March 25, 2010

LET YOUR ART GUIDE YOU ~ Week 7 ~

This week for our challenge I did a little painting and sculpting you could say. I found some goodies at Goodwill for pennies, spray painted a pair of ugly brass candlesticks white, and used them to display my handmade and FREE nests.


Oh how I love these nests.
(didn't the ugly brass candlesticks turn out cute?)






Here is the HOW TO:
You are going to need pine needles. I have never seen these pine needles used as landscaping aids until I moved to the South. Instead of bark or mulch to beautify your garden beds, you use these needles. They come in bales like below for $6-8.
Next up you need a glue gun. Get it nice and hot.



For the small nests, the process is a little different.


Start by twisting and balling up a small bunch of the needles, glue some of the pieces if they are not naturally staying together. Then get a few more needles and twist them into a circle and glue till it stays in the circle shape.

Then, all you need to do is glue the top circle on the bottom ball.
This is what you will end up with. I used 15mm wool balls as my eggs.

Now for the BIG nests that I put in my entry way in my urns.

Get a handle full of needles and make the edges pretty even. Lay them down and put a big blob of hot glue in the center.

Lay on another bunch in the opposite direction.


DO this 5-6 times until you feel like you have a good base for the sides of the nest and where your eggs will rest.

Now- randomly grab a bunch and let it be just as you grabbed it, but now fold it in half and create a U shape. Run some glue along 1/4 of your base in a shape like this ( and then lay down that bunch and DO NOT USE YOUR HANDS TO PUSH IT DOWN! You will burn the finger prints of your precious little fingers. I used an orange and a lemon. The glue would not stick to them and weighted it down to get them nicely stuck and secure.


Keep doing this, going round and around until you get the height and look you want.



Nestle some eggs in and enjoy all your hard, I mean easy work.

I have a timer on my lights from Christmas and I left them on and used the lights under my nests to light and beautify my entry.


As Martha would say...this is a GOOD THING!



I do a little giggle every time I walk around and see these. They were fun to make and free. At night the glow is warm and enchanting.
These little nests would be great presents and could be used anywhere.



Now- what have you all made? I am so excited!!

Start linking up.

xo Emily xo







22 comments:

Martina said...

Really cute this little nest and the blue eggs! Spring has finally arrived and i get into decoration mood as well. Thank you for posting this lovely tutorial!

andrea creates said...

Hi -You know I love birds:) I will definitely have to try this project but I'm not sure if I can find the 'needles'. I love the twinkly light effect too-great ideas!!
Have a great week :)
Andrea

The Haley Family said...

SO CUTE! Those are gigantic pine needles. If only we had PINE TREES in nebraska. Boo hoo! I'm hurrying to finish another shirt before I do my post...very soon! :)

Julie said...

I love this post! Your bird nests are precious! Your candle sticks are so sweet! I am definitely gonna try this. And, don't you just love thrift stores?! I picked up the sweetest round coffee table the other week and just finished painting it...I will have to post it soon. You are so creative and inspiring. : )

Anonymous said...

I love those nests! I had a fascination with birds when I was pregnant, everything I owned had birds and nests on it! I'm thinking of making some of these for Easter week.

Lisa B. said...

We have pine needles covering our yard, from the trees. Thank you so much for this fabulous idea!! I know what I'll be making this weekend :)

Lisa said...

Oh my gosh. Those are so cute and I love the lights under the ones in the urns.

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

Wow you are just so very talented! I love those! Sigh, I just want part of that creative brain of yours!

Deedra said...

You clever little thing, you!!! Love it! So adorabibble!!

XO

Debby said...

Wow!! What a beautiful post. Love your nest and pretty eggs. Thanks for sharing.
Debby

Alex said...

I love it. I have been seeing all kinds of nests for spring decoration and I love them all. I'm going to have to give this one a try!

Mme. Kara said...

The nests are disgustingly cute! And the candlesticks...don't get me started.

Chris said...

I have a love affair with birds' nests, and these are no exception! I LOVE them!

Gina said...

What a great idea! They look great!

Darci said...

How beautiful! I love the candlestick and mini nest creation. It is all such a great celebration of spring.

Sandra Evertson said...

Love the pine needle nest! Beautiful!
Sandra Evertson

Low Tide High Style said...

I love these little pine needle nests and lighting them up is genius! Your painted candlesticks look great too!

Kat :)

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

I just saw your nests on Be Different. This is a great idea. I have a bunch of pine needs from my Christmas decorations that I was about to compost!

Lacie @ Creative Attempts said...

this is exactly what I was looking for today I love it and I know exactly where it is going to go!!!

Michelle in Saskatoon said...

these look great, thanks for the ideas, michelle

Unknown said...

Quick question because I am a slow learner. How do you join the let your art guide you thing? How do you follow through? Please let me know, I am lost.

* said...

Your creative genes are amazing.

Love the bird nests!