I’ve done a little crafting in my absence. Don’t you just love ladybugs that AREN’T alive!!
Bowling ball bags for another project.
Normal bowling ball with holes to fill.
Saw the ball in half.
Wipe clean of all dust with a wet paper towel . I do this a couple times and let dry between dusting to make sure they’re clean of all dust.
It’s much easier to handle the balls to fill the holes and to paint them if they’re cut in half first. Those suckers are HEAVY!!
Bowling ball holes filled with wood putty.
Wood putty hardening
Wood putty dry and sanded smooth.
Paint the bottom of the halves first and let dry overnight before adding the second and third coats.
Paint the bottoms black with gloss paint about three times (let dry thoroughly between paint jobs) to get a good solid finish and protects the under belly.
Once the third coat is dry, flip them over and paint the top side. Also, the more coats you put on the longer they’ll last in your flower gardens or where ever you place them in the outdoors. I take mine in during the winter months and it sits on a shelf in my kitchen.
Ready to add some spots and a face.
Smear on some black paint in a “almost” oval.
Black gloss paint, wet paper towel for “oops”, and newspaper to protect table surface.
Starting a face
polka dots
Big dots, little dots, medium dots, random or patterned, suit yourself and your whim! Make it fun!!
LOTS of polka dots
Different sizes of polka dots
Now we wait for drying time to paint on the faces. This is when I start preparing their legs and antennae.
Lag bolts are used for the legs. In the past, I’ve used wood for their legs and attached little wooden feet and painted them like tennis shoes. This year is a little different.
I painted them black and put two coats of paint on the lag bolts.
2014 ladybugs ready for the garden!!
There’s such a variety of faces you can paint on them and I may do a completely different design and color on the next ones. I drill holes in the bottoms and screw the lag bolt/legs in. Then I use a very small drill bit to put two holes along the black line of their face to affix their antennae. The antenna are made from pieces of a heavy black metal clothes hanger. I curl the tope end for cuteness. They’re quick and easy as long as you don’t count the time it takes to wait for the several coats of paint to dry. Everyone loves them and their cute on the end of my porch steps, coming out of the end of a crock laying on its side, sitting on a rock or paver in the flower garden or waiting at the entrance of the yard gate!!
These two are from last year and you can see the sneakers they’re wearing. I decided to go with the bolts for their legs this year because these little guys are throughout my yard in the flower beds and the wooden legs and feet didn’t last as well as I hoped they would.
Aren’t they just adorable!! 🙂
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