Garden Hose Door Mat

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Please enjoy this repost of a very popular craft I concocted back in 2012.

As we all prepare for a great season of gardening, I'm sure you're coming across some gardening tools that have worked their gardening magic and seen their day. For weeks I have been trying to throw out this very used and very leaky garden hose and the City garbage men refuse to take it! Annoyed as I was, I thought they must be sending me some type of message urging me to repurpose and reinvent this green coiled mess.

Anyway, as you can see, I decided to transform the garbage misfit hose into a very useful door mat.

 

You'll need:

  • A leaky garden hose.
  • A square dollar store door mat. I bought a square gray door mat for $1 at the local Christmas Tree Shop.
  • E-6000 adhesive at a craft or hardware store. I used three tubes of the stuff for this project.
  • Garden pruners (to cut the garden hose).
  • A strong scissors to cut down the mat.
  • Some heavy garden pots to use as weights to hold down the hose sections while the glue dries. Actually any heavy object will suffice.
  • .75" x .94" corks (to seal the cut ends of the hose lengths).

Here's how you do it:

  1. Place the door mat on a flat surface.
  2. Using the garden pruners, cut a section of the hose so that it creates the outer half circle of the mat. Don't worry if the ends of the hose hang over the mat...you can trim them off when you've finished gluing all of the sections onto the mat.
  3. Place a generous amount of glue on the hose then position it on the mat. Remember, you're working with the outer half circle first.
  4. Position heavy pots on this first section to keep in place and let dry overnight.
  5. When the first section is dry, simply repeat with all of the remaining cut hose sections to fill in the half circle using heavy objects to hold the sections in place.
  6. When finished and all of the hose sections are dry, cut the ends with the pruners so that they are all the same length.
  7. Glue and insert corks into each of the ends to seal the openings.
  8. Finally, with a scissors cut the door mat base to the half-circle shape you've created.
  9. Done!

This mat is super durable and easily cleaned by hosing it down.

Happy crafting!

Easter Craft: Eggshell Vases

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Easter floral creations don’t need to be boring or expected, right? Let me show you how to transform a few simple eggs into an impressive table centerpiece…

You’ll need:

  • Eggs
  • Spoon
  • Acrylic paint
  • Small craft brushes
  • Toothbrush (for speckling)
  • Flowers of choice

Here’s how you do it:

1. Using a spoon, gently crack open the top of an egg then peel away the eggshell until you have a hole the size you desire (large enough to insert the stems of your flowers).

2. Turn the egg upside down and pour the insides into a bowl to save for cooking or baking.

3. Carefully rinse the inside of the eggshell with soapy water and set it aside to dry. Repeat with all the eggs you’ll be using.

4. Paint the eggs the color of your choice and set aside to dry. If you want to speckle the eggs, paint them pale blue, green, or off-white—those are the most natural-looking color choices for speckled eggs. Once you’ve painted the eggs, allow them to dry completely.

5. For the speckle effect: Dip a toothbrush in a small amount of brown acrylic paint and run your finger over the toothbrush, letting the paint splatter onto the eggs. Allow the paint to dry, and you have some awesome speckled eggs!

6. Fill the eggs with a bit of water and add flowers.

Display your Easter eggshell vases in eggcups, or group several eggs together in a twig nest.  I tucked mine inside nooks and crannies of stumps and used a sheet of bark as a tray. Stumps and bark courtesy of our backyard.

Happy Easter!