By lisa. Many people think of sweet gum balls as a nuisance. Matthew Barlow, nursery manager at EarthworksJax shares the history and continuing legacy through suckering of a Sweet Gum tree at the nursery. My mom had to laugh once when she saw Martha Stewart painting sweet gum balls to decorate napkin rings for fancy parties. What a mess they make when the balls fall. 3. a reusable shopping bag FULL of sweet gum balls. Watercolor by Debbie Galant April 2020. See more ideas about sweet gum, sweet gum tree crafts, pine cone crafts. They’re the fruit from sweetgum trees. Reply. lol. This frosted Sweet Gum Snowman ornament will bring a little sparkle to any style tree and a smile to your face this holiday season. Love this idea for sweet gum pods. Helpful. Stack two, glue small clam shell for feet, glue on eyes and decorate face - they are cute and clever but that’s all I could think of to use those darn sticky balls for. Sweet gum trees are known for their spectacular fall color, corky bark, and spiky seed balls. We used to have two Beautiful sweet gum trees…and I loved the pretty colors that they turned in the fall…but hubby hated the spiky balls that would cover the yard! Save on everyday low prices. sweet gum balls my grans & I use hot glue and glue toothpicks in each hole. 4. fabric of choice (I used garden grade burlap cut into 2-3" strips) 5. wide ribbon to hang it with (I cut burlap into strips so it wasn't so tailored) 6. needle nose/wire cutting pliers. One day I sat in my car and watched a gray squirrel sitting on a fence in front of me systematically nibble off all the spines of a sweet gum ball to get at the enclosed seeds. Sweet Gum Balls; Glue Gun; Wire to make a hanger; Steps to Make a Sweet Gum Wreath Cover Wreath Form with Fabric. Just spray paint them gold or silver, tie them into units of 3 each and use them on wreaths or as tree ornaments, or even on packages. I hate them. Delle. Thread a loop of fishing line through the ball to make a holiday ornament. For an instantly elegant Christmas decoration, arrange a small string of white Christmas lights in a large glass vase filled with sweet gum balls. Find someone with a sweet gum tree in their yard and I'm sure they will let you take all you want. We had a wrought iron garden form that we never used as planned. I now envy what I once had and took for granted: the explosion of color that is spring in Glen Ridge. 12 painted sweetgum balls, purple sweet gum balls, one dozen sweet gum balls: Amazon.ca: Home & Kitchen I know I am usually bleaching bottle brush trees, but this time I bleached sweet gum balls. Getting Rid of Sweet Gum Balls. Sweet gum balls are a fruit that grow on the sweet gum tree the spines represent very powerful protection against negativity, bad spirits, ill will, and the evil eye. My arborist said that the sweet gum tree is one of the best air scrubbers in the Houston, Texas area. We have previously action painted before with golf balls and marbles but this time we put a new “sweet” twist on the action painting. ), and another one bought a sweet gum ball "picker-upper" that he pushes around and it has flexible fingers that grab the balls and dumps them in a hopper. Save on everyday low prices. Read all about Gail's pine cones here. Anne Miller Griffin. As I stared at the large pile of bommyknockers on my kitchen table, I knew we were going to have to turn them into a craft. Make a game of picking up sweet gum balls with your children by having a contest to see who can gather the most. Mar 10, 2012 - When life hands you sweet gum balls, spray paint them and put them in mason jars. So…we gathered. Jun 8, 2016 - Explore Trina Daniels's board "Sweet Gum Ball Crafts", followed by 111 people on Pinterest. It would have been so much easier if Mother Nature had made them the favorite food for squirrels: by SAS on @stellerstories. I might spray paint these red or a color that would show up better on the tree. on Jan 31, 2018. I live in FL and had picked many of them that fell to the ground many years ago from my tree to make a wreath. While the gumballs looked pretty they were not the best tasting gumballs. Any ideas for sweet gum balls? then we spray with white paint & sprinkle with glitter while still wet. They are great tucked in the tree, stacked in a bowl or stacked to form a Christmas tree with beads added for ornaments. 