flowers Archives - Wait Til Your Father Gets Home

{pencil vase from chase the star}

August 26, 2012 by meredith · 6 Comments

Hello Wait Til Your Father Gets Home readers! I’m Barbara from Chase the Star and I’m tickled to be part of Meredith’s super cool Back-to-School series!

I can’t believe it’s already time for our kiddos to go back to school! Summer just flew by didn’t it?

We do so much to get them ready for school each year, but most of us parents forget just how much work the teachers have to do to prepare! They have their hands full getting ready to enrich the minds of 30 kids give or take for an entire school year!

This year I thought, why not start the year by giving the teacher a little gift? Something that says, ‘we appreciate you’?

We decided to give the new teacher a Pencil Vase that I made with very simple materials, mostly found at the inexpensive back-to-school section.

It was so easy to make, YOU can do it too:

Make sure you have all the materials you need:

Mason Jar (or any type of large jar, tin can, or similar container)

Pencils (I used about 50)

Hot glue gun (and glue sticks!)

Optional: Crayons, ribbon, or any other type of embellishments you like

Start gluing the pencils to the jar one by one, all the way around. A little tedious, but it’ll go fast!

I chose to put them upright, but you can turn them so that the eraser is on the opposite end too!

Once you’ve glued the pencils all the way around, it’s ready to be used!

If you’re familiar with me and my blog, you’ll know, I can’t leave well enough alone..

Sooo, I need to make it fabulous!

I added red ribbon layered with white thin ribbon on the top and bottom, and some crayons to make it fun, but..

..still not enough color. I went to the drug store and found a pack of foam letters for just a $1! I spelled out the phrase: ‘School is Cool’ and glued them on overlapping the crayons.

Pops of color everywhere!

I stole picked some flowers from my garden (fine, it’s my husband’s garden, because I kill all plants), and added them in my vase. Love!

A very simple and inexpensive way to show your kid’s new teacher some love, and maybe earn a few extra brownie points come grading time (wink)!

What are you doing to get your kids ready to go back to school?

Thanks to Meredith for letting me crash your blog today! For more of my crafts, and DIY tutorials, visit me at Chase the Star !

You can also find me here:

About Meredith Hazel

Meredith is a stay at home mom and has been blogging since 2012. She started Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home as a creative outlet in between nap times for her little one. Wait 'Til Your Father gets home is a combination of crafting tutorials, DIY projects, recipes and, sharing some of life's journey along the way.

Filed Under: Crafting, Decorating, Gifts, Guest Posts Tagged With: back to school, flowers, gifts, pencils, teachers, vase

{guest post: the taylor house}

July 5, 2012 by meredith · 11 Comments

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, Taylor House readers! And a special thanks to Chrissy for asking me to guest post for her today! I’m so excited to share one of my most favorite projects I’ve ever done with all of you. I know it’s the 5th of July (and I hope all of you had a fantastic 4th), but this planter is the PERFECT addition for any All-American outdoor space.

This planter, like the Mad Planter, was also inspired by morning Pinterest perusing which led me to Amy @ Positively Splendid. I love her version with the house number decal!

Since ours was headed to the back yard, we skipped that part. I’d love to make another set for the front porch in the future though. To make a three-tiered planter, you’ll need:

3 terracotta pots (small, medium, and large) ($28 total from Lowe’s)

primer (already had on hand)

spray paint (I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor with a Gloss finish in Banner Red and Navy Blue)

enamel (already had on hand)

bricks or stones for largest pot (left over from stack stone walkway project)

potting soil ($4 from Lowe’s)

annuals of your choosing (left over from The Mad Planter)

newspaper or tarp (already had on hand)

star stencil (Martha Stewart Holiday Stencils $3.50 with Michael’s 40% off coupon)

painters tape (already had on hand)

Project Total: about $35.50

(A little pricier than I’d like it to be, but these pots will last forever. When I’m ready for a new color or design, all I have to do is sand them down and paint again!)

