Sunday, January 16, 2011

Fabric square Valentine Topiary

How bad is it that honestly, I have never even thought to decorate for heart day before? Bad right? But with all this Valentine goodness floating in the blog world right now and the AWESOME new shelf the Husband made me, (which now doubles as my super mini fake mantel) I knew I had to get in on some of the awesome projects I have seen. I mean how could I just let that shelf go bare????

I started out with a pretty traditional topiary made from $ tree roses, glitter hearts, (also from $ tree) and a mini heart day pail from Target! How much do you all {heart} the Target $ spot?? We do! A LOT! But, then again we tend to like things that only cost a buck! On a side note: Why in the heck are Styrofoam balls so darn expensive??

I didn’t take pictures of the process of this one but it’s pretty self explanatory….

Here is the finished product

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Since I bought two of the tin pails I decided I had to should make another topiary cause I can, and cause I think the first one turned out super cute! Right? But I couldn’t make the exact same one, unless I gave it as a gift, but I’m really lovin this heart day decorating thing and there was still room on my shelf soooo I was greedy and made another one for me!

A loooong time ago around the time I first discovered I was a little bit crafty, my MIL introduced me to the art of poking fabric squares into foam wreaths. I LOVED every aspect of this project . I wanted to make about a million wreathes for every occasion, but I think I only ended up making 2! (and I gave them away as gifts) It never takes very long for my crafting ADD to kick in and I was on to the next project. Now I’m glad I stored that idea in the back of my head.

Enter Fabric Square Topiary!!

What you need to make your own:

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  • Small pail or terra cotta pot. or any similar item you can think of we got ours from the Target dollar spot
  •  Medium size styrofoam ball. I wish I could tell you the exact size I used but unfortunately I totally forgot to check. Sorry.
  • Fabric of your choice I used a little over 2 yrds
  • Pinking sheers
  • wooden dowel
  • small screw driver, skewer, or other object that can be used for poking the fabric into the styrofoam
  • ribbon
  • some sort of filler for your pail (we used conversation hearts in one topiary and shredded gift bag paper for the other)

First cut your fabric into squares. Approximately 2-3 inches, but it’s a pretty forgiving project so exact measurement isn’t really necessary.

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Next comes the fun part! Place the middle of your fabric over your screw driver, skewer. (or any tool of your choosing that will do the job) Some people have a preference as to what side you put facing down but I like to alternate every few times.

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Stick your fabric covered tool of choice into your styrofoam  ball making a puncture hole just deep enough so that your fabric will stay in the ball when you pull your skewer out. I have heard of people putting a dab of glue on the fabric so that it is more secure, but mine seem to stay in fairly well.

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Just keep sticking, just keep sticking, just keep sticking, sticking, sticking (oops too much Finding Nemo) until your ball is all the way covered. Or you could just cover half of your ball and save a lot of time, but still have a super cute decoration….

The sisters liked it this way the best

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Still super cute, but since I set out to cover the whole ball, cover the whole ball I did!

The sister also got laugh out of the mow hawk our ball started to develop!

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When your ball is all covered it is ready to be turned into a sweet little topiary! Wrap some ribbon around a wooden dowel (for decorative purposes only) and stick partially into your covered styrofoam ball. Add some floral foam or any think similar to the bottom of your pail. Stick the free end of the dowel into the foam in the pail and fill the pail with shredded paper or something of sorts. And that it! Super easy, super fun, and way cute!

Oh I almost forgot! Since everything is better with sparkles I add a little lot of this!

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I may still embellish it a bit but it does look pretty and sweet and simple just like this!

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Here a couple of shots of the two of them sitting on their new home for the next month.

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Notice the sneek peek of my Valentine subway art snug in it’s frame! Be on the look out for a printable freebie!

 

jean1


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Keeping It Simple

11 comments:

Unknown said...

so cute! would love for you link up at our crafty saturday link up party!

http://tosewwithlove.blogspot.com/2011/01/crafty-saturday-link-up-party-no-3.html

Karen said...

Super cute! I love the fabrics you chose and the little pails are adorable! Love your blog. I am a follower now!

The Loops said...

This is so cute! I have never thought of spray glitter but it looks great! I'm a follower now and I'd love for you to swing by my blog.
http://theloops13.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Yay! New followers! I love it! Thank you all so much for stopping by and for the sweet words! I am off to check out all of your blogs now!

Jeana
in place of her crown

Diane said...

OMGosh, those are adorable Ÿ I ♥ how they turned out. Now I have to make one for ME Ü Thank you for the inspiration and the how-to.

Kim said...

These are wonderful! I especially love the fabric one, I'm totally doing that. I agree, why are styrofoam balls so expensive????

April said...

this is just so pretty. both of them turned out gorgeous but the second on is my favorite....so glad you decided to make a second one. And why did I not know about spray glitter! I gotta find me some of that stuff! I would love for you to link up to my Sew Crafty Party & Giveaway!

http://wildflowersandwhimsy.blogspot.com/2011/01/sew-crafty-saturday-adventure-date.html

Unknown said...

Thanks so much ladies! I'm glad I could inspire! I get my spray glitter from Walmart, but I am sure any craft store would have it as well.:o)

Jeana

Nina @ Momma Go Round said...

So so so cute! I've never seen this before and it's just adorable. I'm super jealous of your shelf "mantle"....I don't even have that! Lucky girl!

Lori said...

How very cute! Think I may do a few for Easter, thanks for the great tutorial! Lori

Unknown said...

Hi! You were featured in our blog:

http://tosewwithlove.blogspot.com/2011/01/crafty-saturday-link-up-party-no-4.html

can't wait to see what you have for next week! ^^^)