You will never go back to a boring sidewalk after seeing what I do with a stencil and my power washer! You can see more of my crazy creations here
The first thing I did was screw my house into my faucet so it was ready to be used.
For this project, I used a folk art stencil that says welcome.
Next, I grabbed my power washer.
Make sure to connect your hose to the power washer according to your machines directions.
Now it was time to place my stencil onto the ground.
I also turned on the water so that it was flowing to my power washer.
To keep my stencil in place while I was washing it, I stepped on the corners. You could also use rocks or bricks to hold it in place.
Holding it very still, I power washed all over the stencil.
Once I had power washed it, I peeled it up. You can instantly see the welcome sign right there in the middle of the cement.
I continued doing this all over my sidewalk. Here in Colorado, we don't grow a lot of moss or anything. We are very dry climate. I think this stencil would work excellently in an environment where you maybe have a little more dirt that gets around or potentially some more moss because it'll clean away the dirt and debris, which is what this power wash is doing. Mine isn't giving quite the emphasis that it might be in your neck of the woods per se, because we just have a drier climate.
Look how cool it turned out. Can imagine the possibilities with a project like this? You could make a faux rug on your front porch or patio or do something like this for special occasions like graduations, birthdays, Mother's Day, or Father's Day. I hope this inspires you to try stenciling your concrete at your home too.
I would love to have you stop by my blog Chas' Crazy Creations for the full
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The boys and I extend a huge thanks to Adrian, whom you can meet in the videos he’s been creating on The Post’s website. I loved this video about tomatoes, in which he combined visits with DC-area community gardeners and with our mutual friend Amy Goldman, the heirloom tomato queen who lives not far from me. Adrian’s recent story on Amy is a must-read as well.Also thanks to my very dear friend Erica Berger, who performed trick photography during the Washington Post photo shoot, so that (finally) a photo of Mother of the Frogboys that’s more recent than me at age 3 appears here. I didn’t see any of Erica’s photos that ran in the paper, or others from her shoot including this one, on The Post’s website…just the story itself is there…
Joseph and I are two peas in a pod, you see, but also apples and oranges. Joseph, who gardens in Michigan, and I are both seed-catalog madpeople—but we’re mostly mad about different catalogs, and different items.Back on the first of December, I wrote to Joseph, author of “Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener,” to ask him if in, say, a month he’d be ready to talk about the latest catalogs.Silly me.“I just finished puttin
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Katie Dubow is creative director of the Kennett Square, Pennsylvania-based company, a women-owned and run public-relations firm specializing in the home and garden industry, celebrating its 30th year in business. She’s author of the agency’s annual trends report, and we discussed the 2020 forecasts—most of them related to sustainability, both in what the report calls “cities of the future” with evolving “circular economies,” and in terms of a more regenerative approach to agriculture, horticulture and especially the crisis in soil management. Then we talked about some obstacles gardening is having gaining traction with the next generations (unless you’re talking houseplants!), and why that, too, concerns us both.Read along as you listen to the October 28, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).garden trends report 2020, with katie dubowMargaret Roach: I’m not kidding when I say I look forward to it because it makes me think—that this report each year kind of makes me think. We should probably say right away
In his new book, “The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees” (affiliate link), he makes the case more strongly than ever, with twists and turns and the tales of all the creatures we depend on, who depend on the genus Quercus.Doug Tallamy is well-known to most every gardener as a longtime leading voice speaking in the name of native plants. His 2007 book, “Bringing Nature Home,” was for many of us, an introduction into the entire subject of the unbreakable link between native plants and native wildlife. He followed up wi
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There were no established flowerbeds or walkways in the front of my house. There was however a buried brick sidewalk in the back yard that was no longer needed. I decided to repurpose those rather than buy edging or have concrete poured.