Teen Craft: Topiary Tree

Project: Topiary Tree

designed by Twila Lenoir

This is a lovely homemade gift, especially if you coordinate the flower colors to suit the decor of the room where it will displayed.

Homemade Topiary Tree

Supplies:

hot glue gun
two 2 inch styrofoam balls
4 inch clay pot
twig from the yard
acrylic Paint in black, brown and gray for the pot
about 6 yards of flat red lace
6 yards of pink or light purple ribbon
2 dozen silk white bud roses (dollar stores often have these)
optional - small sprays of baby's breath or small white flowers
light gauge wire
moss
sand, pebbles or marbles as weight in the pot 

Topiary Tree

Craft Instructions:

1. Dispense hot glue to the tip of a sturdy twig and insert into one of the 2 inch styrofoam balls, to a depth of about an inch. Let the glue cool and set.

2. Clip the silk roses at the stem and neck, so that all you have is green leaves and the rose. Use hot glue to position the roses all around the styrofoam ball, leaving spaces for lace and ribbon.

3. Make bows out of ribbon and flat lace, twisting a piece of wire into the center of each bow.

Here's how: make four loops on each bow, two at the top and two on the bottom and twist the wire into the middle. The illustration at right may help you see how this should look.

Leave a little length of wire on the end to stick into the styrofoam ball.

Apply hot glue to the end of the wire and the bottom of the ribbons or lace on one bow, then quickly insert it into the styrofoam ball. Repeat with all the ribbon and lace bows, filling in all around the roses until your styrofoam ball is covered.

4. Optional: you can glue in some dried baby's breath or small white flowers to cover any bare spaces.

5. Prepare the clay pot by making sure it is clean of any debris and dry. Paint it in a base of black acrylic paint and let the paint dry.

With a makeup sponge, or something similar, sponge on a little of the gray paint and let it dry.

With a very fine paint brush, paint on some brown squiggly lines through the pot so that it looks like granite.

6. Add sand, pebbles, marbles or other heavy material to weight the pot and make it less likely to fall over.

7. Cut the second styrofoam ball in half and glue one half into the top area of the pot. When this is dry, apply hot glue to the end of your topiary twig and insert it into the middle of the ball in the pot.

8. Finally, use hot glue to apply a layer of moss to the styrofoam ball half, covering it completely.


Suggestion: You can also use dried leaves and flowers, laces, anything actually. Even jelly beans, just used a tooth pick . My first topiary was all buttons that I pick up from anywhere. My topiary was very beautiful. Too bad, that was 25 years ago...But I was able to make it while I was  in grade school :) 


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