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A blue hydrangea. . . one of the best June treasures in my garden!

This month we have been discussing ways to organize your yard and garden, primarily focusing on a lot of ideas that have nothing to do with the actual growing of plants! If there is one thing I have learned about gardening, it is that you have to learn to cede control to nature on every decision. You can plant the best plants in the best soil according to perfect instructions and there is always something (bugs, animals, bad weather, plant diseases) that will foil your plans. It has been comforting to me (and hopefully to you too!) to know that there are other ways to add beauty, charm and personality to your garden that are more in your control.

Below is the quick version of this month’s posts.

Theme Posts

We started off the month with 8 quick and easy landscaping ideas that don’t take a lot of time or money to implement.

Next, I improved on last year’s post about inexpensively updating your old patio furniture to give it a new look. First, I told you how I made a set of 20 custom chair cushions for a grand total of less than $20. Next, I showed you a way to transform a tired vinyl strap chair into a hammock chair using nylon rope.

Inevitably with every organization project, there is some aspect involving paperwork and the same is true for gardening projects. I shared with you various ideas for creating a garden journal and/or plant markers to “file” the plants in your garden.

Ruth commented:

“We for the past 4 years have lived in 3 different houses on 2 different military bases. This home we have now has the first real garden to speak of, with lovely flowering roses and tubal roses and rosemary–and a hummingbird complete with nest and 2 babies–but not sure that goes in the gardening journal. But the 2 gals that lived immediately prior–that would have been a really neat thing to pass on to us–a gardening journal! LOVE it!! Otherwise we kind of guess at what we have and do maintenance on a guesswork only basis.”

I finished off the month with 3 garden art projects to try using inexpensive, durable materials: rock creatures, metallic flowers, and a product test of the Make Your Own Poetry Stones kit.

Lou commented:

“Adorable! We have our own hand-made molds that the grandkids put in their hand print, with their name and the date. 15 years later, they’re as fun as ever!”

FYI, my test poetry stones are still on their second day of drying time but even in just one day (despite adding too much water to the mix and having high humidity) they are hardening quite nicely. The color is changing as they dry and I will update later with a picture of the final test stones.

Social Commentary

June is the kick-off of the summer cookout season and Ruly Ruth shared a popular list of the 10 best and 10 worst foods to bring to a potluck cookout, an organizational challenge frequently faced this social season.

Ben commented:

“I agree with all of the worsts, with the caveat that a GOOD potato salad is definitely worth bringing. I have recently been making a potato salad that has a bit of white wine or champagne vinegar in it to give it a good tart finish, and (don’t tell my mother in law) [my wife] says it’s better than her mom’s.”

Ruth received several comments on her Facebook page including a complaint that spinach artichoke dip should be removed from the list of worsts and an inquiry from a bachelor wondering what to bring/buy if you don’t cook. As you grocery shop this summer, please keep an eye out for delicious store-bought goodies that would work for these social situations and feel free to comment with your findings. We recently found the new heart-shaped shortbread cookies half-dipped in chocolate at our local Costco. They are fantastic! I wanted to share a picture but they were all eaten before I could take one!

Fun Posts

June is a big gift-giving month and I provided you with some gift-giving ideas for:

• Father’s Day Gifts
• Teacher Gifts

My incredible uncle wrote a post in his newspaper column about Father’s Day gift giving that was both funny and very touching.  I encourage you to give it a read.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s posts and wish you many hours of relaxation this summer outdoors in your own garden oasis.

For my U.S. readers, Happy 4th of July! A few safety reminders for this long weekend . . .

• FEMA reminds us to be careful with fireworks and grilling.
• The American Academy of Ophthalmology reminds us that almost one-third of all fireworks-related injuries are injuries to the eyes and to be especially careful with sparklers around young children.
• Finally, MADD reminds us that this weekend is one of the most dangerous times of the year on our highways for drunk driving fatalities and to be sure to designate a sober driver for your festivities.

Have a wonderful weekend! Please check back next week when we start a new month (and the second half of 2011 if you can believe it!) and a new organizing theme.

Make Your Own Poetry Stones Deluxe Kit at amazon.com.

Earlier this month, I mentioned the possibility of making customized garden stepping stones/plant markers. One of the great products I found on amazon.com was the Make Your Own Poetry Stones Deluxe Kit. It was a great price, looked pretty simple and offered so much creative flexibility that I had to buy one for myself. Today, I wanted to share with you the results of my first test stones.

Contents: The kit comes with 6 different shape molds, 5 rectangular:

• 3 ¾” x 14”
• 3 ¾“ x 10 ½“
• 3 ¾“ x 7 ½”
• 3 ¾“ x 4 ½“ and
• 2 ½“ x 3 ¾“

and one circular (12“ diameter). It also comes with two bags of plastic letters, large and small, along with numbers and punctuation, including the @ symbol, a comma and a period. There is also a generous bag of glass stones to use as decorative accents, a 2 ½ pound bag of cement, two small jars of concrete tint (reddish brown and and orange/copper tint) and a small trowel.

You will also need to supply two buckets (preferably ones you can discard if they happen to get ruined by the cement), a large plastic garbage bag or dropcloth to protect your working surface from spills, a plastic-coated surface to let the stones dry on for at least 2 days (I used cardboard covered with plastic garbage bags for my test projects).

There is a nice sheet of directions in the kit guiding you through each step of the process. The steps are relatively simple.

Empty the concrete into a bucket.

Add 1 ½ cups water.

Mix with the trowel. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time until you have a consistency “somewhere between soft-serve and scoop ice cream”. This was probably the trickiest part of the operation. After 1 ½ cups of water, there was a lot of dry concrete still in my mix. I kept adding the water and probably put in close to 2 ½ cups of water total.

