Crafting with Lizzy Part 1

The kids are home, long weekend, raining, bored, whining... why not make lovely garden junk for your backyard? (click images for larger picture)

Materials
Old bowling ball or a kids rubber ball
Small plastic animals or doodads
Glue (hot, crazy or white)
Sandpaper
Spray paint, preferably metallic
Acrylic paint-turquoise, blue, white
Sponge

Instructions
Rough up the ball with some sandpaper so that the glue and paint will stick. Wipe off the ball. Prop the ball on a bowl to keep it from rolling away. Artistically glue tiny plastic lizards, bugs, frogs, army men, worms, whatever, on the ball -evenly distributed, of course. Wait for the glue to dry before turning it over. (hot glue worked the best, crazy glue worked well too, but my fingers stuck to the lizards, white glue took really long to dry)

When the doo dads are secure, take the ball outside or into the garage and spray it with metallic paint. I used copper on one and bronze on another. You can use whatever you have on the shelf. Wear protective glasses and something over your mouth and nose to keep from breathing the paint. If you're outside, spray down wind. Wait for it to dry before you add another coat if necessary. I balanced mine on an old plastic cup.

If you like the way it looks, you can leave it at that, but this crafty lady's agenda was to make it look like weathered copper so I mixed up some turquoise and blue paint with some white and water and sparingly dabbed the paint all over the ball. (They also sell patina looking paints at the craft stores and neato sea sponges.) Test it on paper before you glob up the ball. You can use some paper towels to blot excess paint off the ball.

I glued a painted plastic cup to the bottom of the balls so that they could rest above the foliage or flowers in the garden. The point here is to have fun and be whimsical. Use primary colors if you want. Glue macaroni on the ball and spray it gold, whatever.
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For future projects: Don't throw away any toy trucks. Keep saving little doodads, charms, trinkets. Don't throw away broken dishes or china. Don't throw anything away, just yet.