Mama Leisha Guest Post

I have always loved watermelon!  I love to eat the fruit as much as I love spitting the seeds!  I love my watermelon flavored lip gloss.  I think the watermelon Jolly Rancher is the tastiest of "Rancher family."  I have a watermelon scented candle.  So... imagine my delight when I walked into the Wood Connection and saw all of their adorable watermelon crafts on the shelves.  What a great way to celebrate the upcoming summer season!  I just knew I had to make something.
What you'll need for this project:
--red, green, and black paint
--wood stain
--mod podge
--wooden crate or rectangular planter
--3 wooden watermelon kits
--wire
--scrapbook paper
--that messy, fake Spanish Moss stuff!
--dry floral foam and newspaper

Step 1.)  Paint all of your watermelon pieces from your kits.  (Yes, those are my legs and gnarly feet.  I included them in the picture to show you that I do craft in leopard print pants, occasionally.)

Step 2.)  I wanted my "melon centers" to look a little distressed, so I roughed them up with some sandpaper.

  
Step 3.)  At the Wood Connection, I found some cute gingham-print paper in a lovely shade of green.  I traced my green watermelon pieces, cut the shapes out, then mod podged the paper onto the wood.  (If you are unsure how to mod podge, I highly recommend www.modpodgerocksblog.com for Amy's video tutorials.  They.  Are.  Excellent.) The Wood Connection recommends using a white wood glue that they sell in their store and that works really well too.

Step 4.)  Once the mod podge has completely dried, glue all the watermelon pieces together.  I used a hot glue gun.

Step 5.)  Stain your wooden crate.  I found my crate at JoAnn and thought it would make a great planter box.  You could use an actual planter box if you'd like.  (Which would be very cute.)

Step 6.)  Once the crate was completely dry, I attacked it with sandpaper and distressed it a little!  Next, I took two rectangular shaped, floral foam blocks and stuffed them inside the crate.

Step 7.)  Take your leftover scrapbook paper and glue or tape it to the inside of the crate, across the "open slits."  Then stuff all the gaps with crumbled up newspaper.  This adds extra stability, and fills in the box nicely.  (And yes, that is a Diet Coke beside my crate.  It's a "craft time" staple!)

Step 8.)  The fun part!  Putting it all together.  Poke your watermelons' dowels into the craft foam to position them where you want them.  Fill in the rest of the crate with that messy, Spanish Moss stuff. 

Note:  A few extra touches really make this craft pop.  First of all, I added some rusty looking wire to the moss.  I curled pieces of wire and placed them throughout the planter box, to give the impression of "watermelon vines."  Next, I found little garden stakes in the dollar bins at my local Target.  I knew the "Welcome to my garden" sign/stake would be perfect for my watermelon planter.  You can adapt this idea to your liking...or even make your own sign!  (Another idea:  place watermelon seed packets in the planter box instead.  Wouldn't that be cute?!)

I was SO thrilled with the finished project, I took it outside for a photo shoot on my front lawn.  (I'm sure my neighbors think I'm crazy!)

A big, "watermelon-sized" THANK YOU to the Wood Connection for allowing me this opportunity to guest post!  And of course, thank you for being one of my favorite places on earth!  The Wood Connection has generously donated a $25 gift certificate to be given to one lucky "Mama Leisha" reader.  For details on how to enter the contest, please visit "She Calls Me Mama Leisha," at http://callmemamaleisha.blogspot.com/

Happy Watermelon Crafting!!!