In the end, I would say I added just a little too much water. It seemed like the ideal consistency would look almost dry and crumb-like when mixed but would pack down flat. I also added just a small amount of the reddish-brown concrete tint. I wasn’t sure what color I wanted to go for. With just a little of the tint, I ended up with a brown earth-tone color, which I quite like! You could add a lot more to get a terra cotta look or add none for a gray stone look.

Next, it was time to scoop the concrete into the molds. The instructions say that the 2 ½ pound bag of concrete included in the kit is just enough to make one 14” rectangular stone or several of the smaller rectangular stones. It is not enough to make the round stone. I chose 3 of the smallest rectangular forms that combined were just a little bit larger than the 14” rectangular stone. They did use up every last bit of the concrete and there was none left over. (The directions indicate that you can buy a type of fine-grain concrete called “vinyl patch mix” at any hardware store to make more stones.)

Before starting the concrete mixing step, I had chosen the mold sizes I wanted and the letters I wanted to use, making sure the words would fit inside the molds.

I plopped the concrete mix into the molds and kept adding concrete and packing it down as hard as I could with the trowel to get out any air pockets. At first, it didn’t look like it was working very well and might be too dry. However, after my third mold was poured, I went back to the first mold and all the water in the concrete seemed to have traveled to the surface. It was almost too runny and wet on the surface but was still solid enough to work.

Now it was time to press in the letters. I was a bit too aggressive in my space planning here. Ideally you would have your word fit in the mold space plus at least one extra letter space as buffer room. I packed my words right to the edges of the mold, which worked, but just barely. You need a little space in between each letter for the concrete to expand and emboss the letters for the best look. I also pressed in a decorative accent stone as well. After using each letter mold, I put it in the second bucket, filled with water, to soak, so the concrete would not dry on the letters.

At this point, I was ready to set my stones aside to dry for the required 2-days. Fortunately, I remembered that I also needed to remove the mold forms to prevent them from being permanently adhered to the test stones! This was just a little tricky. The molds removed generally well but sometimes a corner would get stuck and I had to carefully poke the brick free with my finger, trying not to leave any impressions in the brick. At this point, you can cut off part of the excess mold if your word is not very long, round the edges of the stone with your fingers or do any other shaping you desire.

We also tried a test footprint in one of the molds to see how it would come out.

Cleanup was relatively easy. I grabbed the hose and squirted out the bucket, molds, trowel and letter forms in one of the leaf-covered areas of the yard. You probably don’t want to do this in your kitchen sink just in case the concrete hardens in your pipes.

Now to see how long it takes for the concrete to cure. Because my mix was a bit wetter than it needed to be and because of Virginia humidity, I will be surprised if 2 days is enough to dry the test bricks and think it could be closer to a week.

So far, though, I think this product is great and really fun. My children enjoyed helping with this project and are already coming up with ideas for what our next stones should say.

What would you write/impress if you were using this kit? Are you intimidated or encouraged by the results of the test? Please share in the comments.

As I poke around my garden trying to discover ways to make it more appealing without requiring a lot of expense or work, I focused in on the boring liriope border that leads to my front door. Liriope is a low-growing ornamental grass that you see in just about every yard here in Virginia. It grows well and adds a soft fringe to border edges, but it’s also kind of drab. It also tends to clump and spread so if you don’t thin it out every once in a while it becomes a thick, uninteresting border.

I am hesitant to pull it all out because it would be hard to find another plant as reliable. It is also a lot of area to cover. So, I wanted to think of something to add to the liriope to make it more interesting.

I was inspired by Michele Beschen’s ideas for DIY garden art using hardware-store materials, that I wrote about at the beginning of this month.

I particularly liked her use of metallic materials. Based on her ideas, I came up with a concept to make some sculptural flowers out of aluminum screening and copper tubing. I liked the concept because these materials add a modern edge to the soft colors and textures in the garden, contrast nicely with the greenery, and they also aren’t trying to imitate natural materials. I didn’t want to make something too cutesy or something that looked like an artificial flower. It’s an added bonus that these flowers would be year-round, and would add some charm during the flower-less winter months.

So, while this is still a project in progress, I wanted to share with you how things are going so far.

Materials

• Aluminum screening
• ¼” Copper tubing
• Various hardware items that fit on the copper tubing and can be used for the centers of the flowers. I liked lock washers, cap nuts and T-nuts but you could use whatever you like
• Waterproof super glue
• Florist’s wire
• Pipe cutter
• Heavy-duty scissors

Directions

First, cut an approximately 10 x 10” square from the aluminum screening and fold it into quarters.

Then, cut a flower shape of your choosing. I attempted a lily shape, just cutting a loose, approximate shape.

I wasn’t particularly thrilled with how my shape came out.

But after some experimenting, I determined that it made a decent flower when one half of the shape was folded into a tubular flower and the other half wrapped around it. You may want to wear gloves for this part. The screening can have some sharp edges or splinter into small metal fragments as you work with it.

Cut a very tiny hole in the screening where you want to attach the flower to the copper tubing. The holes in the screening seem to grow and stretch so cut the hole far smaller than you think you need.

Determine what additional hardware you want to use to add an accent to the flower center. I liked how a lock washer looked at the base and a brass cap nut in the center.

I put a bead of waterproof superglue where I wanted the lock washer to go and slipped it on the tubing. I then added the screen flower, put another small drop of superglue on the end of the copper tubing and screwed on a cap nut.

I then used the florist’s wire to wire down the flower into the shape I wanted and cover the space between the lock washer and the cap nut.

