BFF Topiary "The Real Deal"

The other day I posted about a topiary I did with jute and an ornament. You can see that here. It all started because my friend wanted inexpensive topiaries for outside. They are not cheap! But, here's the one that I made today, for a grand total of $5.50. Seriously. Maybe 6 bucks if you include tax.

Here's a little tutorial:

I didn't want to use styrofoam, because it was supposed to be big, and styrofoam is big in pennies. So, I took left over tissue paper from ThanXmas and wrapped it up into a ball. Then I wrapped that in masking tape to hold everything together.

While searching for the boys' sleds and shovels, so they could do this:  (That's our neighbor in red)

I found some sticks and berries from last Christmas. Hurray! They were perfect for this topiary. I thought I would just be able to shove the stick through the tape and the tissue, but it didn't work, so first I tried drilling, then I just used a sharp knife and cut through it all until there was a little tunnel. That seemed to work.

After that I spread some mod podge on it to protect it, from what, I don't know, but I'm sure it needed protecting. While I was waiting for the glue gun to warm up I did this:

Aren't those cute. Berries from Target and a bow. I heart berries.

Onward. I had no idea how this was going to work so I just grabbed some moss and started gluing it on.

It was kind of like gluing a toupee on a bald guy. Or, Guster's head. Either way, it was pretty easy to do, and you can manipulate it and spread it out easily. I elbowed someone for this canister at Goodwill the other day and knew it would be perfect. It was originally 10 bucks at some fancy schmancy store and I scored it for $1.99. I heart Goodwill.

 

Because I have no idea what I'm really doing and making things up as I go, I realized I needed something more sturdy than plant foam. First I put some sand in the base, but I didn't have enough, and the sand in our sandbox is frozen and covered in snow. So I grabbed two blocks from a project that I haven't started yet and pounded them in with a rubber mallet (because they were a teensy bit too big). Once they were in, I drilled a ginormous hole and stuck the branch in. It won't come out. It wobbles a little, but really, who cares.

To make everything extra tight I took some plastic bags and shoved them in the open spaces.

Then I covered that in the left over moss. I only used one bag of moss for the entire project. I got the moss at HD. I wrapped some berries around the stick (from the branches I found in the garage). And tied the base with a little green ribbon.

Not an easy project, but now that I know what to do, it wouldn't be that hard. I am absolutely lovin' it. I wish I could send it to my BFF, but I'm not sure it would make it in the mail. Although I'm sure this would be fine outside, it won't be going there because we live on top of the windiest hill in the state.

Linkin' up for sure.





















And Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage.