This Christmas your family is going to get a real treat. New bowling balls! Personalized in every way. Weight, style, drilled for each individual and your hobby will take on a new excitement. Now, what do you do with the old bowling balls that just cannot be thrown any more? They are cracked and almost don’t even make it down the lane. What do you do? Do not throw it away!

For the crafty bowlers amongst us, there are tons of cute and clever ideas for “recycling” old balls into garden decorations, sculptures and even furniture!
One of the easiest ways to resurrect your old bowling ball is to simply give it a nice coat of some bright, water-repellent paint. It doesn’t take any extra artistic skill to paint on some oversize eyes and facial features, and voila, you have your very own Bowling Ball garden gnome! Just stick it in your yard or in a flower planter and be prepared for the amused chuckles of your admiring neighbors.
We have happened upon the greatest ideas. You could even give these as gifts. We found the most amazing ideas and pictures. We hope you enjoy.

KT said – “I’ve been messing around with new ways to make bowling ball gazing balls…I also used the cracked marble method on the green and blue ball and baked a lot of stones. I also coated a ball with sheet music and then covered it with stones, the notes magnified really well too. Lastly I found these glass curly stones and thought they would look kind of different as well. I hope you guys like them!”

The Craftster said – “Fun ladybugs can be created with old bowling balls and set out in the lawn or garden for everyone to admire. Completely cover a bowling ball with red exterior latex paint. When the desired coverage is reached and the ball is dry set the ball on a work surface with the holes pointing towards you. Paint a line down the middle of the ball making both ends of the line thicker than in the middle. Paint at least three black circles on each side of the line. Allow the paint to dry. Fill the thumb hole with black caulk and push two pieces of copper wire into the caulk. Allow the caulk to dry for at least 24 hours. If desired, two wooden beads can be painted black and attached to the end of the copper wires.”