All that was left was to cut the copper tubing to the right length. I conferred with my handy husband, who advised me that a pipe cutter is the tool of choice for this situation. A few twists of the pipe cutter and voila, a finished flower.

My test flower contrasts nicely with the liriope and I think will give me the look I want.

Now to make a zillion more and see if the final concept works! As a bonus, I found some additional copper tubing in the basement while looking for the pipe cutter so I have even more material to work with and can experiment with different shapes for other areas of the garden.

There are endless creative possibilities for this project. You can shorten or lengthen the copper “stems,” cut different shapes from the screening and even spray paint the screening if you want more color.

What do you think of these artificial flowers? Would you try this in your own garden? Please share in the comments.

This month, as I am looking to inject a little personality into my garden, my daughter’s school art project provided some inspiration. Using a well-known material we all have free access to, you can create an endless number of imaginative creatures. The material, of course, is rocks!

As we scouted the yard for rocks, we found a variety of examples. While I was more focused on finding the more attractive rocks and pebbles, my daughter showed no such constraints. She even picked up several pieces of asphalt from the crumbling road.

We took the rocks inside to wash them, then painted them with a variety of all-purpose craft paints.

After the painting was done, we glued them together into sculptures with an outdoor superglue. It was a little tough getting the rocks to balance while they dried but the finished sculptures were solid.

When we were done we had monsters

a frog

a “duck”

and a fairy.

We tried posing them in various spots around the yard. Because we only had small rocks to work with, our creatures are pretty tiny in scale compared to the plants but they add a lot of whimsy and fun. They seem to show up best in bare spots, near smaller plants and on rocky surfaces. Here is a monster guarding the boxwood.

Two watchmen for a growing cedar.

and a fairy hiding out beneath the hosta.

These little creatures are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing, sparking imagination.

“Mom, do you think the fairy will get along with the monsters?”

My last step is to spray the creatures with a clear-coat sealer and hope the craft paint and sealer will stand up to the weather. The directions on the sealer advise not to spray in high humidity. We may have to cheat a bit on that instruction otherwise we will be waiting until fall!

Hope you enjoyed this free or cheap garden art project. You could even skip the paint and leave the rocks natural or stack them in piles instead of gluing them.

Would you try this rock art project? What other ideas do you have for using rocks in the garden? Please share in the comments.

It’s summer time! Cookouts abound and from Memorial to Labor Day, grilling and outdoor gatherings are the fête du jour! With that, when you are invited to one of these lovely events, I have suggestions for what you should bring that will be enjoyed by most!

10 Best Things to Bring to a Summer Cookout:

1. Kid-Friendly Fare. If you are one of only a few parents in attendance of a party that is family-oriented, a kid-friendly dish like Mac ‘N Cheese or chicken nuggets are greatly appreciated–and the crazy secret is that the adults eat this too–so no worries about not having a hit on your hands.

2. Say Cheese. The Big Trend right now is beautiful mozzarella slices with tomato and basil on top of each slice–a gorgeous site to behold–and the bigger the plate and the more on it the prettier it looks! Occasionally someone will drizzle a vinaigrette over it–it holds up very well and is usually devoured immediately!

3. Adult Cupcakes. A friend made a gorgeous set of chocolate rum cupcakes complete with a liquor-infused icing—-fabulous!! A very fun juxtaposition.

4. Cocktails. It’s BYOB-what to do? Mix up a lovely big cocktail in a glass sun tea jar filled with ice. A friend recently brought “Pink Panties”. Other faves of late have been Mojitos, Margaritas—and the awesome Pomegranate Martinis…..to die for! If it’s a non-alcoholic event, fancy sparkling sodas from specialty stores such as Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods are really fun. Our local store in Ridgecrest, CA, Bottany’s Desire sells lovely sparkling imported juice beverages that are the first to go at parties!

5. Waldorf Salad. Although I’d store the lettuce leaves on a bag of ice wrapped in paper towels to keep in the sun before serving. The lovely mayo dressing actually preserves in the sun–it’s a really fun combination of apples and dried fruits–occasionally add tuna or cooked chopped chicken—lovely, fresh, salty and sweet! Wonderful, wonderful side dish! (P.S. from Anne. If you don’t know what Waldorf Salad is, like me, there is a recipe here. Also, while you always have to be careful with mayonnaise dishes in the sun, particularly if you are adding something like chicken to it, Ruth is right that commercially-prepared mayonnaise is relatively safe. Read more about mayonnaise here.)

6. Ambrosia. In the spirit of milk-based items, my Darling Husband’s favorite side dish anywhere is Ambrosia! Aptly named, it’s a sweet dish with a whipped and/or sour cream base–depending on which recipe you use–we prefer low-fat Cool Whip with dry pistachio pudding mix and canned fruit cocktail. Super easy to make–serve super cold. Delish! Kids and adults alike love this refreshing side/desert.

7.  Crockpots. Crockpots do show up—filled with wonderful items! A gorgeous baked bean or chili dish is always fabulous–esp. if hot dogs are on the grill–making them into chili dogs is THE BEST! Also, meatballs–super easy and always loved–a recent friend did a BBQ/Marinara sauce that was lovely! Or even making them in a cream sauce–yums!

8.  Pigs in a Blanket. Even the Ritz Carlton can’t get rid of this appetizer offering! Cocktail weenies wrapped in dough. Always a hit throughout the ages!!

9. Fruit and Veggie Tray. Yes—a veggie tray–or fruit and veggie tray. And don’t just stick to celery and carrots. People LOVE sliced peppers, mushrooms, green onions are hot right now–asparagus. The more variety, the faster it will disappear. Obviously melons, grapes and cherries are always a picnic favorite too!

