DIY Topiaries!

Supplies needed per topiary: Paper, tape, glue gun and glue sticks, Moss, Stick from your yard, and an urn

As promised, here is tutorial #2 from my weekend projects. I have been wanting topiaries for our mantel for a while now but they are always out of my price range! While reading one of the blogs that I stalk, Less-Than-Perfect-Life of Bliss, I stumbled upon Julie's tutorial on DIY topiaries. I was so excited to see how easily and cheaply these could be made so I decided to try it out!

Now an easy option as the base for these topiaries would have been a foam ball, found in the floral section of craft stores, but I opted out of that option to save myself the $3 that each ball costs and I used Julie's idea of creating my own base out of paper.

That is where this big stack of newspaper comes in :) I decided to use old tennis balls as my starting point, I then wrapped them with paper, layering paper and tape over and over. The frequent use of tape helped to keep the ball firm and tight. I followed this process for each ball and made sure the paper balls were close to the same size because I wanted them to be as close to identical as possible.

 Next, I cut a hole in each ball, and inserted a stick, that I my sweet hubby found for me in the yard and sawed them to matching lengths! I used my glue gun to add glue to the end  of them before sticking them inside the paper ball, to help secure the stick to the paper ball.

Next, I began hot gluing moss all over each ball. Warning, this can be VERY messy. I am still finding moss floating around our house! I bought one bag of moss per topiary from AC Moore for a few dollars each. Be sure to carefully pull the moss out, and unfold it, it is in flat sheets that are very easy to glue directly on the paper ball. The bigger the flat sheet, the faster you can cover your topiary! I used lots of glue to ensure that the moss wouldn't fall off later!

Lastly, I secured the stick into my urn (I got these cuties at Wal-Mart for $5 each) by surrounding it with more newspaper. I then glued left over moss scraps on top of the showing newspaper to hide it!

 They were then quickly placed in their new home on our mantle! I love them! I wanted these to be rather tall and large since they are beside a large TV! I think smaller ones would be cute in any room in the house. You have to check out Julie's other topiary tutorials, she made an adorable bunny, a little bird, and also a spiral topiary. I am tempted to make those as well! Don't they add the perfect touch of Spring!?

Let me know if you make one! Or if you have experience in creating your own topiaries and want to share photos, tips, or tricks!