From Bowling Balls to Garden Art

Wow...I've been finishing up a ton of projects lately, but it's left me no time to post them for you all to see...

I will try to do better!  :)

This was promised to you a L-O-N-G time ago but for some reason, I just couldn't get it finished...I think I needed a few sunny days to get me going again!!

Anyway without further ado...Here it is ....

Bowling Ball...Garden Art...

Aren't they fun???

I picked up the balls this winter at different times, but all from the G.W. My original plan was to paint all of them.

But when I brought this purple and green one home, my kids protested...They felt it was just to pretty on its own, to cover with paint!

So...

It took me awhile to figure out what to do with it...I finally decided the way to go, was to protect some of the ball and paint over the rest...letting the shinny marbled purple be the main attraction....instead of the paint!!

I got this great flower punch at a garage sale...So I used it to punch flowers out of Laminate Sheets.  I then placed them on the bowling ball, making sure they were nice and smooth.  To be honest, the punch wasn't fond of going all the way through the sheets, so it was a bit of a fight....eventually it even got too dull to work....At that point I simply drew a few larger flowers on the back of the Laminate and cut them out with scissors and said good enough.

After placing the laminate flowers where I wanted them I spray painted the ball with Krylons indoor/outdoor paint in flat black.  (I first pounded a stick in the ground and set the ball on it using the thumb hole.)

Next step...simply peel of the flower stickers.  :)

I finished it off by sealing it with a Satin Finish, (again by Krylon.)

I thin this is my favorite ball!!

The next ball I did, I spray painted it an off white and then painted bright flowers with acrylic paints...

Last but not least was my "Doodle Ball"  :)

For this one; I first sprayed it white and then simply drew on it with a black sharpie.... 

It has one of my all time favorite quotes on it by Ralph Waldo Emerson,

"The earth laughs in flowers"

And I believe it to be true!!

Well I hope this post wasn't to long...I know I had a ton of pictures but hey the balls are round what do you expect?? :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Denise

PS:  I will be linking up again to many of those groovy parties on my side bar!

Entering this in:

Garden Art from Up-cycled Dishes

Finally ...Here it is...(Now that Summer is about over)...My long awaited tutorial on how to make.... dat-ta-da-dat-tada... Glass Garden Flowers...YEAH!!

Don't they look great!?!  This project probably never would have happened if it wasn't for my two accomplices...(Who are far more organized than I)!



Love this one!!



So here's how it all came to be...after another Visit to Dragonfly Farms...We were all inspired and started gathering up plates and glassware at the G.W. and garage sales...anywhere we could find cheap goods!

We set them, all out on my table and started layering dishes...trying all sorts of different combinations until we came up with the ones we liked...

Next step was to drill the holes...we had decided to use draw pulls for the centers, so we drilled our holes the appropriate size to fit their screws....We did break a few glass dishes so practice with a spare.  :)  What we learned was to make a "guide" hole with a smaller drill bit and then re-drill with the larger one. ...Also there is a fine line between to much pressure and not enough.  Oh yes a little water in the bottom of the dish also helps!

The screw that came with the draw pulls were not long enough...so after a ton of help form the nice guys at Home Depot we purchased these long ...Hmmm..I have no idea what they are called...but they are like a long screw with no head...instead you put a cap on them...Then after assembly we cut them off. 

For the stakes we bought 10 foot long pipe and cut them with the hacksaw....Now that was fun...sparks were flying everywhere!

Anyway we drilled a hole through both sides, for the long screw and then gently bent the ends so that the flowers would face upwards.

We assembled each one how we saw fit...Using washers to help steady the dishes.  The two above photos show how we stacked them. 

They took way longer to make than I had planned...but next time should go faster...now that we know what we are doing!!  (Although it was the drilling that seemed to take forever)!

But...

Don't they look great!!

This one reminds me of a dandelion!

My girl friend brought the plates...something I will look for next time...they added so much color!

This is one of my favorites...but then again I like them all!

We used a silver basket for the base of this flower...I will be looking for more of these too!!!

Well there it is ... My tutorial on how to make Up-cycled Garden Flowers...

Now its your turn!!

Just think what Great Christmas present they would make!!

If you stop by...leave a message...I would LOVE to hear from you!!

Denise

PS:

(I will be linking this to many of those awesome parties on my side bar)!!

PLUS>>>