Recycled Materials Become Garden Decor

Are you thinking of warmer and greener days yet?

My favorite time to create is in the summer.

  I love to create outside in the sunshine.

I am planning my projects for warmer days.

I thought I would share a recap of some of my garden projects from last summer.

All of these are up cycled  from recycled materials.

I made a couple wind chimes.

This one looked great on my front porch.

Marbles, forks, beads, a flower frog, fishing line, and some plastic baubles all came together...

Reminds me of raindrops...

This fun and whimsical wind chime started with a lampshade skeleton.

You can read more about creating it here.

I sold this to a girl at my fall show last year.

She said it was sure to make her the favorite daughter since it perfectly matched her mother's style.

I hope it did...

I really enjoyed making it.

I am already planning another series of mosaic projects.

Last summer my daughter and I made a bunch of fun projects.

You can find the final post here.

Many of these were gifts to family and friends.

Everyone that received one seemed to genuinely love and appreciate them.

The one above went to my in-laws.

The tiles were retrieved by my father in law several years ago at an auction.

He chuckled at the memories.

This fun little bird was a ceramic bird from the dollar store.

She has found lots of homes around the garden every season.

I move her every so often.

This started with a gazing ball my friend gave me.

These glass mushrooms are sprinkled throughout the garden.

At a party we had, I had to smile at a friend who picked it up, examined it and showed it to his girlfriend...

The rebar keeps them upright and in place.

The tutorial for making them is here.

Chicken wire and a tomato cage became fun dress forms for the garden.

The post is here.

I love this one with the tutu.

This other gal got a raggedy strip skirt.

I plan to make a couple more variations of her for this year.

Wouldn't she make a pretty alternative to the typical garden scarecrow?

This gets me thinking about what to do this summer.

I hope you saw something that inspired you as well...

Thanks for stopping by....

Linking up with these amazing blogs.

Hometalk Board

I am so excited!

I was asked by Hometalk to curate a board on Windchimes.

There were so many great ones to choose from.

I chose just a few favorites.

Here is what it looks like....

And here is a link to the board.

You can find me on Hometalk here.

If you are not familiar with Hometalk, check it out.

They are a very friendly bunch and the ideas are amazing.

I really love how you can ask questions and get answers. 

 I think that makes them special.

A lot of your favorite bloggers may be on Hometalk as well.

Head on over and snoop around a bit.

I bet you will become a Hometalker too....

Thanks for stopping by...

Wind Chime Workshop...

I took a break from cleaning the studio last week to have a fun day with a dear friend and my daughter.

My friend is gifted and creative and so much fun to be with.

A couple summers ago we had a weekly date and we would work on a new project together.

It was so much fun. 

Last summer we did not get a chance to do it so we decided to reinstate it this year.

Our first project was a wind chime. 

  We planned our strategy.

I got some materials ready on the tables for us to use....

Beads and baubles and marbles and glass.

Silverware.

I have been collecting it for three years for just this project.

Lots of possibilities...

From antiquey junk to metal scraps, bamboo pieces, CDs,  canning jar rings, candle holders, lamp shades, embroidery hoops and more...

 Fishing line, wire, chain, flower pots, flower frogs, and tools...

Another look at the goodies...

I spray painted these candle holders last summer...  

They were black.

I took these pictures before my friend brought her stash.

She added lots of fun things to the tables too.

Almost as important as the goodies and the friend is the chocolate.

We started with lunch and that took longer than we planned.

We worked on our wind chimes while my daughter worked on a painting.

We had to call it a night around 6 pm but decided to get together this week to finish them up.

So we got together earlier in the day this time and worked first, took a break for lunch (yum) and got back to work.

I am proud to say we both finished our first creation.

Here is hers.

I LOVE it!

Hers was much more melodious than mine.  

That bent aluminum bar in the middle really sounded lovely when it bumps the silverware.

The denim and tulle and twine give it such a cool urban chic look.

I love her seashells and beach glass pieces.  

The overall shape of it makes me think of a jelly fish.

She let me take a few photos before she took it home.

I wish I had taken a couple more but I didn't want to hold her up.

Here is mine from last week finally finished.

It started with that lampshade.

  I ripped off the fabric and just kept adding things until I thought it was done.

Old necklaces, muslin strips, beads,silverware, wire and marbles....

Very shabby chic...

Tattered, distressed Victorian...

Which is not really my style...

But a style I am drawn to and love.

I am just too messy to maintain that pretty white creamy color scheme.

I wanted to try something new...

STAZ-ON inks on muslin...

Those really pretty plastic drops that look like crystal...

I love my little caged marbles....

Here they are again....

I had time to make one more quick one from a few things before she left....

This one started with the flower frog.

I stayed with the clear crystal look.

This one makes me think of raindrops.

More of the caged marbles.

These look like the coolest raindrops.

This one was much quicker to make.

It was much easier without all the muslin to wrap.

I like the simple lines of this one.

I hope you have a friend who inspires you to create.  

Tell me about her...

Thanks for stopping by...

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