The alm Project – Diary of a Crafty Insomniac

About 10 years ago I purchased my first ‘grown up’ patio set. About two years ago they started showing their age. I was going to replace them, but I was having a hard time finding something affordable that fits my true personality – something bursting with color. I decided to make them over.

Before

The paint on my chairs were chipped and unattractive – plus the chairs were brown:(  A little elbow geese will take care of that issue. I used a wire brush remove the old finish, then I sanded the chairs with my Sander Next I primed the chairs, then spray painted them with outdoor/indoor paint.

My Blue Patio Chair

I could not decide on a color, so I painted each patio chair a different color.

My Red Patio Chair

There was a toss up between painting one of the chairs orange or yellow. Orange won – it was more vibrant. I will paint something else yellow, I’m sure.

My Orange Patio Chair

Looking back, I should have chosen yellow over purple.

My Purple Patio Chair

Now I needed to address the chair cushions. The brown stripe was not doing it for me.

Before - The brown stripe seat cushion

At first I was going to purchase new ones, but I did not want to pay the high prices you tend to see at the beginning of the summer season. I decided to cover the existing cushions. I can get new ones at the end of summer when they go on sale.

Afterish

I used painters drop cloth to make a simple cover for the chairs. I basically made 4 over-sized pillow cases and slipped them over the seat cushions. But, they were a little underwhelming. May be adding pillows would help…

See how I made the pillow here

No, It needs something more… May be a painted yellow daisy…

Yellow Daisy

But, as usual, I cannot decide on an image. So, I painted a red butterfly on the other chair cover…

Red Butterfly

And a dark red/maroon poppy – The poppy pattern started off as an embroidery patter I designed (you may download it from my Facebook page).

Poppy flower

A peach tulip completes the set.

Tulip Seat Cushion

Now all I need is a larger patio to house all my plants – and I need to make some lumber pillows for my patio chairs – maybe, we’ll see.

xoxo

Al

I wanted to add some color to my patio garden so I went to my favorite nursery to pick up some inexpensive foliage. The Alcea Rosea Chaters Double Yellow immediately caught my eyes.

Alcea rosea

I hope that I can keep this plant alive – at least until the end of summer. They are inexpensive, so if it falls victim to my brown thumb, I will just pick up another. Maybe next time I will get the pink.

Mezoo plant

I am a bit more confident about my Mezoo plant – at least, I think that’s what it is. I got it yellow and pink. I have had great success with the variegated variety, so I hoping that these will be around for a long time.

Yellow Purslane

The flower above is from the Purslane plant.  I think it’s stunning. There are new blooms each day. This plant is edible. I am told that they are sold for $7.00 per pound at farmers markets. Mine was 99 cents.

Pink Purslane

I got them in pink and orange as well. I think I will try some in my salad tomorrow.

The next project on my to do list is a guest room mini make over. Pillows made from the images of my blooms will preserve them. So, even if they fall victim to plant killing ways, I will still be able to cherish them.

Pillows in bloom

xoxo

Al

Face Clay Pot

I call this clay pot my lucky clay pot. This is the 3rd plant that has flourished in this clay pot.  Once this plant out grows the ‘face pot’ I think I am going to try my luck with a Donkey’s Tail Cactus.

Back of My Face Clay Pot

I do not know the name of the plant – Do you?

I am in the process of doing a mini make over on my back patio. I am planning to spending a lot more time out there doing hand embroidery – I have a few unfinished projects that I would like to complete.  I wanted to add some pillows to my patio chairs  – the plan is the more comfortable I am, the more I will get done:)

Outdoor canvass drop cloth pillow

 The Pillow Process

Out door pillows are relatively inexpensive – you can pick them up at any big box store for between $13 and $20.00. However, if you prefer not to have the same pillows as your neighbors, then you can easily whip one up.

Monogrammed 'm' Pillow

I had some pieces of canvas drop cloth left over from another project (I’ll tell you about that in another post). I decided to use them for my outdoor pillow project.

• First I cut the drop cloth into 18 inch squares
• I selected a font on my computer and printed it on 11 by 17 paper.
• I used carbon paper to transfer the monogram to the fabric – I happen to have a large supply of carbon paper – I got them from an office that was going out of business.  You can pick them up at any office supply or craft store. They are sometimes called transfer paper.
• I used color craft markers to outline the letters and then filled in the outlines with a contrasting  fabric paint.
• To make the fabric water proof, I used Thermoweb Heat’n Bond Iron-On Vinyl. Follow the manufacturers instructions and apply the vinyl to the drop cloth.
• Construct your pillow.

I like the look of lower case font – I think they look casual yet sophisticated.

Century Gothic Font

I like bold colors and choosing a large font – (I used 1200 font size) – made the monogram pop.

