Spring Garden "Grow" Bulletin Board

Last week, I worked on the "fishers of men" bulletin board and this week a spring themed board for my church. Monday I created the first two elements - a watering can and shovel. Both are made of foam board.  I saved some time by purchasing a silver covered board. To enhance the watering can, I added copper accents and sponge painted metallic paint to give the pail a galvanized look. For the shovel, I made use of the remnants from the silver foam board to make the bottom and top handle. I used a piece of left over balsa wood to make the shaft of the shovel.  

Another major element for this board was creating the look of soil for the garden. I repurposed a painters tarp I had used last summer for a beach themed board. I repainted it with a darker stone spray paint making it a deeper "soil" color. In the midst of putting these elements together, I realized there was the a need of something more for the garden theme I had in mind. Picket fences were the first thing that popped in my head. Most gardens have some kind decorative border around them so small pickets seemed an appropriate application. The pickets were cut from white foam board.   

This morning I took down the previous board and put this board in its place. 

I tried to make it so that the soil looked like it was dug to accept flower seeds and bulbs. I also put up the verse which was cut by my Cricut from the Lyrical Letters cartridge out of a metallic navy blue card stock. The verse is "But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 3:18". My goal with the verse was to make it look like it is a visual of wind flowing in the air above the garden. I used a roll of moss to imitate a grassy area (an area not disturbed for planting) where the gardening elements created were placed. Of course, who would garden without gloves and not mark the flowers that have been planted.

I think what really adds to this board is that I took morning glory, sunflower and marigold seeds along with halved gladiolus bulbs and adhered them to the "soil". 

This board is a three month transitional board. This is the first "look". Next month, rain drops and a trellis at the far left will be added. The final month, the flowers will have bloomed and the sun will be shining..... you'll have to come back to see how that is accomplished.