Easy to make Thumbtack Craft Balls
I really do love to collect all sorts of glass jars, glass hurricanes and glass apothecary jars. I always have these visions of placing them all over my home and filling them with beautiful objects. Then….they sit empty…usually because I either cannot think what to put in them, or the things I can think of to fill them with are just too darn expensive! Anybody else have this same problem?
I made these really easy and seriously CHEAPY, CHEAP, CHEAP, Thumbtack Craft Balls to put in a hurricane that has been sitting on my entertainment center empty for some time now.
I LOVE how they turned out, I LOVE how inexpensive they were, and I LOVE the pops of color they help bring in to the room; not to mention the fun texture. I am trying to be less boring in my home decorating and use more exciting colors and different textures to liven it up!
I am adding turquoise and yellow to my existing red, sage green and white. Red, green, and white, that sounds like Christmas!! No wonder I need some color updating! Although my living room has always matched so nicely with all my Christmas decor when that time of year comes round {hee, hee}! I would love to take out the green, but my couches are green and let’s face it. Replacing couches is way more expensive than spray painting a few decorative accessories:) So….the green stays, for now. Until I can persuade my husband we need new couches! A girl can dream, right?
All you need to make this project are styrofoam balls (I used a small and a large size) thumbtacks, and spray paint. I got my thumbtacks from the Dollar Store. Love that price tag!
I just started on one end of the ball and pushed my tacks in so that they overlapped each other slightly. This was easier than I thought. At first I wanted to make it perfect, but my girls wanted to help, so I let them. And even though the placement of every tack WAS NOT perfect, you can’t even tell!
To spray paint them, I pushed the pointy end of a skewer into an open space between two thumbtacks. Then held it out at arms length and spray painted it. Then I stuck the other end of the skewer into a hard foam block to keep it upright while it dried. I did do several coats of paint, because I wanted the color to really be rich.
Don’t worry about the small hole from the skewer, no one is going to notice it!
After the balls are all dry, you can arrange them all together in a bowl, or glass container. You could even mix them with other types of decorative balls or objects. Get creative! If you decide to try out this easy craft project, I would love to hear about it and see pictures!
Now GO and get creating!
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29 Responses to Easy to make Thumbtack Craft Balls
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I love this craft. So fantastic and so creative as well! This is one of the few creations I love so much. These thumbtack craft balls are indeed a perfect project for all seasons. I would love to share this creation to my friends. I’m pretty sure they’ll going to love this, too. This is absolutely perfect for summer. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your sweet comment Iris! I am so glad you liked this project. If you end of making some of your own I would LOVE to see how they turned out! Enjoy!
I enjoyed this project but when I spray painted the ball,it dissinergrated and now it looks like a charcoal briquette. Any suggestions? Thanks, Jan Morrison
Oh my goodness Janice, I bet that was frustrating and disappointing!! I hate working hard on a project and then to have it fail 🙁 After reading your comment I googled it and read that spray paint can dissolve styrofoam! Who knew!?!? My styrofoam did not disintegrate at all! Not even a little bit, I even looked it up on pinterest and there are lots of similar projects with thumbtacks and styro balls with no dissolving problems. Did you overlap your thumbtacks so that no sytrofoam was peeking out? Did you use the hard, white styrofoam balls? Those are the only 2 things I can think of. I am so sorry!!! I wish you lived close so I could come take a look and figure it out for you! Are you going to try again?
Love the texture of these thumbtac creations and what pretty colors!!
I’d love for you to share them at my brand new blog party if you have time.
Thanks xo
Thank you! I will check out your blog party for sure!
Smarty Pants! I see The Dollar Store in my lunch hour future tomorrow! Awesome idea, so thanks for sharing Ü
Those are really cute and super creative! The texture is amazing and doesn’t look a thing like thumbtacks! I may have to try this idea – if I think I can keep them away from our dog… ouch.
Hi Laura! I am glad you like them. YES, definitely keep them away from feet! Since my children were helping me with these I had to double and triple check the floors so no body got a thumb tack in the foot. 🙂
Those are really cute and creative. And I love the metallic texture. You’ve inspired me to make them and fill a vase that isn’t useful for anything.
Lori @ A Bright and Beautiful Life
http://www.abrightandbeautifullife.com
Lori thanks for commenting! I love comments! I am so glad that you liked my project, I agree, the texture is super fun. Come visit again soon.
I really like how those look! Add that to my list of possible decorating ideas!!!
Thanks Brooke! I can’t wait to see you in 2 weeks!!!! YAY!!!
This is awesome! I know exactly what you mean…I have all these glass jar/containers/vases with nothing to put in them because everything is a little too expensive for me so they sit empty! I am gonna do this! So cute!
Thanks Sis, if you need any help when you make them just call me! Love you, and so excited for our weekend getaway coming up! xoxo
Aaaaa! They turned out AWESOME!
Thanks TJ!!!
Awesome idea. I have a huge crystal pedestal vase that is too big for any normal person to buy flowers for! Love this:)
Thanks! You should totally make some, cheap-o! That is funny, “normal person” hee, hee, made me smile. Hugs!
This is actually pretty cute and doesn’t look like spray painted tacks on a ball! Now I need a glass hurricane…..
Thanks sis! You don’t need a hurricane you could use a bowl or jar, but since I have a problem with buying glass containers you could also just come steal one of mine:)
my daughter and i tried to make and it worked Thanks Britany