How To Make Your Own Adorable Ladybug House!
'How To Make Your Own Adorable Ladybug House!' We clearly needed (yucky aphids!) and we finally did find a "Ladybug House", I am happy to share the end result! There are all kinds of ways to personalize and make these from so many different things.
On a shopping trip to the local craft store, I found this little house! I had been looking for a bird house that was built so that I could pry the front off of the house and use the remainder for a ladybug house.
Well, in the end, it wasn't necessary but you can clearly see how you could easily make your own ladybug house by doing just that! You would have to find a birdhouse constructed so you could remove the face of it, or if you are handy, make your own.
If your home is more modern, you might even choose a more graphic or geometric item to use for your Ladybug house. A circular metal ring with bamboo sticks cut to fit and glued inside of it would accomplish the same thing. Just adding a bunch of bamboo pieces in a myriad of items would create a cozy home for the little bugs. They just need pieces of bamboo or pine cones to make inviting homes.
A homeowner with a beach or cottage home might consider an entirely different look for their garden. Our home is really neither of those, it's a bit more traditional. Although I can appreciate each of those styles, ultimately I chose to decorate this little ladybug house so it blends into nature.
At first, I considered painting this one with vibrant colors. Loving the works of Mary Engelbreit and MacKenzie-Childs, the thought of painting black and white geometric patterns with brightly painted flowers came to mind. However, after considering where it was going to be placed, I decided something a little more understated would be more pleasing to my eye.
So, wanting to leave this outside and ensuring it would last for a few years, the first step was painting it with an outdoor primer. That meant removing the screen from the front and removing the pine cones. The little hook was also removed from the door.
In our collection of spray paint, there was no spray primer for wood but there was a can of automobile primer. I googled whether or not that would work for my project. Score! No need to run to the store.
Since the bamboo was glued in place, it was just masked off with paper and tape. A few light coats of paint and the whole thing was primed in a light gray color.
After that dried, I began to add the pea gravel to the front of the house using a waterproof wood glue, Titebond III.
I tried to keep the pebbles relatively straight along the edges and took into consideration that the door needed to open and close.
Yes, the door should open, so it was opened and shut, over and over, as the pebbles were glued in place, making sure none of the pebbles were in the way.
Did you know that you can actually make little patches of pebbles that can then be glued onto your project? Applying the wood glue to a sheet of plastic wrap and arranging the pebbles on top of it, you can create a little 'tile' of pebbles.
You can make these little tiles and allow them to dry for a few minutes. Then the plastic wrap can be gently pulled away.
Apply a little glue to the house and lay the 'tile' on it. This was really handy when applying the pebbles up under the eaves. It would have been much more tedious!
Using the tiles along the edges, made it easier, too. Using a straight edge, the pebbles were pushed gently into a straight line and allowed to dry a little. Then the tile was glued neatly along the edge of the little house. Isn't this looking great?
After gluing pebbles to both sides and around three sides of the door, I painted any area that I thought might not be covered with pebbles or pine cone petals. (Remember, the screen needed to be stapled back. Later, more pebbles would be glued around that area.) I was really liking the dove gray color of the primer and I decided to duplicate that color with some blue chalk paint mixed with a little black.
The chalk paint was allowed to dry and then a couple of coats of outdoor polyurethane were painted on those areas. (A little poly on the staples should keep them from rusting, too.)
After the polyurethane was dried, the pine cones were placed back in the house and the metal screen was stapled back in place. Then, tiny pebbles were glued all around the screen. At this point, I'm thinking I will leave rocks off of the door. What do you think? I like that little pop of gray...
Then, pine cone petals were glued along the front edge of the roof and allowed to dry. It was necessary for this to be done with the house back laying flat on the table. The petals were gently sliding down in the glue when it was upright.
Starting at the bottom edge, the pine cone petals were glued to the roof. Isn't this adorable?
Although this is a 'ladybug house', it would be easy to decorate a birdhouse or a fairy house using this same technique. Has this inspired you?
Amazon has a lot of ladybug houses at different price points. Some are featured below. (This link is an affiliate link. This means that we earn a small percentage of any sales generated from these links. This helps to support this website.)
Did you know that you can actually order ladybugs? My plan is to order some ladybugs from here shortly. The reviews were very good. They also tell how to release them for best results. (This link is an affiliate link. This means that we earn a small percentage of any sales generated from these links. This helps to support this website.)
In the answered questions for this seller, it addressed whether these were the Asian beetles. (That was also something I wanted to know!) There are other sellers you can investigate and choose, too.
Their answer was that these ladybugs are not the Asian beetle. They are a common North American species, Hippodamia convergens. The Asian beetles actually kill our native beneficial insects, including the ladybug.
In order to keep them around your garden, you will need to make sure there are a water source and food for them, aka nasty bugs like aphids that attack your flowers. Obviously, you won't want to spray for bugs when the bees or ladybugs are present. To encourage them to stay, they suggest releasing them at night, when it's cooler, and making sure there are water drops on the grass or plants. If they are released during the heat of the day, chances are they will fly away to one of your neighbors!
Hope this inspires you to create or decorate your own little house! Now, you know 'How To Make Your Own Adorable Ladybug House!'
