Week 9: Easter Topiary

Hello my Pinterest Fanatics!  

I don't know about you guys, but I have been very busy this week!  I am participating in a craft show tomorrow (woot!); so, I have been crazy busy getting everything ready!  So excited! :)

Anyway...this week, I am going to show you how to make an Easter Topiary!  Easter is just around the corner, and this is a cute and simple way to add to your Easter decor!

My inspiration for this week comes from Spoonful! 

And my final product...

Pretty cute, huh? :)

Ok, here's what you'll need for this project...

Supplies:

6" Clay Flower Pot

6" Styrofoam Ball

Floral Foam

12" Wooden Dowel

Easter Grass

Toothpicks

Foil Easter Egg Candy

Easter/Spring-Colored Paint (I used light blue and light yellow)

Easter-y Ribbon 

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

First, paint your flower pot, styrofoam ball, and wooden dowel.  I recommend painting the styrofoam and dowel the same color.  It may seem pointless to pain the styrofoam, since it is going to be covered in candy...BUT some of the styrofoam will show through and you want it to blend in with the rest of the project! :)

Next, cut the floral foam in order to fit inside the pot.  And...place inside pot!

Now it's time to build your topiary!  Push dowel into styrofoam ball a few inches.  Then, remove dowel and cover the end in hot glue.  Push dowel back into ball and hold in place until glue is dry.  This, will keep the dowel from shifting inside the styrofoam.  Next, insert other end of dowel into the foam-filled pot.  Make sure NOT to push dowel all the way through the foam!  Otherwise, it will come out the hole in the bottom of the pot!  Now, remove the dowel from the foam and cover the end in hot glue (again).  Push dowel back into hole and hold in place until glue is dry.

Next, spread some hot glue over the top of the foam-filled pot and add the Easter grass!

Now, it's time to add the candy!  For this part, all you need is the foil eggs and toothpicks.  Push  one toothpick about halfway into each foil egg (I used approximately two bags of the eggs).  I found it easier to push the toothpicks into a whole bunch of eggs first...and then put them on the topiary.  

**Attention: Before adding the candy to the topiary, make sure your painted styrofoam ball is dry!  It takes a little while to dry because it is so porous.  I ended up with paint all over my hands because I didn't let it dry long enough!**

Once the paint on your styrofoam ball is sufficiently dry, it's time to add the candy!  Simply take your tooth-picked candy and push (the other end of the toothpick) into the styrofoam ball.  Do this until your ball is completely covered.  You can use the different colors to make a pattern (like me) or you can just randomly place the colors...it's up to you!  But in order to get full coverage, you'll need to put them in rows.

Once you have covered the styrofoam in candy, you're basically done!  Just add a piece of ribbon to the dowel.  I used about 24" of ribbon...and just tied it into a cute little bow!

And there you have it...you're done!  It turned out super cute!  

Give it a try!  And if you do...I'd LOVE to see pictures!

Until next time...

XOXO,

Brittney