Marbles are a favorite toy for children, but they can also be used in a wide range of crafts. If you love the swirling colors in glass marbles but aren’t sure how to incorporate them into your décor, then you’ll be excited to learn that the sky is truly the limit. Here are five fun and easy ways to add color, style, and texture to your home with marbles and beautiful glass pebbles.
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The Fish Tank Substrate
When you start setting up a fish tank, you’ll find that there are countless options for the substrate. However, marbles are an easy and attractive choice you may not have considered. The glass can handle being submerged, and the orbs are easy to rinse off when it’s time to scrub the tank. The shape won’t work as well with an under-gravel filter, but marbles are an excellent option if you’re using a hanging filtration system. They’re also an excellent choice in very small tanks that are going to be cleaned regularly. Consider using different sizes of marbles to help eliminate gaps in the substrate, or go with glass pebbles that will nestle together nicely.
Bowls and Frames
If you’ve fallen in love with some colored marbles and want to do something useful with them, consider transforming a basic household item with these tiny glass orbs. You can use hot glue to attach them directly to a picture frame, wood form or even the inside of a bowl. In the end, you’ll have a three-dimensional marble design that looks great and brings texture to the space. Here are just a few ways that you can use this design concept in your home:
- Find your family’s last initial in a wooden form. Cover it with attractive marbles and hang it on the front door.
- Cover a plain picture frame with marbles in your child’s favorite color. Display some of their own artwork inside the custom frame.
- Cover a simple foam ball with marbles. Use different sizes of marbles, beads, and even little seashells to help fill all the gaps. Set this in a sunny window to add some brilliant color to the space.
- Glue glass pebbles to the inside of a bowl. Use this for storing pens or other small items on your kitchen counter.
Break Out the Paint
Children love to finger paint, but they don’t have to limit themselves to their hands. When marbles roll through paint, they create cool lines and tracks. Put different colors of Tempera paint in shallow containers. Set the paper inside a casserole dish. After rolling the marbles in the paint, they can set them in the casserole dish and move them around to make some tracks. It’s an easy and fun craft idea that’s perfect for a rainy day.
In the Garden
One of the great things about marbles is that they reflect light and color throughout the surrounding area. This makes them a great choice for the garden. Make plaster stepping stones and add marbles to them for a pleasing finish. Take a simple yard decoration and cover the entire surface with glass pebbles. This is an excellent choice for a simple plastic flamingo or even an aging gazing ball. Adding color and texture makes any simple yard item more impressive.
I’ve also written a post on making a backsplash from glass pebbles.
Vase Fillers
When you’re creating an arrangement of dry or silk flowers, you need something to weigh the vase’s bottom and keep everything in position. Marbles and glass pebbles are both attractive choices. They’ll become part of the overall design, and they’re extremely easy to work with. Coordinate the colors to your flowers, or use one solid shade that will provide some contrast to the finished look.
Using glass marbles or pebbles around the home is easier than you think. Use these ideas to add the colors you love to your living space. You can get creative, and it’s easy to let the children help you with many of these projects. Whether you mix the colors and sizes or go for a more monochromatic look, you’re sure to love the new look. Marbles and glass pebbles are surprisingly affordable, and they can be used throughout your living space.