For some reason, a few of the steps were neglected in the picture taking process, but you’ll get the general idea below.

Of course, I started by priming all three pots. The middle sized pot took two coats of primer, since I’d be leaving some white showing. I wanted to make sure it looked nice and even. As you can tell, there is an American Flag theme with this planter. I chose to put stars on the largest pot. After contemplating a few methods (stickers, sponges, foam pouncers) to achieve the look we were going for, my husband and I decided to use a stencil and a foam brush to apply the white stars. He painted all of them for me (lucky girl, huh?). I think he did a fantastic job, and that they truly resemble the star field on the flag!

While the star pot dried, my husband helped me out again by taping the rim of the medium sized pot so we could get red and white stripes across the top. We tried to tape off the entire pot, but the shape of it kept making the lines curve too much (which we didn’t like). After about 20 minutes of trying to get it just right, I suggested just taping around the top and love the results! Once it was taped, I simply sprayed on the Banner Red Krylon paint and gave it two even coats. The tape and the paint worked beautifully…no runs!

The third tier (the smallest pot) was left solid blue. I didn’t want the planter to look cluttered with another pattern. You’ll notice there’s a fourth, red pot in the final picture below. I’ll show you what I did with that little guy in a bit!

After all the pots were painted, I applied two thin coats of enamel to seal and protect them. Hopefully this step prolongs the life of the planter for a few years before I have to repaint!

Once everything was dry, I was finally ready to assemble the planter and plant my petunias.

We chose to put the planter on our back patio (that way we could enjoy it more since we spend most of our outside time in the backyard). Luckily we had some leftover stack stone from a walkway project and set some in the bottom of the largest pot. This helped to fill most of the lower part of the pot so we weren’t wasting potting soil.

Next, pour some potting soil in the pot and put the medium sized pot on top. You’ll secure this pot by packing soil tightly around the base. Make sure to line the pot up to the back side of the largest pot.

Next, you guessed it, fill the medium sized pot with soil (you could put some stone in the bottom of this one as well if you want). Repeat the same thing with the top (smallest) pot. Once I had the medium sized pot where I wanted it, I started to assemble and plant at the same time.

Soon, I had this beauty…

I’m thrilled with this planter project as well and have fittingly decided to call this one the…

I’m really happy that we figured out a good method for applying the stars because it really makes the entire planter if you ask me!

While creating this planter, I realized that I had one more pot left over and decided to stencil on a firework pattern that was also on the Martha Stewart stencil pack that I bought at Michael’s. I found a home for it on our outdoor table…

Thanks again to Chrissy for having me today! For more crafty ideas, DIY projects, and yummy recipes please become a follower of {Wait Til Your Father Gets Home}!

You can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I look forward to hearing from some of you soon!

Enjoy!

About Meredith Hazel

Filed Under: Crafting, Decorating, Gardening, Guest Posts Tagged With: 4th of july, decor, flowers, planters

{star spangled planter}

May 4, 2012 by meredith · 15 Comments

As promised, I’m back this week with the second planter that we created for our back yard. We stuck with red, white, and blue theme, using good ole’ Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Spray paint once again in Banner Red and Navy Blue. This planter, like the Mad Planter, was also inspired by morning Pinterest perusing which led me to Amy @ Positively Splendid. I love her version with the house number decal! Since ours was headed to the back yard, we skipped that part. I’d love to make another set for the front porch in the future though! To make a three-tiered planter, you’ll need:

(Left over flowers from this project)

3 terracotta pots (small, medium, and large) ($28 total from Lowe’s)
primer (already had on hand)
spray paint (I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor with a Gloss finish in Banner Red and Navy Blue)
Polyurethane (already had on hand)
bricks or stones for largest pot (left over from stack stone walkway project)
potting soil ($4 from Lowe’s)
annuals of your choosing (left over from The Mad Planter)
newspaper or tarp (already had on hand)
star stencil (Martha Stewart Holiday Stencils $3.50 with Michael’s 40% off coupon)
painters tape (already had on hand)

Project Total: about $35.50 (Again, pricier than I’d like it to be, but these pots will last forever. When I’m ready for a new color or design, all I have to do is sand them down and paint again!)

