Embroidery Hoop Wall Art

   I bought three sizes of embroidery hoops a couple of weeks ago.  I wanted to make some wall art with some cute fabrics I have.   Here are three of the animal prints I found in my stash.

    I will finish the back with a piece of white fabric hand sewn to the fabric sticking out of the hoop.  I did this for another project and it worked really well and it doesn't take that long to do.   I have to get some plain white fabric, I'm all out.

I Found A Use For Some Old Scrap Wood And A Broken Bird Bath

   Last week I was cleaning my old iron bird bath and the base kind of fell apart.  The screws had rusted and pieces had fallen off the base so I couldn't keep the bowl fastened to it anymore.  I replaced it with a bird bath from the front yard and bought a new bird bath for the front flower bed.

    I was going to take the broken bird bath to the iron scrap place and get a few dollars just so it wouldn't be left in the yard with no purpose.  While I was trying to decide whether I wanted to scrap the entire bird bath or use it as yard art, I saw a pile of scrap wood left over from a fence support project done a while back.  

   These pieces of wood are fat and no piece is the same length so I had fun putting them together to make a base for my old bird bath bowl.  I was going to use some adhesive to put it together, but I realized the base would too heavy for me to move and it works great with the pieces just stacked together on a level place under the trees.  I hope the birds like it.

 

Yard Art Complete.

Okay, so I sanded the bowling ball and then I filled the finger holes with some of the adhesive that I used to glue the glass gems on.  I had read that one person filled the finger holes with cement but I think the caulk is fine.  I let the caulk dry for 36 hours and then I leveled the caulked holes.

On Saturday, I painted the bowling ball silver.  It's hard to spray paint in the wind.  hehehe
I let it dry for overnight.

On Sunday I glued on all the glass gems covering every bit I could.  I was surprised how long this process took because I had to let each section dry for about an hour before I could move the ball and do a new section.  I worked on this from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

This is the finished piece of yard art in my gazing ball holder.

This one is done and that ugly bowling ball looks pretty in the garden now.

I'm Working On Yard Art

    This project will probably take me about a week to finish.  Tonight I'm sanding a bowling ball.  I'm preparing to make it into yard art.  This is a project that has been waiting patiently for 7 years.  It's time to get it done.

   Back Story:

   When I bought this house over 7 years ago, I did a lot of research on yard art made from other items.  I found a site where it showed how to make a bedazzled ball from a bowling ball using sand paper, caulk, spray paint, silicon adhesive and glass gems.  It's supposed to resemble a gazing ball.  After I mention this art project to dear daughter, she gives me an old bowling ball for Christmas so I can create this yard art.  That bowling ball has been sitting in my extra bedroom since then.  I bought the glass gems on-line about two years later and they have been waiting for me to use them as well.   I bought the silver spray paint a few weeks ago when I was buying paint for my barn quilt because I knew I wanted to get this project done.  All I needed was the clear silicone adhesive.  I bought the silicone adhesive today, so this project is ready to start.

  So to make this bowling ball into bedazzled yard art I have to sand this ugly bowling ball, fill the finger holes with caulk and let that dry, then spray paint the ball, let that dry, then use the silicone adhesive to glue all these crazy glass gems onto the ball.

   Here's a link to the picture of a purple bedazzled ball someone made and posted on the web.  Purple Bedazzled Gazing Ball

    Bowling ball all sanded.

  See you at the end with more pictures.