You remember my garden spheres, right?

(If you’re just joining us, you can go back and read “Just Add Water” to see these spheres in their humble beginnings.) They sat around for weeks while I tried to decide what to do with them, and finally the idea hit me! Wouldn’t it be fun to make a cement sphere “statue”? Or maybe “sculpture” is a better word, even though technically it’s not that either. I photographed every possible combination, but I will spare you by only showing one here.I got the idea to paint the spheres black and use the brightest colors I had to make designs on them.These are the main colors I used, all of which were almost empty due to being used on the sewing room wall in “Dream Big!”. But fortunately I had enough to complete this project.

So here is the beginning of the process.Then the bottom one…It’s not as much fun if you don’t get paint all over your hands, but you knew that, right?

Then to experiment with how to put them together. You’ll notice in the last photo that I flipped the bottom sphere upside down  because it seemed to be more level that way.Try as I might, I could not get the smaller, “flat” sphere to look good in any position. But not to worry, there is always Plan B. How about a birdhouse on top? This was a dusty and faded one I already had out there, and it didn’t look too bad. Of course it had to be painted to match the spheres.

I had gotten this far when the mosquitoes started coming out and biting my bare feet, so I moved inside to finish. As an FYI, mosquitoes like to bite some people more than others. Apparently I am “some people”.

Here are some views of the birdhouse progress. By the end of it, I didn’t like the way the “flowers” on the front looked. So, enter Plan C. (No, this time is was not “C” for Carlos!)You merely paint over the parts you don’t like and start over.Meanwhile, my “built-in helper” was eager to participate.“Hmm…yeah, this paint smells okay.”“Everything else checks out…”Finally all the pieces were done and it was time to put them them together and decide where in my “whimsical garden” to display them.Actually first you have to spray them with clear gloss to reduce fading. (Notice the messy “flowers” on the birdhouse have now been replaced by a yellow heart and some green swirls.)

Then to figure out which way each sphere should be facing…

Of course you have to try out multiple locations and take pictures to see which one you like best.

Yay! Finally finished!

I rearranged the succulents a little, so for now this is what it looks like. I really like the “black with bright colors” look. Wonder what else I have out there that I could paint?…