For some reason, a few of the steps were neglected in the picture taking process, but you’ll get the general idea below!

After all the pots were painted, I applied two thin coats of polyurethane to seal and protect them. Hopefully this step prolongs the life of the planter for a few years before I have to repaint!

Once everything was dry, I was finally ready to assemble the planter and plant the rest of my petunias!

We chose to put the planter on our back patio (again so we could enjoy it more since we spend most of our outside time in the backyard). Luckily we had some leftover stack stone from a walkway project and set some in the bottom of the largest pot. This helped to fill most of the lower part of the pot so we weren’t wasting potting soil.

Soon, I had this beauty…

I’m thrilled with this planter project as well and have fittingly decided to call this one the…

I’m really happy that we figured out a good method for applying the stars because it really makes the entire planter if you ask me!

Since creating the Mad Planter and the Star Spangled Planter, my husband all of a sudden wants to put pots everywhere (and so do I)! He’s suggested continuing to buy more to put in different spots around the yard and patio. As I purchase, decorate, and create more planters, I’ll definitely share them with all of you! I’m continuing to search Pinterest and some favorite blogs for new ideas. If you have any you’d like to share, please do!

Please leave a comment, I love to hear from my readers!

I’ll be linking up again to several parties. Come check them out!

About Meredith Hazel

Filed Under: Crafting, Decorating, Favorites, Gardening Tagged With: crafts, decorating, flowers, gardening

{the mad planter}

April 30, 2012 by meredith · 55 Comments

Let me just start by saying that this might be my most favorite project I’ve done since starting {Wait Til Your Father Gets Home}. Since we moved into our house, my husband has made it his mission to completely yank out everything from our yard (front, back, sides, the whole-she-bang). The yard we acquired was, to be blunt……a hot mess. We pretty much have a blank canvas to work with now (which is so nice). It’s fun to be able to plan out exactly what we want to put into our yard. It would be even nicer if we could just do it all at once, but unfortunately flowers at Home Depot and Lowes are not free!

(Source of my Mad Planter inspiration)

I’ve been perusing Pinterest (as usual) and have come across some really cool planter ideas. This one in particular caught my eye from Home Stories A-Z, so I did what I usually do when I find something I like on Pinterest….I showed my hubby. I always expect him to tell me the things I show him are crazy, or silly, or girly, but he LOVED this concept. He loved it even more when I suggested some red, white, and blue (I mentioned here, that we are quite the patriotic bunch in our household).

I decided to call it…

To make your own version, you’ll need:

1-8″ clay pot
6-6″ clay pots
Spray primer (primer in a paint can works just as well)
Spray Paint (I LOVE Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Paint in Banner Red and Navy Blue–both gloss finish)
Polyurethane Spray (you could use poly from a can as well)
10 ft rebar (found at Lowe’s)
potting soil (had on hand)
annuals (of your choosing) We got two flats of petunias since the planter is smack in the middle of full sun for most of the day and had a LOT left over for a second planter project that I will share soon!
newspaper or tarp (had on hand)

This entire project cost about $45, plus we had a ton of flowers and soil left over for my second planter project that I hope to share by Friday! The cost is a little more than I usually aim to spend on projects that I share on the blog, but I don’t mind because I have made something super unique and that we can use year after year. Plus, we’ve gotten so many compliments from neighbors (and compliments are nice)!

To get started, spread out your newspaper or tarp and lay out all the clay pots. Remove any stickers that may be on the pots and begin priming each pot. I only had to apply one coat of the primer.

