Yard Art Hunt

My next door neighbor told me about this cool walking adventure that she did with her kids recently. The idea was to do a yard art treasure hunt while walking from one end of the neighborhood to the other. How many animals can they find? How many "people", etc. They were surprised at home many pieces of yard art they found in a 2 block stretch. Sounds like fun!

DIY Metal Yard Art

Making your own yard art by woodworking is a common hobby for some people, but how many make their own metal yard art? Welding does take a bit of a learning curve, but it isn't significantly harder to do than working with wood. There are many places to learn about the basics of welding and lots of Welding Tips online. Once you become familiar with welding basics, find a class or somebody that already has the equipment to teach you the basics. there are many options from local artisans and almost every junior college has introductory welding classes.

As far as costs go, outfitting a basic metal shop isn't a lot more expensive than setting up a woodworking shop. there are also MANY opportunities to recycle old metal objects and they can make some of the absolute BEST yard art around. I encourage you to give metalworking and welding a try.

High End Yart Art

High end yard art can be really high end. I once visited a home where they kept very expensive paintings hanging on the walls of the outside of their home. They had them in special display cases, but still.

On the high end side of things, hand crafted metal yard art objects are very popular. You will see original sculpted creations and recycled pieces made from common everyday objects. I really enjoy the metal yard are that has movement associated with it (windmill type objects). I also highly encourage folks to get their own metalworking tools and try making their own metal yard art.

Yard Art - Garage Sale Treasures

Some of my favorite yard art are items that I have found at garage sales. I love finding treasures at garage sales and I like the fact that I am recycling made made objects.

So far, my most prized garage sale yard art are have been the colorful bowling balls that I have found. I just place them through out the planter beds at the edge of my lawn. When the bowling balls are found by visitors, the bowling balls always seem to bring a smile to their faces.

I also like to recycle old cooking pots as planters.

Garage sale treasures can be the perfect addition to your next landscaping project. Just give yourself some time to think creatively next time you go to a garage sale and you are bound to come up with lots of great landscaping ideas. Mentally place an item in your landscape and see how it might look.

Yard Art that Tells Time

A common need around our yard is to know what time it is (so I can take a break from the yard work and enjoy so time watching the big game).

One of the neatest thing you can add to your yard is a sundial. If you align it correctly, you can really tell time by it. If you end up with a sundial, go the extra mile and learn how to tell time from it to impress you friends and family

Easier to tell time from is a clock and there are some cool choices for your yard. Most of the larger clocks have art prints or wildlife scenes on their faces. My favorite clocks for the outdoors are the ones that have a different bird song for each hour of the day.

Garden Yard Art

Yard Art in the garden is vary popular. This type of yard are ranges from very functional (like garden stakes and garden benches) to entirely decorative like gazing balls.

Some of my favorite things in the garden include wind chimes, water features and areas for attracting wildlife (garden bird feeder and bird houses). These items can be quite elaborate or very simple and yet they all add character to your garden.

Yard Art - What is it?

Yard Art is in the eyes of the beholder :-)

To me yard art is anything you put in your yard to bring you pleasure by enhancing your yards beauty. To some people this means whirly gigs and garden gnomes. To other people this means a large landscaping redo of your entire back yard.

There are many pieces of art that you can choose from and this includes making your own yard art (highly encouraged!). Cement statuary is a common choice as are yard flags.

Some of my favorite yard art items are ones that attract wildlife. Adding a bird house or a bird bath can be just the thing to bring in the sound birds which will bring their own level of enjoyment to you yard.