Strawberry Rocks

 

It has been a while since we have had a crafty post, so I thought it was about time.

 

My neighbor just moved back into the house next door after a brief time working in other cities. I cannot express how happy I am that she is back. Her brother is a nice guy, but he really did not do a lot to the house to maintain it and barely mowed the yard, let alone keep the landscaping looking nice. Now that she is back, she is giving her yard (and house) a complete makeover. I am so EXCITED! Since she has been back we have had a lot of conversations and she mentioned that she had some leftover plants from her landscaping. She gave me these gorgeous purple irises and a few sedum plants; then, she gave me four strawberry plants.

 

While she was taking me around the yard gathering all of these goodies, she showed me her chicken wire cage where she has her strawberry plants. Then she said to me she needed to find a way to keep the squirrels out of the plants. *Side Note* The squirrels here are such a pain. They are not afraid of anything. Back to my original rambling, I read somewhere that if you paint rocks to look like the actual strawberries, the birds and squirrels will pick them up and not want them. When the real strawberries grow, the animals will leave them alone because they will assume they are rocks, too.

 

To make these Strawberry rocks, you will need several rocks. They need to be about the size of a grown strawberry or smaller. Get a variety of sizes and shapes, the smoother the rock, the better. You will also need red, green, and white paint, clear spray paint and a paint brush.

 

First, paint the rocks red and let dry. I would actually use a red spray paint if you have it, but I only had acrylic craft paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next paint the green tops to look like the leaves of a real strawberry. I just painted triangles connected in the middle with a green circle. After you have added green, paint the white dots to look like seeds. You could also skip this step but I think they looked cuter afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once they have dried, spray with clear gloss spray paint and let that dry. (There is a lot of waiting for paint to dry.) Once they have dried, place them around your strawberry plants. So far, they work and they look cute.