10. Trifle. A trifle will always be loved—for 4th of July it’s red, white and blue baby! I like mine with angel food cake, vanilla pudding, whipped cream and then strawberries and blueberries layered one after the other after the other….A chocolate version is to die for as well, with a chocolate bundt cake crumbled between chocolate pudding, whipped cream and even crumbled Oreos. Yummo, as my Aussie friends say!

Presentation is everything! Some of the best money I’ve spent has been on items to bring things to events. A divided veggie and dip holder is expensive–but worth it’s weight in gold! A carry-all that holds a 9×13 glass covered baking dish that comes with a hot and cold pack is a staple. We received ours as a wedding present 13 years ago, and I use it all of the time. My trifle dish always looks amazing–and everyone’s selling them these days! Love it!! If it looks good, chances are that’s the thing people will go to over and over and over….

Prodyne AB-5-L Appetizers-On-Ice Acrylic Divided Tray with Lids at amazon.com.

Pampered Chef Trifle Bowl with Lid at amazon.com.

Anchor Hocking Oven Basics 6-Piece Bake-N-Take Bakeware Set at amazon.com.

With that note–what to not bring to a cookout:

1. Store-bought veggie trays. If you do bring a store-bought veggie tray–make sure everything looks REALLY fresh—and ideally if you have a few seconds (which sometimes I admit even I don’t)–plate it on your own wares! It just pops more!

2. Spinach artichoke dip. I’m SO OVER right now the spinach artichoke dip. I think it’s really fattening and so NOT in the food of the 2010 decade! It SCREAMS the ’90s to me!

3. Bad potato salad. Yes–it’s bland and fattening and tastes of NOTHING! We’re WAY better off without it! Skip the calories, and if I do use those calories–make them worth my while, baby!

4.  Cheap versions of food the host is already preparing. Okay– a friend did this years ago—20 Big Macs from McDonald’s. And this was at a cookout where we were making and grilling gourmet burgers—just don’t bring anything at all! OY! (But guess what—they all got eaten–but not by me!)

5.  Outdated sushi.  If you’re going to do sushi–super super cool! BUT–double check the dates or order rolls fresh from a really reputable restaurant–otherwise it’s a quick trip to the ER with food poisoning. (After writing this I’m beginning to think I’ve almost seen it all here!)

6. Bland Soup. If it’s a hot day, espcially a hot day–if you’re bringing a hot dish–make it spicy or have some definitive taste. This is NOT the place for chicken soup! As seen on a Top Chef cookoff challenge…ugh! They could have easily made it into a great chicken tortilla soup and won over the judges…but not so much with plain soup….save those for winter!!

7. Spam. Do not bring canned meat to a cookout–or a product with that in use. Please. Enough said!

8. Bad Dessert. I have to include this from “Roland’s Cookout Rules“–which hilariously yet truthfully includes:
“If u just started baking, you are not allowed to bring any desserts.”

9. New recipes. Please try them first! (Not that I’m not guilty of this myself.) There are so many iffies….and really, we all just want our food to shine!!

10.  A Bad Attitude. The WORST thing to bring to a cookout is a stressed-out, negative person. STAY HOME!! Don’t just sit in a corner and sulk. I have no time and tolerance for that–and trust me, neither does the host/hostess. Fuggeddaboudit!

I am so excited to see what suggestions and feedback our readers have for cookouts! Please respond–we read every response and I anxiously await new ideas and feedback on my ideas. Bon Appetit!

From Anne:

Even a novice cook can bring a nice offering to a potluck. Below are some of the winners I was able to produce with very minimal effort or cooking talent.

Costco frozen spanikopita triangles (cooked, of course) with a bowl of kalamata olives. So easy to make and I took home only crumbs from this tray.

I once made a shrimp platter that looked gorgeous, was healthy and every last bit was eaten. I bought a bag of frozen (shell-on) shrimp, boiled them at home and peeled them, leaving the tails on. To serve, use two round Pyrex glass bowls, one large and one small. Put the small bowl inside the large bowl and fill the gap between the two bowls with crushed ice. Put the peeled shrimp on the ice and fill the smaller bowl with cocktail sauce. Wish I could find the picture from this one! So easy!

Vegan banana macaroons a.k.a. 'Bananaroonies.' While vegan and other 'weird health food' as my husband calls it, is a big risk at a potluck, these were well-received and especially appreciated by other vegetarians we didn't know would be in attendance.

Dulce de leche no-bake cheesecake. Just tried this recipe from the back of the can for Nestle Dulce de Leche for my daughter's Spanish language enrichment fiesta. Easy, creamy, cool and great that it is no-bake!

Update: 2012 Cookout Trends

Spiderwort in bloom. Another of my gardening successes this year . . . and one that I should add to my garden journal!

As a truly novice gardener, I only began keeping a garden journal last year. I have a 3-ring binder with blank paper in it just to have a spot to put all the garden-related information I was accumulating. Last year, I:

• drew a very rough (not to scale) diagram of my gardening spaces, where I had planted various plants and the dates I planted them;
• pasted in copies of the seed packets, planting tags from purchased plants and sales receipts so that I knew the names of all the plants I was using;
• wrote notes when anything significant happened, such as something bloomed or died; and
• took photos throughout the year to document my plantings and any growth (which are still on the computer and not in the journal itself).

My system is still very rough and, truthfully, a bit disorganized.

