Handmade garden decorations

I've really enjoyed making these gorgeous garden decorations.  Every garden has its sorry looking corner - a bare fence or wall that could do with a bit of love.  These wooden painted decorations are designed to fill those gaps.

I started with some off-cuts of  thin plywood (Hubby had cut out a large circle to replace the top of our garden table).

I drew out some very rough shapes of what I wanted to make, then cut them out with a jigsaw and drilled a hole near the top (for hanging).

Each shape got two coats of primer.

Then I got creative with the acrylic paints.  I really don't consider myself to be any sort of artist, so you don't need much skill to get some really nice effects.

I finished off with two coats of varnish on each one.

They are currently hanging on my garden fence.  The garden at our rented house is basically an awful gravelled yard.  I can't really do anything with it, since everything has to be left exactly as it was when we leave in a few months, plus it's autumn!  So in the meantime, I'm going to make lots more of these, in bright colours hopefully, and really brighten things up.

At the moment I'm leaving them out for a few weeks to make sure that the varnish etc. is as weather proof as I hope it is, then I'll make them to order for Sunbow Designs (my Etsy shop).  I'm thinking I can do small animals, mini-beasts, flowers, garden signs, and also things that might be used to decorate kids' bedrooms, such as fairies, racing cars, trains and so on.  

What do you think?