Guest Blogging for Mommas Kinda Crafty - Rock Water Feature

I am super excited to be able to guest post today! My name is Allie and I like to make stuff. I like to craft and bake and I love to sew. I love to sew so much that I received a degree in sewing! I also like warm weather and living in the Chicago-land area, I relish the summer-time. Especially since we only get about 3 months of nice weather!

With that said, I like to so lots of gardening. Lately, I have been more adventurous than just simply installing a ready-made fountain with a submersible pump. We have this fabulous place in our area called AquaScape. They have all sorts of things for people who want to put water-scapes in their yards and businesses. Last time I was there, I saw this lovely water feature in (over) a bucket. They had pre-drilled the rocks to fit the parts through. All you had to do was add water basically. But at over $100, it was out of my reach. So, I decided to fashion one myself. And guess what!? It was SUPER easy! It produces a very natural spring-like look and a wonderful soothing water sound. I am glad we tried it.

Want to make one?

 Here is what you will need:

5 gallon bucket

Shovel

Small grate chicken wire

Tin snips

Gloves

Rocks ranging from pebble to football size

Submersible pump

Tubing to fit pump hole

Dig a hole deep enough for your 5 gallon bucket to sit a few inches below the level of the ground.

Attach your hose to your submersible pump

You can put your pump into an old nylon stocking to act as a filter to keep debris from entering the pump and clogging it.

Put something heavy (a large rock) over your pump to keep it from floating up.

With a pair of safety gloves and your tin snips, cut a hole into the middle of your chicken wire and thread the end of the hose through. The chicken wire should now be flat to the ground and the hose should not have any kinks or bends within the bucket.

Cover the edges of your chicken wire with dirt, but keep it enough away from the edge of the bucket. Try not to get dirt into your bucket.

Start to pile the larger of your rocks around the hose. You may have to arrange and rearrange these until you get something that looks right, hides your hose and is stable. Or, you could drill through the center of a few of your larger rocks and feed the hose through. I was not in the mood to get the drill out and this works nicely, so, no drill on this one for me.

When you feel you have it just how you like it, cut the hose as close as you can to the top of your rocks.

Fill your bucket at least half way, enough to cover your pump. Then plug in the pump and make sure the rocks spill the water back into the bucket. If they don’t rearrange them until they do. You just need to make sure the pump stays submersed in water.

Add some river rocks

Depending on the size and the flow adjuster on your pump, you can have more or less water pressure.

Pretty easy, right? It was fun to do! I hope you give it a try.

I would like to thank Joy for letting me guest post for her! And hope you all come visit my blog, as well. You can find my other fun crafts like:

Freezer-Pop Cozy

Mom and daughter fashions

Lots of t-shirt refashions

Baking

And lots of other crafty things!

You can find me at AllieMakes.blogspot.com. Drop me a line! I would love to hear from you!