I wanted to know what type of records professional gardeners keep for their plantings. Fortunately, the web is chock-full of examples. It seems that the main types of information good gardeners need are:

• detailed planting diagrams (usually drawn to scale)
• detailed seed-starting and transplanting logs
• soil amendment and fertilizer logs
• bloom logs (to document what in the garden blooms when)
• pruning logs
• detailed plant pest and disease-management logs
• for food crops, yield and harvest logs
• documentation on hardscaping structures, such as materials used to build a deck or patio and the maintenance schedule required
• To Do lists by month

Proficient gardeners appear to use their garden journals primarily to discern the very best techniques. The journal documents all the experiments the gardener has done and, over time, helps the gardener save time by simplifying just to what works well. A garden journal has also been suggested as a wonderful way to add value to your home in the event you ever need to sell. The monthly yard and landscaping to-do list alone would be a huge gift for any new homeowner to receive.

If you want to get really detailed on your garden, there are many free garden journal templates available for download to get you started.

• My Garden Journal from Homestead Harvest
• Garden Journal Templates from gardensandcrafts.com
• Gardening Quick-n-Easy journal
• Arbico Organics garden journal
• A list of various methods to keep a garden journal, including alternatives to the binder method, from HMK Consultants
• A child-oriented garden journal template from University of Illinois Extension

I don’t know that I am ready yet for the level of detail in these sample journals but they are nice guides to have. My goal this year is to do a better job putting in photos of my garden into my existing journal and updating my notes.

In addition to the garden journal, however, most gardeners also have a backup plant documentation system in the form of plant markers put in the ground where the plants are. There are many ways to create plant markers. The simplest is to use the plastic tags that come with purchased potted plants. If your plant doesn’t come with these tags attached, it is easy to make your own from materials such as:

Puritan #706 Tongue Depressor Senior 100/box at amazon.com.	tongue depressors or craft sticks marked with permanent markers
Garden Labels--Aluminum Tree Tags with Copper Wire. Bundle of 25 Tags at amazon.com.	purchased aluminum plant tags that you can etch yourself with a pen or other semi-sharp object
6" White Plastic Labels - 50 Pack at amazon.com.	plastic plant tags or cut pieces of old plastic mini-blinds marked with permanent markers
Shachihata Inc Products - Paint Marker, Fine Point 0.08mm, Gold at amazon.com.	rocks (marked with permanent markers or outdoor paint)
Make Your Own Marker Stones Kit at amazon.com.	mold-your-own bricks or stepping stones with the plant names on them

Do you keep records on your own gardening or landscaping efforts? What methods do you use? Please share in the comments.

You may also like this Ruly post:

• Punched Aluminum Plant Markers

The end of the school year is upon most of us and that means it is also time to find teacher gifts! The teacher present is a bit challenging as most of us don’t know the teacher all that well personally and have to walk a fine line between giving a thoughtful and appreciated gift but not going overboard and embarrassing the teacher with an extravagant gift.

What are some ideas for teacher gifts?

Money

When I was doing some reading on Christmas presents a while back, one source mentioned that the tradition of Christmas presents for friends and neighbors began in large part when parents of schoolchildren gave money to the local school teacher at Christmas to help the teacher with living expenses.

With many school budgets being slashed and teacher wages frozen, I am sure many teachers still desire money as their first choice of present. One resourceful mom in my daughter’s preschool class organized a group Visa gift card from several parents. I once gave a creative teacher a gift card to Michael’s and she was very appreciative as she could use it to buy supplies she needed for the classroom.

If you aren’t comfortable giving money, however, what else might you give the teacher?

The Gift of Thanks

The gifts that have received the biggest teacher response have been homemade thank you cards. I have a very simple formula I use for mine.

First, at some point during the school year (preferably at a time when everyone is nicely dressed, such as a school program) take a picture of your child with his/her teacher. Print out the photo in 4”x6” (or smaller) size.

Fold a colorful piece of paper of your choosing in half lengthwise, and glue the photo to the front.

Run a line of glue that says “Thank you” and add glitter.

Write a nice message on the inside (or, have your child do it) and you are done! One year all I gave the teachers were cards and nothing else. I am sure for many teachers this is present enough.

Other Token Gifts

I suspect that most teacher presents fall into the “token gifts” category. Imagine if you were a teacher and received a ton of these every year. Last Christmas, I was absolutely shocked by the number of gifts the teachers received from parents. It was an entire table full! I have no idea what was in all of those presents but I imagine it must get overwhelming.

Unless if you know the teacher well and what he/she would like as a present, it is probably best to stick to consumables (i.e. things that can be used up quickly or can be easily given away to others who need them). The two most popular are probably food and bath and body products.

This year, I found a great sale at Bath & Body Works and created some cute teacher gift bags with a hand soap, body wash and lip balm. Thanks to a clever sales associate who steered me toward the clearance table, the entire gift cost less than $15, wrapping included!

Bath & Body Works is a great store for teacher gifts since the fragrances are unique and there is something for everyone. While their specialty is anti-bacterial hand soaps (which certainly come in useful for any teacher), after reading one too many cautions on triclosan (the active ingredient in antibacterial hand soaps), I have stopped using them in my household. Bath & Body Works’ selection of non-antibacterial hand soaps is far more limited (but still wonderful) but their shampoos, body wash and other products can be substituted instead.

Box Tops Reminder

Finally, a reminder that if your school collects them, now is a great time to gather up your supply of box tops and labels for education and drop them in the school office. While it may seem a small thing to clip these little 10 cent labels from various boxed and canned goods, the dollars add up over time, with $400 million paid out to schools since 1996! If you are wondering how much your school earns each year from box tops, the boxtops4education.com site allows you to look up your school.

Do you give teacher gifts? For all the teachers/school employees out there, what gifting guidelines would you pass along to parents? Please share in the comments.

