Friday 27 May 2011

Thumb Tack Balls

Last thursday I shared a few of my favorite things... if you don't remember click HERE!


Anyway, one of the projects I featured was this, from Simply Designing! Awesome project eh? Yes, I am Canadian, eh?!


So I thought I'd give this a whirl... I bought about 10 packages of thumb tacks from the dollar store. Each ball took approximately 200 + tacks to fill - which varies depending on the size of the styrofoam balls that you use. All you do is stick the tack in the styrofoam and cover all of the styrofoam. Does that make sense? Check out this picture for an example:


My next suggestion is to use a tray and dump out the tacks for your own convenience and put on a good movie or television show to occupy your time while you are doing this project. It is a little time consuming.


Next spray paint the balls a colour of your choice. I did not take a picture of this step, sorry!


Then arrange your tack balls as you desire. Here are how mine turned out:














So there you have it! I'm loving the colours I used (aqua, green apple, buttercream, and brown) all of the tack balls were spray painted. I did think about using acrylic paint, but I thought the spray paint would be the easiest. I'll probably give each of the tack balls another coat of paint, I just wanted to get an idea of what they would like! Obviously, i'm not that patient! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Friday Everyone!

16 comments:

  1. Katie, these are great! What a great way for me to use all of those styrofoam balls that once were my son's solar system project! :) Did you make the jute pears also? Thanks for stopping by my blog. You've done a great job on yours. I'm still learning...

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  2. Hi Katie, I have not heard of pinterest. Sounds lika a great tool. I'd love to try it. My address is jaynfran@tampabay.rr.com. Thanks for the invite. Hope you are having a great weekend. (This is Memorial Day weekend for us...3 days!).

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  3. Great project thanks for sharing! I am happy to be your newest follower. Please stop by for book club if you are interested --connie, measuredbytheheart.com

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  4. Awesome! They look good and expensive, which is always great when they cost so little!
    Spray paint os so wonderful for sprucing things up!

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  5. wow!! they look so fancy, i would've never guessed that was just thumb tacs :) great project, found you over at flamingo toes, stop by for a visit sometime

    jackie
    http://jaclyndesigns.blogspot.com

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  6. Hey Katie, thanks for your comment on my Cork Wall Art. These are great, so clever! Following you now too :)

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  7. Fabulous! Can't wait to do these! :)

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  8. Spectacular and I love the colors you chose!

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  9. What a great idea, I am always looking for small, colorful items to put into bowls and askets.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  10. Thanks for the shout out!!! Your tack balls turned out so cute!

    Ashley
    www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com

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  11. love these! The colors are so summery and wonderful! What an affordable way to bring color into a room too - a must do for me!
    Thanks for linking to WWWW!

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  12. Cute! I like the colors you chose, too. Decorative balls sold by stores are always too expensive for, well, balls you decorate with (in my opinion)...so this DIY version is a perfect solution! :)

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  13. I really loved the tack balls mixed with the just pears and such. Too cute! Thanks for sharing!

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  14. i. love. this. it has to be one of the funkiest things i've ever seen. (funky = pure awesomeness) it's so ecletic but stylish at the same time! make sure you check back into my party next tuesday. i've heard there's going to be an awesome project featured **wink wink** thanks soooo much for this inspiration. andiejaye @ http://crayonfreckles.blogspot.com

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  15. I just wanted to let you know that I featured your thumb tack balls today: http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/2011/06/time-to-shine-features-no-20.html

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  16. Katie they look great, and I got my inspiration from you..I just wanted to let you know I linked your site from mine today to show everyone how beautiful yours turned are! I hope you don't mind! I just started blogging so I would love if you had time if you checked out my blog its: http://abangforyourbuck.blogspot.com Thank you! xoxo

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