS.

"If this will save a life it will be worth the read: I emailed my friend who does metal art inquiring the safety of cutting propane tankes...Take HEED.. DO NOT cut on a propane tank. There is no safe way... About 8 yrs. ago, I was cutting on a propane tank with my band saw. I had water running into it for about 30 min. Valve was out. I turned my back and was walking away and it blew. Cost a bunch to fix my saw and replace a window. I was lucky I was turned away when it went. Pig pots like that are hot right now. That is not a propane tank on the pig. Propane tanks do not have seams."

Bec4 had a backless chair and came up with this clever idea.

Some tips from Linda

Large tin snips work pretty well to cut them (the license plates). You can also cut them by 'breaking' them. I have 2 pieces of angle iron that can be bolted together. I score the plate where I want the break, put it between the angle irons (these are bolted to a table edge), then bend it back and forth till it breaks. This is a cheesy metal bender. If you know someone who works with metal, they may have an easier way. The plates also cut pretty easily with a metal cutting blade in a jigsaw. You can clean up the edges with sandpaper or a grinder. The plates drill very easily with a regular drill. It helps to make a ding where you're going to drill. Just hit a big nail with a hammer. It will make an impression so the drill doesn't dance around. Sometimes it helps to drill with a smaller bit, then larger. You can buy drill bits for metal. Careful when you're drilling metal. Sometimes it catches and spins. Clamping it down is a good idea. Wearing gloves might prevent a nasty cut.

For information on these 2 fountain projects, contact Justin Kennedy 903-641-2610.

This old chair has been turned into a fountain and a birdhouse,

This birdhouse doubles as a fountain

For information on these 2 fountain projects, contact Justin Kennedy 903-641-2610.

Material List:
Fountain pump
Old Spicket
2' of copper
1 90 with male and female ends
1 90 with two female ends
Flex tubing

"All you do is drill a hole in the bottom of the can about 5 or 6 inches up from the bottom, you will also need a hole right above the first one for the wire to come that runs the pump; however the wires will need to be spliced at the plug in order to keep the hole small. Then you will need to run the plumbing up the outside of the backside of the can. The flex tubing will connect the pump to the copper and will need to be fed into the copper (the tubing does not need to go up the whole piece of copper just enough for it to stay in place) You just need enough water in the bottom of the can so that the pump is covered and it will recirculate the water. "

2 variations on the tipsy pot idea, One is table top and the other is hanging.

I've received several requests for instructions on making the tipsy pots. I found a blog with great instructions, read instructions here

kudzukween's Projects, kudzukween from Ivillage, garden web

The bugs were just old bottles and I used wire to make wings and antenae. I used pliers to twist the wire tight,and wrapped wire around a screwdriver to make curly features for the bugs. I dug through the tool box to find different pieces that might work for a bug. I glued flat marbles on for eyes on some of them, I had to tape them on til the glue set. I don't know what gauge the wire was.

bottlebugs

"I drilled a hole in the back of the teapot to mount it to a board. Then I used GE Silicone II to glue the lid to the teapot. Then just screwed the board to my privacy fence. It was real simple to do and it looks really cute."

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Cindee shows her version with a metal teapot.

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Rosepetal over at garden web shares these ideas

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Cindee over at the Garden Web has a page with her wonderful yard creations. I'll picture a few here but you'll need to visit her site

to get the full impact of her wonderful garden and imagination.

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Rosemary's "Flower Bed" and Flower chair

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sistersunny made this great birdhouse from re-claimed items

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I Love this project

cheribelle from GardenWeb tells the story of her Gazebo

This gazebo was built by me with some help from DH. The top is a 10 ft fiberglass satelite dish. I bought the 4X4 posts that hold it up. The rest was a porch my friend had taken off her house when she remodeled. Funny story. The carpenters she had hired to build her new wrap-around porch took the old one off and loaded it on my trailer for me. When I hauled it off they looked at me like I'm nuts. Then later, they came into the resteraunt where I was working. They recognised me and asked "What are you going to do with that old porch?" I said I'm going to build a gazebo. Professional carpenter says to me " A gazebo, huh? Those are cool, but really tricky." I said Nah, I have a plan. The look on his face was priceless, a waitress telling a professional carpenter she can build a gazebo??? To funny. heeheehee He has NO clue I have been using power tools and remodeling things for 25 years :0) The copper trellis on the front is one of my designs, one of many I have built. You can sort of see the bottle tree in the back, and the horse planter I just put in. We are still working on the broken concrete patio, lots of old stuff on this old farm place to work with, just takes time and WORK.

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Garden Sheds Hall of Fame by the Empress of Dirt. These are some great and artful sheds, worth taking a peak.

Metal Works

This is yard art made by Jeff Brown, who sells at the Canton Tx Flea Market. He uses old lawn tools to make great little animals.
You can contact at 405-912-0948, He's in Norman Oklahoma

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These are from a different Canton Artist