"Father's Day Present." Photo by Beth Nazario. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

Lately I seem to be buying presents every week. Between birthdays, weddings and holidays, June seems to bring a lot of gift-giving. One of the upsides of a down economy, however, is that it is a good time to go shopping! While you may be groaning at the cost of gas and groceries, nearly everything else, and particularly discretionary items like gifts, are on sale.

Father’s Day in the U.S. this year is on Sunday, June 19th. Since I did a post on Mother’s Day gift ideas, I felt it only fair to do a reciprocal post for Father’s Day.

Dads are notoriously hard to shop for. For me, there are 3 primary reasons why:

• Men have vastly different gift-giving preferences than women that, as a woman, I find hard to understand.
• Most of the gift-giving industry is woman-focused so even a lot of men’s gift suggestions are not necessarily what men want but what women are willing to give men.
• Perhaps reflecting long-standing differences in the economic status of men and women, men often buy what they want right away rather than waiting for a gift-giving occasion and hinting to their gift-giving family members.

If you are at a loss for what to get dear Dad, there are many Father’s Day gift guides to consult. For example:

• Oprah’s Books Men Want (I had my husband review this list and he agreed with 6 of the 40 selections.)
• Williams Sonoma, Top 10 Picks for Father’s Day Gifts
• GQ, The Ultimate Father’s Day Gift Guide
• Lion Brand Yarn, 7 Father’s Day Gift Ideas (Sadly, despite my knitting abilities, there is nothing on this list my husband would want, not even a sweater.)
• Amazon.com’s Gift Guide for Dads

But do these gift guides accurately reflect modern Dads? What do Dads really want anyway?

Fortunately, Joe Gumm, whose book 150 Secrets to a Happy Wife, I reviewed in April, provides an answer to this question.

“We all know what makes men happy: food, sex and sports. It’s not an ancient Chinese secret uncovered in a Dan Brown novel and it doesn’t take much effort to fulfill the needs on this list. . . . Granted, there are other things that make us happy, but for the most part, food, sex and sports are it. If you really, really, really want to make us happy, let us do all three at the same time.”

–Joe Gumm, 150 Secrets to a Happy Wife

So, there you have it. Three things all Dads want. According to Joe Gumm’s description, if dads were in charge of Father’s Day, the celebrations on this day would be more like a fraternity or bachelor party rather than the Norman Rockwell image of Dad sitting on the couch surrounded by family.

Now compare this list of real men’s desires to the typical Father’s Day gift suggestions, particularly ties. There is nothing on Joe Gumm’s list that requires wearing a tie. My husband despises ties and would find it a particularly disappointing present. For him, it would be the male-equivalent of receiving a vacuum cleaner. It is a reminder of his obligations, of being uncomfortable and formal . . . hardly something he wants to remember on a day to celebrate his achievements as a father.

So, with Joe Gumm’s guidelines in mind, I present an alternative Father’s Day gift list.

Food

I have never met a man who does not appreciate a good, home-cooked meal. If you are a great cook, you could make the dad in your life ecstatic by cooking a meal of his favorite recipes. If you are an OK cook, try one thing that you do especially well. If you are a horrible cook, order take out from his favorite restaurant. To make Dad happy, today is not the day for salads and healthy recipes. On this day to indulge Dad, most likely you will need to ensure that the menu includes hearty items and a healthy portion of meat (such as steak, ribs, bacon or hamburgers) and a full-fat dessert. Any recipe by Paula Deen would be appropriate.

In a rare exception to the "no healthy food" rule, this chicken barley chili (from the back of the Quaker barley box) was a big hit at our house.

Homemade "Extreme Banana Bread" from this recipe was devoured quickly too.

Sex

While sex is the reason behind the whole holiday, I doubt that many families will be presenting Dad with a racy gift on Father’s Day. It’s just too awkward. Instead, consider indulging Dad’s other “passions.”

Driving
The average Dad spends a lot of time in the car. Give Dad’s ride a little TLC for Father’s Day and make him feel like he drives a sports car, whether he does or not. Treat him to a car wash/detailing. Upgrade his car accessories with rubber floor mats, nice seat cushions, a new car stereo or even a new key ring. Check the manufacturer’s website/online store for accessory suggestions for Dad’s particular make and model of car. Or, consider cleaning up/organizing the garage as a gift so that dad’s vehicle has rock star parking.

Honda Logo Black Tear Drop Key Chain at amazon.com.

Chevy Weatherpro All Season Mats - Set of 2 at amazon.com.

Universal Car Seat Cover Full Set with Airbags Ready and Rear 60/40 Split Fb060 Beige/black 115 at amazon.com.

Tools

Even Dads that aren’t handy appreciate good tools. Look for a tool that easily solves a current maintenance problem. If you don’t know Dad’s preference in this area, give him a technological upgrade in simple tools everyone uses all the time, like a hammer, screwdriver, tape measure or work gloves. If he has every tool known to man, perhaps look for some organizational systems to display them attractively and help him keep track of them.

Energizer 84020 12V All-In-One Jump-Start System with Built-In Air Compressor and Power Inverter at amazon.com.

The Bulldog Hardware 131588 Peg-A-System Ultimate Kit at amazon.com.

Pocket Size Folding Screwdriver Torx Set with Keychain Snap Hook at amazon.com.

Adventure

Dads long to maintain an aura of adventure, excitement and danger. Some dads have dangerous jobs or hobbies and get this experience in real life. Other dads look to live out their adventures through video games, books and movies. For the gaming dad, consider a T-shirt, boxer shorts or pajamas that subtly and fashionably reflect his online persona. For the reading dad, books on science fiction, the military, disaster survival, espionage, money and power or key moments in history intrigue. For the movie dad, action adventure is the way to go.

