Hello dear readers and friends! I am so happy to be participating in the Thrifty Chicks June Challenge! This month’s theme is garden art. I have always used pieces of salvage or vintage junkin’ finds as repurposed garden art. I often style garden vignettes just like my indoor vignettes and think of them as works of art! One of my favorite projects is this DIY repurposed vintage dishes bird feeder. This is not a totally unique and new idea for garden art, but I had been wanting to make one forever and I had plenty of extra vintage dishes in my hoards to play around with. It is however a one of a kind work of art, created by me for my mom as a gift.

My mom loves birds, and I wanted the garden sculpture to also be a bird feeder so I put a little saucer on top for her to sprinkle bird seed in. I used mismatched vintage dishes from yard sales and estate sales. The base is a teal green glass candlestick that is hollow, so a piece of rebar or metal stake can be inserted if she wants to stick the bird feeder in the ground. It can also be placed down inside the center of a flower pot as is.

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I really didn’t take any pictures in the process of making this bird feeder. I got so excited and just started arranging the dishes and gluing them in place using E-6000. It took 24 hours for the glue to set up and dry, but I would recommend waiting 48 hours. Really the only instructions are to gather up several old dishes in various shapes and sizes, play around with arranging them as a  “totem” and glue the pieces in place using the E-6000. Super easy and fun!

I have seen some dish garden art and totems made solely from pottery dishes, and some from just glass dishes. They are all beautiful, but I really like the mix of glass and pottery together. I found the green depression glass sorbet cup for less than $1.oo because it had a little knick on the bottom, so it was perfect for repurposing. Anytime I can rescue a vintage thing of beauty from the trash heap, I am happy!

Here are a few other ways I have incorporated vintage junk as “art” in my garden:

This whimsical and unique pottery tea pot was created by my neighbor’s daughter when she was an art student in college. When I first spotted it at their yard sale I knew right away it would make a fun gnome home in “Thyme Forest.”

Here a chippy pink candleholder is repurposed as a plant stand in a shabby garden vignette by the back door.

Architectural salvage is artwork in and of itself, and these two ceiling tile remnants add a touch of vintage charm as a backdrop in the herb garden.

As you can see, just about anything can be used to create garden art. I am certainly going to make a few more vintage dish totems this summer because this one was just so fun and easy to create. Now I can’t wait to see what my Thrifty Chick friends have come up with! Be sure to check out all the links below for more great garden art ideas.

Thanks for visiting today!

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