Make Your Own Art Globe 

Ever since I first laid eyes upon a gorgeous art globe, I knew I had to have one.  I am useless when it comes to geography and have no plans whatsoever to change that, so why not turn a globe into something that I will actually use and enjoy?  Art!

Being the novice crafter that I am, I just went ahead and bought all of my supplies on Amazon (one stop shopping!).  The globe, which I am sure you could get at a yard sale or Goodwill for much less, made up the majority of the expense at $40.  The sticker book, Mod Podge, foam brush and acrylic spray all added up to less than $20.

I chose butterflies to replicate the ImagineNations globe as closely as possible, but there were other sticker books – such as flowers and birds – that would have worked beautifully as well.  I also opted for the Mod Podge and Acrylic Sealer in Gloss.  I love a lacquered look so this was a no-brainer for me, but there are also Matte versions available if you prefer something less shiny.

Here’s how I did it:

• In order to minimize the “sticker” look, I hand cut each of the butterflies from the book.  I won’t lie, this took a while.  But having white space around each butterfly would have ruined the look of the globe, so it had to be done.  I didn’t bother with the smallest details of the butterflies (antennas, really ornate wing features), but instead focused on the wings and head.  All in all, cutting the 88 butterflies took the length of two episodes of Real Housewives.
• After I had all of my butterflies cut out, I was ready to apply them to the globe.  I chose to cover the land masses (with a few individual butterflies floating about) with stickers, but you can choose whatever approach you’d like.  Because it isn’t a flat surface, using a brayer (or popsicle stick) was out of the question.  So I just used care to get the stickers on a flat as possible and without any bubbles trapped beneath them.  It wasn’t that hard.  I even let Pickle put on a bunch since she was dying to take part in the project.

• Time to glue!  Since the globe was not a completely smooth texture, I opted to blot the Mod Podge on instead of using smooth strokes.  It resulted in a subtle texture that matched the existing features of the globe.  Although the Mod Podge container stated that 5 coats should be applied, I did ten, allowing it to dry for at least an hour in between each coat.

• If there were any minor flaws as the glue dried, I had 100 grit sandpaper on hand to buff them out in between coats.  (I didn’t use it once.)

• After I was happy with the texture and coverage, I applied a final coat of gloss sealer to really make it shine.

All in all, it was a really fun (and easy) project to do and I was extremely happy with the results.  What images would be globe-worthy for you?