Think Geek's Crest of Hyrule T-shirt at amazon.com.	HALO 3, UNSC Military Green Adult T-Shirt at amazon.com.	Playstation Cotton Boxer Shorts for Men by WebUndies at amazon.com.

Sports

Interestingly, Father’s Day does not seem to coincide with any major sporting events. If the Dad in your life is a sports fan, there are several easy gifts along these lines, including:

For the spectator/fan:

Help Dad make the right fashion statement at the next game day event. Every sports team has a licensed gear shop with many apparel choices. Give him a summer wardrobe upgrade he will enjoy wearing. Season tickets, and books or videos about the team are other good choices here.

Green Bay Packers Fan Pride Striped Moisture Wicking Men's Polo Shirt at amazon.com.

Boston Red Sox "Classic" T-Shirt, Red at amazon.com.

Adidas Miami Heat 3-Stripe Dream Short at amazon.com.

For the sports-playing Dad:

If your Dad is more into playing sports than watching them, check to see if his sports equipment could use a refresh. Long distance runners are always in need of an extra pair of shoes and tennis players can use a fresh can of tennis balls. Basics like socks and moisture-wicking shirts and shorts are good choices too as well as injury-treatment devices like braces and supports. Gift certificates for personal training or videos or books on Dad’s sport of choice would also make Dad smile.

FiveFingers KSO - Men's by Vibram at amazon.com.

Intech Ti-Cabretta Men's Golf Glove at amazon.com.

McDavid Thermal Shoulder Wrap with Gel Pack at amazon.com.

I hope this list has given you some fresh ideas for Father’s Day gifts beyond the standard tie. What other gift ideas would you add to this list? Please share in the comments.

I recently received a reader question on my patio furniture makeover from last year:

Tracy commented:

“Can you please tell me how the paint is holding up on the vinyl? Looking to do the same. Wondering how well it wears? Looks beautiful!”

The paint itself held up beautifully. Again, it is really cheap spray paint done in just one coat. We left the chairs outside in sun, rain and even winter snow and the paint held tight. In general, the black spray paint hides a ton more dirt than the white paint (no surprise there) and tends to look a little better. There are a few dings and nicks on the metal parts of the chairs from last fall’s bumper crop of acorns. The vinyl parts seem to be just fine.

However….

The vinyl on our chairs is really old and brittle and even has moldy spots in some places. We threw out one chair last year when my lightweight daughter stood up on the seat and several of the vinyl straps snapped beneath her. While the sanding and paint could have weakened the vinyl, the vinyl was in pretty bad shape to begin with. It is probably over 10 years old and has spent a harsh life outside. When you sit on any of the vinyl strap pieces, you get a little sense of unease that the vinyl is stretching beneath you and possibly could snap.

This year, we needed to make a decision on the vinyl chairs….fix them or get rid of them. Since vinyl strapping is kind of hard to find and expensive when you do, I had to exercise my creative thinking to come up with some inexpensive alternative that would extend the life of these chairs just a bit longer.

Inspired by this spring’s Ruly Ruth post on spring and summer fashion trends, I was reminded of a macramé pattern I have for covering a director’s chair. Could macramé work on these chairs?

I knew that given the wet and shady conditions of my yard that cotton rope was not going to fare well and would probably mold. So, in the hardware/fishing section of my local Wal-Mart I found a selection of polypropylene and nylon rope that promised to be “rot resistant.” The polypropylene rope in particular comes in a variety of great colors.

I was tempted to try out some neon pink chairs but then remembered how versatile my black and white color scheme was. I settled on a simple white 3/16” nylon rope.

While I have never done a macramé project before, I assumed it couldn’t be much harder than following a knitting pattern. I looked over the instructions I had and did a small sample test trying out both complex and simple macramé designs. In the end, I decided that while the macramé looked nice, it didn’t look all that comfortable to sit on.

So, I scrapped all the complex designs for a very simple weaving pattern. I read a couple of instructions online (from fishing sites, curiously) about how to make strong, secure knots. Most of those knots were too hard to execute in the nylon rope so I again did the best I could improvising in this area.

First, I washed the chair frame and cut off the vinyl straps. The straps are surprisingly thick and could only be cut with a pair of pruning shears.

The denuded chair needed a little touch-up paint to catch the spots where the straps hid the frame so I used a little of the excess spray paint from last year.

Next, I took the nylon cording and cut a piece that was approximately double the width of the chair plus about 6-8 inches.

With the cording folded in half, I put a slip knot around one side of the chair frame.

I pulled the cording as tight as I could, running the loose ends underneath and around the chair frame, crossing the ends on the front side of the rope and tying a square knot on the back side to secure.

I then repeated the process all the way down the length of the chair seat alternating the sides for the slip knot and square knot. (I didn’t want all the square knots to fail at once, causing one side of the chair to fall down.)

After all the width ropes were done, it was time for the weaving. First, attempting to follow a fly-tying knot, I took the end of the rope, put it over the top frame of the chair, twisted one end around the other several times to create loops and then pulled the loose end through the loops. From my experience, the exact method of making the knot doesn’t seem to matter, just make sure it is strong when you are finished.

The weaving is simple over, under, over, under down the length of the chair.

If you are lucky, you will have a frame bar at the bottom to wrap the cord around and wind it back up toward the top. If, like me, you don’t have a bar at the bottom, when you get to the end of a row, just wind the rope around the last rope width and head back up. When you run out of rope, tie it off to the frame (using a strong knot) and start a new piece.

Because I was trying to conserve rope, I left a lot of space in between each row of weaving. If you want a tighter look, you could put the weaving lengths closer together but be warned that you will use A LOT of rope. When you are finished, your chair will look something like this.

