I have been stepping on these spikey sphere thingies for the last 2 years of living where they are abundant. Since the first time I saw them, I have wanted to use them in a crafty way. They look all space age futuristic orbital starburst like. So cool. I finally decided to make some garland and filler for my Christmas decor. It is perfect with the rest of my decor.
I read that the sweetgum tree is found from the southwestern part of Connecticut to central Florida, west to Texas and north to Southern Illinois. If you have them around you, you probably already know it. There are tons of these spheres all over the sidewalks, and they are hard not to notice. Here is how I made them all sparkly-pretty for the garland and filler…
I took a couple of plastic grocery bags and gathered the fallen spheres. On a large cookie sheet, I baked them at 300° for 15 minutes to kill any critters that may have come along with them. Once they cooled, I spray painted them with Krylon Glitter Blast. This is the first time I have used it. It did pretty well considering the receiving surface was less than smooth and uniform!
For the garland, I used an embroidery needle and some fire wire beading string. After breaking about 4 needles, I finally resorted to a small diameter nail and hammer to pound a hole in the center of the sweetgum sphere so I could just pass the needle and thread through the hole. For the filler, I just place the spray painted spheres in my vases and candle holders. So festive and sparkly! It doesn’t get much more frugal.
