How to make a mosaic Garden ball-BB

Here is a couple that I made for my own yard. Any old bowling ball will work- first step is clean the ball, scrubbing it thoroughly with a good degreasing cleaner. Fill finger holes with joint compound or spackle and allow to dry at least a day or two. The best glue for this project is GE Household glue, It is a silicone glue. exactly that. Lay down a folded towel to keep your ball from rolling. collect your glass or tile. I always use a combination of stained glass, broken china and small tile. A few half marbles mixed in of any size is interesting and mirror tiles 3/4 inch(ebay)-make sure your china is flat pieces not curved. That is all for today. This will give you time to gather your supplies. Here is the supplies:
bowling ball
degreaser
spackle or joint compound
tile and glass etc.
GE Household glue
non sanded grout (mixed to a brownie like consistency)
soft cloths to wipe down grout and dry cloths to polish
a spray sealer.
My garden balls have been out in WI for 4 years and have not had anything happen to them, weather does not hurt these. The sealer is important. I will tell you the name of the one that I use later.
Be back tomorrow!!
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It is tomorrow--now start your design, putting glue on the piece not on the ball , press into [place and continue, do half the ball-allow to dry overnite-flip over and continue with your design, When you have finished filling all the spaces, let that dry overnite and mix grout-what ever color suits your design, spread on with a sponge(don't forget your rubber gloves) do not ever dispose of grout residue down any sink in the house or garage -pour it in the back of a flower bed or bush. When it is all covered let it dry for about an hour , come back with a damp sponge and wipe down without going in the grooves. Polish with a soft cloth and spray with a good sealer. Don't forget to use some mirror tiles so your ball will refect and sparkle. If you have any questions just let me know. I am going to do one next week for my daughter, will add pictures as I do it. It really is fun and lasts a long time and makes a lovely gift for your favorite gardener. Come back and see it.



The name of the sealer is Tile Lab surface guard penetrating sealer. It is kind of pricey but lasts forever. one coat let dry another coat. Do not roll your ball , Put it on a stable base and it will last forever. I use clay bases that are made for birdbaths. They are sold separately in Home improvement centers. Not plastic.

Journals-EBAY-MAY 1ST

These are 3 x 4 inch journals, decorated with vintage fabric and pictures. about 60 pages.each one is unique and one of a kind. They will be on ebay tomorrow for 6.99.
2.00 shipping. Look for rainbow869 seller. MAY 1ST-ALSO ON ART FIRE-BLOUBELL

Altered book tutorial -cover

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Cover outside of book with warm and natural batting, cut 2 patterns for inside pages from med cardboard. wrap tea dyed muslin around book covers, front and back ( one piece) glue inside smoothly and tightly . cover cardboard inside pages and add pocket for teeasures. Glue inside covers to page. Add all your lace embellishments and picture if you choose.sew around picture before you mount it. Add buttons , vintage lace and trims. Finish tomorrow.
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This is the last picture of the finished fabric and lace cover. I will be adding a button and loop fastener to the side. Thankyou for taking this journey with me and I can only hope you derived something fromit that you can use in your own art projects. Take care and have a great day!!!

The fifth and last page, next is the vintage cover!

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The first layer is music paper and asewn pocket of your choiceadding some stamps and distressing with ink everything. Next is choose your image and words , I chose a tag with a crossword theme and No more words with a vintage muslin tie, other tags and sayings and little girl picture in a frame -the saying says: " Once in a while in an ordinary life,love gives us a fairy tale" It is one of my favorites . I hope you have gotten something from the 5 pages that you can use in your vintage artwork. It is just my way and I wanted to share it. Tomorrow we will do a vintage lace and tea dyed muslin cover.

Fourth page tutorial!

This is a very simple technique but shows well and looks vintage . Cover your page with book pages and distress with ink. Add a layaway tag with a sewn pocket and a tag , I used a tag with a key stamp on it and jute cord. The tie on the layaway tag is a pice of frayed canvas. Stamp some words and fourishes on your book pages and add pictures , house trees and a sun image and a key. A nice addition to your vintage children book.Tomorrow is the last page and then the front and back fabric covers. Stay with me here, you will like the the end result of this book.

HBO 1st Ladies Detective Agency -4th episode!!

Just watched the 4 th episode of the ladies detective agency series on HBO. It is so good , just love the characters and the stories are so different and fit so nicely with the African scene for these books. I hope you are watching it wherever you are. Quite an experience. I like that it is On Demand and I can rewatch it when I feel like it.Sometimes I need to refresh because I am always muti tasking and don't see it all at once.

Third page!!

The start is to cover page with a music sheet and damp brush a coat of gesso over it, when it is dry. stamp an image and emboss it with embossing powder and heat to set. Distress with inks and add a piece of upholstery fabric, fringed and a piece of tea dyed cheesecloth , an aged small doily. Sew around your picture and then glue all fabrics down securely. Next I will add the final touches to this page.Here it is, it is finished with some words, old jewelry, page from an antique book and a button. Another page tomorrow.Hope you can put this method to some use for your own altered vintage book.

