"Ms. Ombre" Dragonfly: Ceiling fan & bed posts

Good Morning everyone, I hope you all are having a nice 4th of July weekend.  Today I would love to show you how you can recycle "upscycle" those old ceiling fans into a piece of art for your outdoor garden, or patio.

One of my favorite Facebook page is Flea Market Gardening, love, love their page!  They put out this challenge back in January to get people to do a project they have been putting off.  I have wanted to do a ceiling fan, "dragonfly", for sometime, so I thought it would be a great time to stop procrastinating and do their winter challenge.  Below you will find how I made this one.......

I call this one Ms. Ombre; she took sometime and thought, but think she turned out o.k.  I have tweaked her a bit more this summer, her eyes were a bit blaa, so I added some sparkle to her eyes; she's much better now!

My supplies for this project.

 I painted the fan blades all white for the background color.  I didn't get any pictures putting the fan blades together.  Here is how I did it; I used screws, wood glue and a piece of board to secure them all together in the back.

 I Then dry brushed/stamped blue over the white...

I wanted an ombre look, so I started at the top with white and worked my way down to a darker blue.  This was my first attempt at this kind of look, I really need to practice this technique more, but for now, I'm going with it :).  I then attached the body to the wings.

 I Added the clear/blue glass stones with silicone glue all around the perimeter of the blades and then let set.

Then with the blue bottles, I broke them in pieces.  (Please take extra care when breaking the bottles!)  I then took the broken pieces and glued them like you would a mosaic piece.

I added some eyes, necklace and wire antenna.  

When I put her out this summer, I thought her eyes needed something, so I added a couple of jewels, wow what a difference, now they pop!!  Don't be afraid to change your original plan, you never know, it may end up being a so so project to one of your favorite pieces!

Would love for you to come on over to my Facebook Page and give me a "like" if you like what you are seeing here. Thank you!!  <3 you all!!

Garden Flower, recycled style!!

Plates, candle votive = Garden flower.  

  Follow me below on how I made a few from items from a thrift store.

Went through my stash of plates and glassware and picked out what I thought would look great together.  I like the look of purple and yellow together.

 I used a clear silicone adhesive (GE Silicone 3 rain-ready) to attach the pieces together.  (Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area)

All the pieces are glued together...I let this set all day, by the end of the day, I picked it up by the votive...held strong!!

It took me some searching trying to decide how I wanted to attach my "flower" to the pole.  There are lots of different ideas out there, but this is one I thought would be the most effective.  This is called a Bell Clamp, 3/4".  I put a strip of adhesive around the bottom of the bell and attached it to the middle of my plate.

I attached it to a piece of conduit.  This one pictured was cut at 3'  about 8" is hammered into the ground to secure it.  You can attach the bell hanger to the pole.  This will make it easy in the winter to take down to help preserve my creation longer, or if I decide to put it in another area of my garden.

A pop of color in the middle of all the green.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, don't be afraid to make one for your garden!!  

Junky Art Signs, old rusty tools and more

As I was roaming around images for junky garden art, I came across of few signs made from old rusty tools and such.  Well of course I just had to make a couple for myself!  :)  So into my garage and into my buckets of stuff...well junky stuff, things I have found in old tool boxes from the auctions we have gone to, and other miscellaneous things I have saved for those "just in case I need it".   And a newly acquired piece of barn wood.

The word " Welcome" is made from;  long rusty screws for the "W", door hinges (make great "E's"), Allen wrench (L), a lamp(thingamajig) for a "C", the "O" is some kind of weight, and the "M" are off some kind of clamp.  I drilled holes and attached wire to help keep each letter in place.

I wanted  to add a pop of color to this sign, so I decided to paint the vowels a different color; now it looks a little more colorful for the summer.  A couple of coats of Clear Enamel to help preserve it and you have a new "junky" art sign!

Here are two "love" sign I made also.

If you decide to make your own "junky" art sign, I would love for you to share so we can see what you came up with!!