This can be as rustic as you'd like it to be, or you
can dress it up!
You'll need:
4" Styrofoam ball
2 1/2" Styrofoam ball
6" wooden dowel
2 1/2" terra cotta pot
craft glue or hot glue
small handful of spanish moss
natural raffia
pencil
Seeds *see instructions
Glue the 21/2" ball into the terra cotta pot. Push firmly on the
ball with your fingers until it's crushed down into the pot-level with
the top. Make a hole in the center of the foam with a pencil.
Glue the wooden dowel into the hole you made in the center
of the pot foam. Now make a one deep hole in the bottom
center of the 4" ball and squeeze glue into it. Place on top of
the wooden dowel and secure it-allowing it to dry. I think hot glue
works well for this. At this point you have your topiary base
created, and you can decorate it. Look around your garden,
backyard, in the park etc. for interesting small seeds heads.
There are SO many once you start looking. Bring back what
you've collected and sort them onto small paper plates, bowls
or other shallow containers. Spread craft or hot glue over small
sections of the 4" inch ball and carefully apply the seeds. You
can make a collage of seeds or use all one kind. Allow it to
dry completely. Lay a small amount of Spanish moss over the
top of the pot to cover the foam. You can also glue some on the
dowel itself to cover it, or you can paint the dowel if you wish.
Tie a raffia bow around the stem when you are finished either way.
You can now leave the topiary as is, or get even more creative
and add tiny dried flowers, rosebuds or other dried flowers.
This is a neat project for adults or kids. You can also make
seed "balls" in the same way without the dowel and pot! These
can be placed in a small basket for decoration, or you can use
a pin to attach a piece of raffia as a hanger and create natural
ornaments.
About the Author:
Brenda Hyde is Mom to three little ones, a freelance writer
and editor here at OldFashionedLiving.
