The Cover Up

As disappointed as I was to not be able to share this post with you yesterday, I had a very yummy reason for getting home to late to post. These:

Authentic Mexican Tamales.

A sweet friend taught me how to make them yesterday, and in exchange I taught her how to make my chicken salad. And then in between dishes we munched on the biggest strawberries I had ever seen! {Kicking myself for not taking a picture} It was the yummiest kitchen swap yet! By the way, don't ya just love this red plate? This would be so much fun to celebrate someone's birthday, accomplishments, anniversary, graduation, etc. It was a Boutique {Goodwill} purchase - $2.99, 30% off! Yippie for coupons!

OK, on to the post!

A little while ago I posted this photo of my most recent purchase: old baseballs. They had seen better days... which is why I am sure they ended up at the Fancy Store {aka: Goodwill Outlet.} Since our weekend trip when we stopped by a Christmas shop, I had several ideas for decorating foam covered balls rolling around in my head {haha... just re-read this. keeping the pun! ha!} The only problem is that those foam balls can be expensive!

 

So as I walked past the toy bins that day on my way to the housewares, it hit me. Why not use these baseballs in place of the expensive styrofoam balls from the crafts store? And since everything at the Fancy Store is by the pound, they wouldn't be more than $1-$2 right?

Wrong!
All three were 49 Cents!

Hello Awesomeness!

Before smoothing out the bumps...

After I gave them a good cleaning with disinfectant wipes, I decided to cover one in burlap {which I found out makes me sneeze like crazy! Note to self: craft with burlap outdoors.}

I honestly didn't think this one would work out well, so there are no step by step pics. But I was so wrong! I love it with all my little heart! All I did was cut a piece of burlap that would wrap around the middle, slightly overlapping and long enough to cover each exposed end.

After gluing the center ring, I cut tall triangles from the remaining fabric one at a time and then glued the tip of each down, again slightly overlapping. Does that make sense? You can kinda see the triangle shapes... but they blend real well once the whole ball is covered

I decided to finish this one off with a bit of chocolate brown satin ribbon. I love the contrast of the satin and burlap... and now that I see this pic close up, I need to pick some hot glue goobers off that bow!

Then my super crafty mom suggested that I cover one of then in a gingham/check fabric. I didn't have any one hand, but it sounded like a good excuse to take a trip to the fabric store and snoop around! :)

I thought about covering it the same way I did the burlap ball, but then thought it would be kinda fun to do strips of fabric and have the checks overlap eachother in a random pattern. It was a little messy to make, but probably the easiest.

I cut strips just over 1 inch wide that would wrap around the entire ball. It took 6 total. Then I mod podged one strip at a time, overlaping them slightly, and ending each strip on the same and. once each strip was smoothes out as best could be, I mod podged the whole thing with non glossy mod podge and let it dry. It is like a solid rock casing!

Inspiration from the Christmas shop!

For the last basball, I really wanted to replicate this christmas ornament that I had seen at a year round Christmas shop durring one of our vacations. After a bunch of trips to several craft stores, I could not find sparkly circles that did not cost an arm and a leg. I though about bagging the idea, then I remembered my small round scrapbooking punch. Could it really be that simple? I hit the scrapbook isle and picked out two sheets of a somewhat stiff chocolate brown. It wasn't quite as heavy as cardstock, and the stiffness helped make the little circles stand out.

I went home and punched circles till my little thumb thought it was going to fall off {Note to self: have big, strong, handsome hubby help punch circles for the larger size ball next time :) heehee!}

Then while looking at the inspiration photo, I hot glued one circle completely down - this was the bottom, center. NOTE: Every other circle after that first one was only glued on the top. That way the bottom stuck out giving it that fish scale, pine cone look.

Then I spaced each circle so that it just touched the next. For the next row, I left a tiny space between each circle. Not every row came out perfect, so to keep the funky seam on the same side, I drew little arrows so I could end on the same side every time.

Opps! That one needed replacing.

Some rows felt like they were all messed up, but then I would wrap around the next row and not even be able to tell where it went wrong on the previous row. It ended up being much more forgiving than I expected. And the best part? If a circle got in too low or too high, I just ripped it out and slipped in another. Easy Peasy!

It took about 45 min to 1 hour to puch, glue, rip off a few circles and talk on the phone for a bit. Totally worth every second of relaxing craft time and the beautiful result.

And yes I know it looks like a pine cone in brown. I was thinking about matching the rustic, neutral colors of the other balls... but my next baseball makeover will be a much more colorful one :)

Here they are in all their glory!

April 15th was a grand opening for a local Goodwill, and this lovely apothecary-like jar was $2.99, 50% off. Perfect for my repurposed baseballs!

The detail on the lid is just lovely!

For the next ones, I think I'll try ribbon, a sparkly "pine cone, " and sheet music.

What would you cover a baseball with?

All photos taken by yours truly.
Linking to Kimba's DIY, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, WFMW, and the Girl Creative. Join the Party!