From Old Patio Umbrella to Colorful Garden Goodness!

It’s about time we had some serious fun, don’t you think?

I have been cutting scraps, tying knots and standing on a ladder conjuring some up.

Of the “colorful garden contraption” variety, that is.

Happiness for an old tattered garden umbrella.

And colorful happiness for me and the garden too.

How on earth did this all begin you ask?

Well, truth be told, I got sick of seeing my 3 old umbrellas sitting by the workshop.

Looking majorly pitiful.

Bare bones.

And honestly, I was about to throw them out because I couldn’t find proper covers for them.

As the old covers had long turned to dust.

Plus the wood was getting all ruined.

I have had them for about 12 years, so they had a long life right?

However…

I had an idea brewing.

 In my mind, I saw a colorful garden contraption.

Yep, that’s the proper name for it me thinks 😉

So, I took stacks of scrap fabric and ribbons and tied them on to each naked umbrella arm.

I started from top to bottom, arm by arm, like you see below.

(make sure you tie on the ribbon + scraps when the umbrella is open and not closed)

I tried 2 other methods, because at first I intended to actually make a new umbrella out of scraps.

But it didn’t look as festive, so then I started just tying on the fabric and it worked good.

Then I strung up an über long felt ball garland, and tied it around…

To create…

This!

My sad old umbrella skeleton is now a super happy colorful garden contraption, hoooray!

If you could see it in person, it’s extra fun.

Mainly because each arm is covered, and you see the whole happy 3-d thing..

It adds a much needed fresh spring spark to my garden world.

(My sis put up the dream banner, what perfect colors without intending)

It looks great against that super blue sky, don’t you think?

I wasn’t careful with each piece of fabric being the same length.

They were about 9″ – 12″ long, and no more than 3″ wide.

I wasn’t careful with the color scheme either.

I just went crazy fabric times on the whole thing.

And because, as you know, I am a lover of felt balls, remember here?

I decided to use some of my stash as a garland.

See how easy it was to take this sad thing below…

And turn it into this crazy happy colorful garden contraption?

Also, I painted the wooden part white, after I had tied it all up.

I had not even thought about it before, but then thought, white would make the color pop more.

So, if you try this at home, paint first 🙂

And, as I said before, make sure you tie and garland the umbrella up while it is open at your desired level.

That way it is easy to close and open as you see below.

We soooo needed something extra bright and happy while we wait for trees to get leaves.

Although I have to admit…

This wild colorful thing is making me Mad Tea Party crazed.

Longing for this year’s event already.

 

Now, if you have an old sad patio umbrella skeleton in your garden…

I highly recommend this project.

Talk about junk to treasure.

That is, if you think gobs of colorful scraps tied together makes treasure 😉

 

Fun fun, in fact, you can even keep it inside it’s so pretty.

And just keep adding things to it.

How fun would that be???

 

Okay, off I go for now.

See you soon.

 

Love, V

 

 

ps:  To be honest…

I think this creation was born from me singing this for so many days in a row.

Heck, if I could spend the rest of my days making Willi Wonka garden umbrellas, I might say yes.

 By the by, have you heard the arrangement for Jackie Evancho’s version?

It’s so beautiful, the instruments in that intro…. oh my…