All that is left to do is deal with all those untidy ends of rope.

To finish off the ends, I experimented with several types of knots but the one I liked the best was just to take the loose ends and criss-cross them several times around the rope width.

Then tie them securely in a square knot in the back.

Trim the end of the rope with scissors close to the knot but leave about ½” extra.

Now, for a little pyromania! To prevent the rope ends from fraying, use a little flame to seal them up. You only need to flame the ends for just a few seconds. Be careful to avoid getting the flame near the other rope parts of the chair.  The flame will leave a little black or brown mark on the rope but given my black and white color scheme I didn’t mind this.

Voila! A hammock chair!

We have been testing out the chair for a few weeks now to make sure the rope will be strong enough. So far, so good! There is something about the appearance of this chair that makes it more inviting to sit in than the original black vinyl. The only downside of my technique is that the weaving ropes get a little mussed in the seat portion when someone sits in the chair for a while.

These can be quickly combed back into place with your fingers in about 10 seconds, however. If you do a tighter weave with more rope, you probably won’t have this problem.

Each chair needs about 3 spools of cording to complete, for a cost of about $12 per chair. (If your climate will permit the use of cotton clothesline instead of the nylon, you can probably cut this cost by 50-75%). This is more expensive than just spray-painting the vinyl but still less expensive than buying a new chair and hopefully durable for many years.

What do you think of this makeover? Please share in the comments.

Last year, I created a minor stir with my budget patio furniture makeover where I gave a fresh look to my tired patio furniture by spray painting it black and sewing black and white cushions from inexpensive vinyl tablecloth fabric and foam mattress padding.

We did not baby our patio cushions and left them out in all kinds of weather. They were rained on, even snowed on over the winter and well….let’s just say that inexpensive vinyl tablecloth fabric is not meant for that kind of abuse. After one year, there were rips and holes in the fabric and water had soaked through to the foam padding beneath degrading it.

Before I felt completely depressed about the loss of my cushions, I took note of this advice about patio furniture from Better Homes and Gardens.

“[C]onsider [inexpensive outdoor] fabrics semi-disposable. Leave ‘em out in the rain and then let the sun dry them again. They’ll last just a year or two, but then you’ll be free to start with a fresh look all over again.

The other alternative is to invest in good, rugged, exterior-quality fabrics, found at most fabric shops. They resists fading and mildew, and will be around for years.”

–”Budget Landscaping,” Better Homes and Gardens

This year, it was time for a fresh look. While I intended to head to the fabric store again, being short on time, I instead found these fun tablecloth prints at my local Wal-Mart. All of the tablecloth sizes were the same price so I bought the biggest sizes I could find. It was the same type of vinyl fabric I used last year and better yet it was only about $1.60 a yard. I bought two coordinating prints, a polka-dot and a stripe.

Wal-Mart's cute vinyl tablecloth selection this year.

Last year’s cushions came out great but there was just one problem with them. I used standard square seat cushions for the chairs and they were just a bit too short. When you sat in the chair body parts would overhang the cushion. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it just could have been better. I also misjudged how many mismatched chairs I really had and didn’t realize that some chairs had a short rectangular back and others more of a long oval back. You can see my mistakes in the photos below.

This year, I wanted to correct the poor fit of the chair cushions by creating custom-fit patio cushions. It really was not hard. The first task was to create pattern templates for each cushion. To do this, I just laid down some newspaper on each chair, traced the shape I wanted and cut it out.

Newspaper template pattern for patio chair cushion.

I then cut the same shape out of the inexpensive mattress foam padding and added about 1 inch all the way around as I cut two identical pieces of my tablecloth fabric.

Fabric cut 1" wider than foam padding.

Next, just like last year, I had to make about one million (ok, 24 or so) ties to tie the cushions to the chairs. I used the striped fabric and cut strips 1” by 20” long. I pinned the wrong sides of the fabric together, sandwiching the ties in each corner where I needed a tie.

I started sewing on the shortest side of the cushion about 2” from the corner and sewed a seam on the sewing machine all the way around, stopping 2” past the final corner, reinforcing the seam with a second line of stitching. I realized that this instruction is confusing so I created the diagram below to illustrate.

I then turned the fabric right sides out, stuffed in the foam and hand-stitched the remaining opening closed.
Below is the final result! A bright new look for 2011.

My daughter also alerted me to the fact that the small rectangular cushions were the perfect size to tie onto some of our little side tables for extra bench seating. While these little tables can’t hold a lot of weight, they can hold my daughters who also like the fact that the side tables sit a little higher than the chairs. I sewed 2 additional cushions and now we have seating for 6 if we ever need it.

The nice thing about black and white chairs is that you can choose practically any cushion fabric pattern you want and it will match perfectly!  There are so many options for vinyl tablecloths that it really opens huge creative possibilities.  At the end of summer, watch for a clearance sale on tablecloths and pick up one to sew into cushions during the doldrums of winter for next season.  Or, you may get really lucky and find a deal right now for this summer.  The tablecloths I picked are currently on half-price clearance!

Since I only sewed cushions for one table and chair set, it did not take much time and cost about $20 in materials for 10 cushions. Another benefit to this year’s approach is that I have fewer cushions to store and need less space to store them when not in use. Right now they fit in the bottom of a small storage bench. This makes it easy to take the cushions off when we are finished using them and might extend the life of the cushions somewhat.

You may be wondering what about cushions for the larger strap chairs. For those, I am taking a different approach this year. To find out what, you’ll have to read Thursday’s post!

What do you think of this year’s patio cushion look? Please share in the comments.