Thursday, April 18, 2013

Dragonfly Garden Stake



Spring is finally here!  

I love dragonflies.  I think they are very elegant and regal looking. When I saw a beautiful beaded dragonfly garden stake at Pier One recently, I knew I wanted something like this in my rock garden.
 







I decided I would try to make my own since I had lots of beads on hand. Little did I know what I thought would be easy to do, turned out to be very frustrating and time consuming.  My motto became, you win some and you lose some.  With this project, I think I lost.  But wait!


Since this was a garden stake, I needed everything, wire and beads to be very sturdy.  The wire has to support the body of the dragonfly and the wings.










Using different shades of green and blue beads I threaded the larger ones  onto a 18 gauge wire. That was easy enough, but when it came to making the wings, the smaller beads would not thread onto the thicker wire.  






First, I tried thinner wire - which looked okay in this picture.  But if I made the wings larger, I had nothing to support the wings in order for them to stay upright.




After switching out some of the beads (body) for larger ones I found from old necklaces,


I ended up wrapping the smaller beaded wire around the 18 gauge wire for the larger wings. This gave the dragonfly a hefty set of wings, but it looked sparse.  Next I beaded 24 gauge wire into loops and wrapped the loops together on each side with more beaded wire.  I realized that I couldn't or wouldn't duplicate all those beaded loops.






Feeling a bit frustrated, I decided to stop and secured the dragonfly to a plain painted stake using more beaded wire.






I had hoped to make a dragonfly like the one at Pier one. But this one is kinda cute with it's own quirky look.  





It doesn't photograph well, but I can tell you that it looks much better in a real-life setting.


 


 And, oh .  .  .

Outside in my rock garden, the dragonfly garden stake looks awesome next to the beautiful phlox in bloom.








Is this a hit or miss?  You decide!



Take a little time to enjoy!



















Visit thecsiproject.com



Linking to these fabulous parties:




The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday ,  Sewing Barefoot for The Weekly Creative, Alderberry Hill for Make the Scene Monday , The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday , Feeding Big and more for In and Out of the Kitchen Monday , A Humble Creation for A New Creation , Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday , Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday , Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday , Home Coming for DIY'ers , I Gotta Try That for Linky Party Monday, Pursuit of Funtional Home for Monday Hop , One More Time for Share It One More Time , Kathe With A E for You're Gonna Love It Tuesday ,    The Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips Tuesday , Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday , A Stroll thru Life for  Tabletop Inspire Me Tuesday , Cedar Hill Ranch for The Scoop on Tuesdays ,Homework for Inspiration Board Tuesday , My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures ,Romance on a Dime for Take on Tuesday , Debbiedoos for Tuesdays Top Talent Pinterest Party , Primp for Primp Your Stuff Wednesdays , Ginger Snap Crafts for Wow Me Wednesdays ,  Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays ,The Shady Porch for Rock and Share Wednesdays , View from River Mountain for Show It Off Wednesday ,  DIY by Design for Swing into Spring , All Things With a Purpose for Thursday Link Up ,  CSI Project for Challenge of the Week Thursday , Dysfunction Junction for Linkin With My Ladies Thursday , Glued To My Crafts for Crafty Thursdays , The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays , Marigold's Loft for Tutorial Thursdays ,  No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays , Stone Gable for Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits on Thursdays , Chic on a Shoestring Decorating for Flaunt It Friday ,  Happy Go Lucky for Shine on Fridays ,    My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday , French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday , Common Ground for Be Inspired on Fridays , The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday , Craftberry Bush for the Inspiration Gallery on Friday ,  Diana's Rambles for Pin Me Linky Friday 504 Main for Tickled Pink Fridays , Shaken Together for What's Shakin' Friday ,  Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special, A Bouquet of Talent for Life on Lake Shore Drive on Saturdays , Classy Clutter for Spotlight Saturday , Crafts a la Mode for What To Do Weekends , One More Time for Share It One More Time Saturday ,  Serenity You for Serenity Saturday , Tutus & Tea Parties for a Pinteresting Party Saturday ,













19 comments:

  1. You are amazing! You do some gorgeous stuff with beads and this is just one more fine example! I love dragonflies too...but you knew that! Well done my friend!

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  2. Oh my gosh Gail... that looks so amazing in your garden. Good for you for sticking with it. I love dragonflies too and I think this is definitely a hit! Your phlox looks sooo beautiful!

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  3. Wow... this is awesome! The amount of work and detail that went into this is incredible! Great job!

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  4. Gail! Your dragonfly is AWESOME! He looks amazing flying over your garden. Thanks so much for sharing how you made him. I saw your post over at the CSI project.

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  5. That's so creative!!! I love it! and I love your rock garden.....great job Gail!

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  6. That is awesome! Gail your beading is just so amazing, I love this!

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  7. I love dragonflies and this one is very special. It looks great with your purple phlox. I would never have the patience to thread all those tiny beads!

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  8. Congratulations on the CSI Top Ten! The dragonfly deserved it! Check about your blog's name on the Top Ten page.

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  9. Congratulations, Gail, on being selected in the Top Ten over at the CSI Project for your great beaded dragonfly...he is wonderful!

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  10. I love how your dragonfly turned out. Most people would not have seen the one at Pier One so they would not know the difference.
    Great job,
    Bev

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  11. Hi Gail,
    Your dragonfly is adorable. I'm pinning it right now. And I am a new follower from the Pin It Monday Party.

    http://darlenebnemeth.blogspot.ca/2013/03/forgive-but-dont-forget.html

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  12. Wow i'm totally blown away by your fabulous creation !

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  13. Beautiful!!
    Thanks so much for sharing this on Tutorial Thursdays Linky Party- I can't wait to see what you will be sharing this week.
    x
    Natalie
    www.marigoldsloft.blogspot.com

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  14. What a beautiful DIY. I'm featuring you on The DIY'ers this week, so thanks for linking up!

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  15. Oh i am really surprised to see such a nice garden stakes.Its looks like a real one and very attractive.Every wants to such type of stakes in our garden.

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  16. Wow. Most creative stake ever. I wouldn’t have the patience to wire those beads together. Great job. I’m just wondering if those won’t get easily blown down by the wind. Maybe you could try hardwood garden stakes art or creative tree guards. That would be awesome!

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  17. This is awesome! The amount of work and detail that went into this is incredible! Great job!
    retaining walls

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