Once all the pots are primed and dry (it shouldn’t take too long to dry, especially if it’s 85 degrees outside like it is here in Georgia today), decide on the colors you’d like to incorporate and begin to spray paint. As I mentioned, we decided on a red, white, and blue theme. I think they’d look great with one color or even a stenciled pattern of some kind as well. The possibilities are truly endless and completely up to you!

Since I didn’t have white spray paint, I just left two of the 6″ pots primed and didn’t apply color. Don’t you just love the red and blue together?! (FYI–I applied two coats of spray paint).

While the pots dry once again, decide where you want to put your Mad Planter (makes me smile every time I say that out loud). We decided to put ours in our backyard since that’s where we hang out most of the time when we’re outside. I swear, every time we’ve gone outside since putting the Mad Planter in, we comment on how much we love it. My hubby was nice enough to hammer the rebar into the ground for me (I’m extremely handicapped when it comes to trying to use a tool…I need to fix that). He thinks he put it about 2 feet into the ground, so a little wind won’t disturb our Mad Planter (I hope)!

Before you can begin assembling the Mad Planter, you’ll need to seal the pots with some polyurethane. I used a fast drying, clear gloss poly made my Minwax. Each coat completely dried in about 1 hour (again, it’s amazing what some hot Georgia sun can do for ya)! I know it’s boring to wait around for paint to dry, but trust me, you need the polyurethane, otherwise the sun and rain will ruin your pots. I’m hoping that this paint and sealing job will last us for a few summers before we need to sand and re-paint. Here are all the pots after being painted and poly’ed…

Time for the assembly!

To assemble the Mad Planter, simply “string” the hole in the bottom of the pot (you know, the one for water to drip out of) onto the rebar, like so…

The 8″ pot is the base of the Mad Planter and should lay flat. The rest of the pots are still “strung” through their water holes, but sit on the rim of the pot below, making each one look slanted. We filled each pot with soil as we assembled the entire planter, and added some red & blue-ish petunias as well. I am absolutely thrilled with the end result!

I LOVE the red, white, and blue-ness of the entire planter! I also LOVE how it looks against our white picket fence!

What are your favorite annuals to plant each summer? Do you have any fun planters that you’ve created and named after Alice and Wonderland characters? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear feedback from my readers!

I’ll be linking up with these fabulous parties…

Pin It & Win It @ Cheap Crafty Mama

About Meredith Hazel

Filed Under: Crafting, Decorating, Gardening Tagged With: decorating, flowers, gardening, home, patriotic, planters, spring

{spring wreath}

April 17, 2012 by meredith · 4 Comments

Remember back in January when I created this winter wreath for my after-Christmas-naked-front-door?

Well, since Spring has most definitely sprung, I decided my Winter wreath needed some perking up to match the bright mood of the marigolds and salvia in the front porch planter. These are two of my most favorite annuals to plant each summer. I think the colors look beautiful together!

To begin perking up my wreath, I headed to JoAnn’s, with their mobile app loaded with a 10% off total purchase coupon! If you haven’t downloaded their free app, you must! How awesome is it that you don’t have to waste time (and paper) printing out a coupon?! You simply load the coupons that are applicable to your purchase and hand over your phone to the cashier…easy peasy!

At JoAnn’s I purchased:

4 wooden numbers @ $1.99 ea
a few new flower stems that totaled $14.19 on sale
After my 10% off coupon, my total purchase was $22.15

I decided to use the same wreath as the base once again. I simply took off the letter H and the Winter flower stems and put them in a storage bin to pull out again next year. Ta-da! Instant blank canvas!

Before getting to work arranging my flowers, I took the wooden letters outside for a coat of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint in Georgia Clay and immediately fell in love with the color!

While the numbers did their thang outside (you know, drying in the hot Georgia sun), I began arranging the new flower stems in the grapevine wreath. Once I had things where I wanted them, I flipped the wreath over and secured the loose stems with some brown fabric covered floral wire (that I already had from the first time around).

After about 20 minutes, I had this beauty…