Monkey Balls for Fall

So because I can never be on time for anything… and also because I am a bit behind on my blog reading- I completely missed out on the whole Pinterest Challenge that was recently had by some lovely bloggers…. and to think that I actually had something that I could have shared.

Doh!

Not to mention that it is now Christmas decorating time, and I am just getting around to posting about what I made for the Fall….

Double Doh!

Anyhoo- luckily for my 3 awesome blog readers out there (2 if I don’t count myself), I decided that I should share my shit anyways! Except its not shit… its monkey balls.

… or Sweet Gums if you want to be proper like Martha (which by the way, I never knew what they were really called until now).  Needless to say- my homegirl inspired this project when I saw the below image on her site:

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Perfect for Fall no?? I loved the colors, and I knew I needed one in my life as well!

Only problem? Monkey balls in these parts don’t normally start dropping from trees until the Winter months.  I needed the wreath for Fall damnit! So waiting for the free balls to fall was not in my timeline (hehe).

Would you be surprised if I told you that people sell these prickly jokers on Etsy?? Of course you wouldn’t… Etsy has EVERYTHING Thankfully, I got lucky and found a seller who was more than accomodating in getting me all the monkey balls I needed (about 300 balls).

… and now for the obligatory photo play by play:

1.  hot glue floral wire into monkey ball (be sure to remove the “tails” prior to this step)

2.  spray paint the balls (I used floral spray paint in Antique Gold,Brilliant Gold, and Orange)…

*To ensure full coverage, I ended up holding each monkey ball up by the floral wire and spraying around it.  Yes my hand had lots of paint on it when I was through….. and yes I regret not taking a photo of that!!

3.  insert the painted monkey balls into the straw wreath form (note this was difficult, so I used a screw to pre-poke the wreath before inserting each wire)

4.  keep going…..

5.  smile and spray with some glitter… don’t forget to add a pretty ribbon for good measure! 

Doesn’t she look like she was made for our door???

…Now to just find a good wreath case so that she’ll still look just as pretty next fall

Tags: fall, monkey balls, sweet gums, Wreath