Page 2-Book tutorial

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I want to say this, if you are working along, the method for the last page would be usable with a few changes for another page in your book.
Paint your gessoed page with any color paint that you like. when dry, using any white glue(I like elmers) tear or cut pieces of paper and glue them down, leaving spaces between and no air bubbles. When this is dry, put a nice coat of elmers over it and allow to dry thoroughly. When dry another coat of gel medium ( if you have it), if you don't, another coat of glue and dry thoroughly. My squares are from a hancock fabric catalog, there is a lot of colors and textures, but you can cut these from anywhere that is not real glossy. Scrapbook paper.
Next step: dry bush a coat of black over surface, allow to dry and wipe off with a damp cloth lightly. Do the same with white paint. This makes a very interesting background for a lot of images, if you look down in my blog you will see different pieces done with this method,sand it good with a light grade of sandpaper. I will continue later.
Here is the page almost done, top picture, after you sand and wipe residue, use your distress ink pad and rub it all over the background. Very nice look. My nest step was ripping a paper that matched and glueing so there is an opening. then the pocket sewn with a zig zag and glued so there will be a pocker, the flowers are cut from wallpaper and the one picture is framed with a frame from K and CO.
One is mounted on corrugated cardboard and another on a scrap, I piece of distressed and embossed copper is slid in the torn pocket, heart cut from words and cherish is mounted on sandpaper. Will add some details tomorrow but here is a page done on the paper piecing background. The top picture is the finished page with lace and brass charms added. Starting another page today.

Third installment-Tutorial

First I will say I am sorry for the interruption but this is the page with image mounted on a green background piece and flowers cut from wallpaper (magazines will work too), a little word adore, I found some green fabric to decorate the corners. Step 2 is the embellishments, a rusted heart, a butterfly, tea dyed cheescloth with the French word for "Sisters" a brass hummingbird. I think that is enough for this page, but you can stamp on the edges with something that looks right to you with your theme. i hope you like the page and have found something useful to use in your own art. Next is a paper piecing background.

2nd installment tutorial

step one:

You are working on the first page leaving the cover and inside cover alone. Paint over the gesso with a dark paint. I chose green. My theme for this book is vintage children. allow to dry.
step 2: Paint over with a nice coat of elmers glue. allow to dry. You can use a heat gun if you like but not enough to bubble the glue.
step 3: Paint with a lighter shade of green. There you will see the lovely crackle effect for the background of this page. The darker shows thru.
Step 4: add 2 layers of ripped paper that blends color wise with your background, distress with inks using brushes ,fingers, whatever to give you the desired effect. Cut a piece exactly the size of the page and rip it and distress it for a frame like effect. Allow to dry.
step 5: Find an image that you like and layer it with backgrounds( like a frame in the back that matches your colors. Sorry I will have to continue tomorrow, camera batteries dead.

First lesson -altered board book

The first picture is the board book, this is not square and should be for your first book, I will find a square one tomorrow for the second lesson. This has a lot of pages so you will glue the front to the first page and the back to the back page. Sand before you glue and elmers will work fine if you secure it with clothespins or heavy books for about 20 min. You will not want more than a total of 8 ot 10 psges for this first book
Next you will sand with med. sandpaper all the pages and the front and back. dust off with cloth to get rid of sandpaper residue. Now you will paint each page with white gesso, a nice coat. allow to dry standing up so the pages are not touching. That is lesson one and you might be thinking of a theme or subject for this book. Before the next lesson you could gather some things-to go with your theme. here is a few ideas: Mom- fairies- french girls- vintage children- boys- holidays- spring- gardens, etc. On the side there are several places that give images away, Karen's Whimsy is a good one or maybe you have collage sheets that you can use the images for your theme. This is a vintage book lesson so old jewelry, vintage pictures , lace ,ribbon, fibers, even fabric is good. See you tomorrow. make sure you get a book that has even edges.

Altered Book Tutorial!!

Tomorrow I am posting a tutorial on how to make an altered board book from a child's book. Pictures and all instructions will be included. Hope to see you here. I am excited to show you what I have learned after making several hundred of these books, with every theme and subject imaginable and every style and size. This will be fun and you can check back tomorrow and see the 1st installment. Make a book for MOM.

KC Willis Giveaway!!

Click on K. C . Willis logo to the right and go to the K.C. Willis blog and sign up for this wonderful Giveaway. She is giving away a piece of her art. Love this so much!! Going to take the workshop. click on the KC willis logo on the top right.

New Work!!! More New work!

Anew piece for a Spring challenge. Embossed copper and background with glossy accents and various images and tag with spring quote. 4 x 4.
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Craig swap-5/5 ATC "Shadowlands"
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This is for a black and white and 1 color challenge for PID (Monday) Here is my ATC and my misc. 4 x 6