'w' Monogrammed Pillow

Notice the rose on the left side of the ‘w’? There was a flaw in the drop cloth – a silk ribbon carnation covered that right up. I was going to add flowers to the other pillows but I decided the single rose was more interesting.

xoxo

Al

Gardening is one of my passions, but when you live in a light deprived townhouse (like I do), gardening can become challenging.  Initially, I had several tiny planters crammed into the only corner of the house that gets natural light, but then it got a bit over crowded and I had rethink my gardening strategy.

I have a small patio that needed attention. It was neglected because of the racoons and cats that hang out in my neighborhood and they seem to love my back patio. But, I decided to reclaim my out door living space. I will tell you more about how I handled the critter situation my next post.

Some container gardens will be be the perfect solution to my over whelmed in door garden situation. I started my getting some Brightly colored inexpensive planters from Walmart. Next I collected the my thrillers, spillers and fillers. A thriller is a centerpiece plant.  It is typically  something big, bold, and beautiful. Fillers are foliage or flowering plants that will complement but not overwhelm the main plant. And a spiller is a plant that just tumbles out and over the side of the pot.  Personally, I think all my plants are thrillers.

The perfect spiller plant

Here are my efforts so far.

The image below shows my first and least favorite attempt. I think the Thriller – the mother in law’s tongue is too dominant. Hopefully when the other plants mature, things will look a bit more balanced – or not – let’s see what nature has in store .

My Yellow Container Garden

According to the container garden rules – you should place similar plants in each container – they should have the same water requirements. I am not one to follow the rules…

Green Container Garden

I wonder what this will look kike in 3 months. I can hardly wait.

Bird's eve view

The image below may be my favorite so far. They are all drought tolerant plants, so it should be easy to take care of.

Red Container Garden

I love the green variegated succulent – I hope it does not fall victim to my brown thumb.

Birds eye view

In case you were wondering, yes, that is my Christmas tree stand serving as a plant stand in the image above.

What do you think of my efforts so far?

xoxo

Al

The story behind the Keep calm and Carry on Poster.

About 10 years ago my friend traveled to West Africa and he brought me a dress made from Bògòlanfini or bogolan (“mud cloth“). The dress was several sizes too large so it sat in my closet untouched. I absolutely love the fabric and wanted to display it in a prominent way – I decided to do what I do best – make pillows.

The Dress

I agonized about cutting up the dress, but my friend gave his blessing and I went for it. I was able to make two 22×22 pillows covers. I added a feather and down pillow insert and I am loving the result.

The Pillow

Notice the fringe detail at the bottom of the dress? I kept it – I think it adds interest.

Before and after

They made a great addition to my holiday decor – red, green, white. Now that the holidays are over, I think I will move them to the guest room or maybe to my bedroom.

They look great on my red couch.

There are 2 gray crowned cranes living on the campus of my son’s high school. Each morning as I inch along with the traffic, I watch them as the go about their business. They seem to peacefully coexist with the noise and confusion that accompanies teenagers.

The Cranes

One morning my son took a picture of the cranes, he sent the image to me with this message – ” I can hardly wait to see your interpretation”. I guess he has noticed that I do not see thing the same way others do…

This is what I saw

The bird perched on top of the bamboo plant is a kingfisher. It added even more color to the piece – I love color…

I typically use my illustrations on to make pillows,  but this time I wanted to spread my wings, I used it to customize a lamp shade.

The Lamp

Here is what it looks like as a pillow.Do you see what I see?

xoxo

Al

M and J goes for a bike ride

A few weeks ago I was walking to my mail box – yes, I still get snail mail- and saw my two young neighbors (Lets call them M and J) enjoying a lovely Florida day on their bike. As I approached J turned and waved – “hey Al” – “Hey J, please be careful”, I said, “hold on with both hands”. After all, we live on  a cobble stone street, so if she fell off, that would certainly blight her prospects of becoming a model.

Seeing both kids reminded me of my brother and I. As a kid, I rode on the back of his bike and like M and J, I am 2 years his senior. M is 8 and his sister is 10.

Naturally, since I am in the pillow making/surface design business, I was inspired to design a pillow depicting the scene.

Hello Al!

My first draft did not include the cobble stone road…

Option 1

But I thought it looked a bit drab – it needed more color. If I punch up the color on the cobble stone, that should do the trick.

I also tried different back grounds, but, since my signature style is kids playing in open spaces, I decided against this option.

Mini Chevron

Maybe I will do one with a chevron background, that seems to be hot these days. But for now, I am sticking with the our doors.

Sitting pretty

What do you think?

xoxo

Al

It was a productive day…

From the alm pillow collection

See more @ www.almcleary.com