06.12.2012 - Christmas Star- made from sweet gum balls, toothpicks, spray paint, and glitter! Dec 20, 2012 - Sweet Gum Ball Garland. Now we live in a different house and those huge trees have been cut down. This fall, we were up at the park and we saw all of these cute prickly balls hanging from the trees and all over the ground. Check out our sweet gum balls selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our pine cones shops. I learned this when my coworker, Linda, happened to mentioned that she used to string them up with her girls to decorate their Christmas tree with when they were young. Yours look lovely and at least don’t have a ton of sand in them like mine did. Sweet Gum Balls. They are still in a bag waiting for me to do so! They are definitely prized much more up north, where they are hard to get, and people actually pay money for the sweetgum balls (vs down south where people would probably pay money to get rid of them). Shop at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Any fabric will work, but I liked the flannel like feel of this fabric and I had plenty of scrap pieces on-hand. The sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a fast growing shade tree with a pyramidal shape native to the Southeastern U.S. You could make the prettiest Christmas decorations with them. I've got one 85-95 ft tree left with 2 trunks that I hope just dies and falls apart a little at a time. Answered. Actually it works pretty good (cost about $350). In keeping with our repurposing goals, he's made from Sweet Gum balls with Red Twig dogwood arms. Ensure they are wearing long pants, protective shoes and gloves. Martha Stewart also made wreaths with these then sprayed them with gold and silver spray. If you are interested in a custom… sweet gum wreath. I thought that was such a wonderful idea that I would try it out in our own home. Sweet gum balls make nice Christmas tree ornaments when painted, and they are a pretty decent golf ball substitute for practicing a golf swing. I like what you did with the sweet gum spiky balls. I was inspired by Gail at Purple Hues and Me when last fall she bleached pine cones. During the holidays, have your kids paint and decorate dried sweet gum balls while wearing protective gloves. So cute! Reply. Wreath from sweet gum tree and gold paint, originally from Martha Stewart magazine, but the one in the magazine was painted white . Start by covering the straw wreath form with strips of curtain interlining. Lil B received from preschool graduation a beautiful bottle filled with gumballs. Mar 10, 2012 - When life hands you sweet gum balls, spray paint them and put them in mason jars. 6 answers RBE. 12 painted sweetgum balls, blue sweet gum balls, one dozen sweet gum balls: Amazon.ca: Home & Kitchen Free Shipping on eligible items. Those are gorgeous too. Rather than throw the gumballs away we decided to paint with them! They are a pain in the butt. Gum Balls - I've always wondered if there was a use for gum balls from a Sweet Gum tree. sweetgum balls | Red breasted robin, blue bird and cardinal from sweet gum balls. First you have to go on a hunt for sweet gum balls. I promptly went and collected a bag of sweet gum balls and put them in a jar of bleach. Answer + 3. Enjoy. 3 min read. I have 2 in my yard and I would love for someone to come get them. I had no idea what they were called, but I thought they might be fabulous in a wreath. I think my dog has eaten some sweet gum balls from a sweet gum tree. 7. spray paint (I used Valspar's Summer Leaf Green) 8. drop cloth or some kind of plastic/fabric to lay it on to paint . Shop at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Acorn Crafts Pine Cone Crafts Holiday Crafts Okra Crafts Diy Christmas Ornaments How To Make Ornaments Christmas Decorations Pinecone Ornaments Crafts For Kids. on Jan 31, 2018. Helpful. Free Shipping on eligible items. And in the rural South when times were tough, children would paint sweet gum balls to use as ornaments to transform a forlorn cedar into a magical Christmas tree. One neighbor cut down the last of his (yeah!! And, these sweet gum balls go by many other names like “burr balls,” “gum balls,” “space bugs,” “monkey balls,” “bommyknockers,” or “sticker balls.” All of those were accurate descriptions of the bizarre little orbs of spikes. Pinecone Crafts … I have 2 in my yard and I would love for someone to come get them. These fruit balls provide food to many species of bird and mammal. So sad! The sweet gum balls were painted with a brown floral paint and then sprayed with a finishing coat. Because a sweet gum tree may grow 80 feet tall and hose-end sprayers typically have a maximum good-pressure range of up to 30 feet, spraying a mature sweet gum adequately is difficult for a homeowner. Overspray that drifts to nearby plants may damage them, and the spray also may damage automobile paint. We left when the cherry tree in our front yard was in full bloom, trading for a factory-turned-loft building in a failing downtown, but with a fabulous roof deck and other amenities. Although it can grow up to 100 feet tall, it averages 60 feet tall with a 40-foot spread. Every once in awhile after the holidays I get an idea for a project and this was this years. I wish I had made something like this way back then.