Giving New Life to Old Garden Decor

I love buying garden decor at Hobby Lobby on clearance!

I've got a couple of super cool metal flowers I purchased there YEARS ago. 

They have become quite faded and really should have been repainted three years ago,

 but, well, I'm lazy!

The frog prince is the very first outdoor item I purchased for this home, so it's very special to me.

His crown is broken, and he's super faded, but I can't part with him.

 When we sell, I'll leave him in the bushes 

and hope that the next owners will love him too.

The flowers have two coats of Patio Paint acrylic paint.

It dried super fast and looks great! 

The frog also has Patio Paint , but he's not finished yet.

I've also been working on blocks for around the garden. 

Using cheap construction blocks and a bag of Thin Set Mortar, I've been making these tacky blocks. 

I call them Delightfully Tacky! :)

It's very simple to do- gather stuff you want to stick on the blocks like mosaic tiles, broken china, 

flat backed marbles, etc. I even did pennies on the top edges of some because they help deter snails.

Mix up the Thin Set according to the bag (I don't really measure anything, I just dump some of the mix into a container and add water a bit at a time till it's the consistency of frosting). Use a Popsicle stick or something else disposable and smear the Thin Set on the back 

of the piece that you want to adhere, then press it onto the block.

 Continue on till your design is finished. Let it dry overnight, then grout.

Let grout dry for two days and then they can go outdoors.