Painted oil can and guords

I was putting away some things today that I had painted for Christmas decorations and thought I would share them.

I painted a Santa on this old oil can. It could actually be used for cooking oil, but I just like to sit it near the stove as a cute decoration.








One year I grew some guords. They are not hard to grow. You put about 4 or 5 guord seeds in a hill and make the hills about 4 or 5 feet apart, so it does take some space to grow them. Thin to about 2 seedlings per hill and it takes about 110 to 130 days for them to mature. When the stems are dried, you harvest and dry them by putting in a ventilated place such as a shed or you can just leave them outside until they are dried, which can take up to 6 months. I just threw mine in an old shed and paid little attention to them for months until they were dried. They will mildew some, but you can remove discolorations by sanding. They can be used for crafts of all kinds, such as birdhouses or painted items.




I used acrylic paint to paint mine and as you can see, they do make cute Santas and snowmen!

Such a happy little group of snowmen! Into storage they go until next year. Guords last indefinitely.