Topiary Hybrid Tutorial

I have been working on this hybrid project for more than a week now so I am excited that it is finally done and I can show it off!

I saw the project in the April 2010 issue of Scrapbooks Etc HERE, but I thought I’d recreate the instructions for you since I don’t know how long that link will be available and with my hybrid modifications :)

Supplies I used: (not all shown- I forgot to take the picture before I started)

*Digital kit - I used Pink Lemonade by Marni Designs - I printed papers on 10 sheets double sided (regular copy paper) and ended up with 4 partial sheets leftover. You could do this project with 7 double sided sheets, and elements printed on cardstock.

*6” terra cotta pot

*6”round foam ball

*foam block for inside pot

*5/16x12” dowel rod

*2 sizes of heart punches

*circle punch or template and cutter

*corsage pins - I got a pack of 48 for $1.99 at Michaels and had quite a few leftover

*buttons - I found this great “Bucket of Buttons” for $5.99 at Michaels

*Tacky Glue (or other liquid glue)

*hot glue

*acrylic paints

*fake moss stuff

To assemble the flowers:

For each flower, punch one circle and 6 hearts.

Fold each heart in half

And in half again, keeping the folds close to the point.

Put a dot of glue in the center of the square and attach the points. It is easiest to put 2 across from each other first and then fill in the sides.

They do not have to be exact - I prefer a more homemade uneven-ness :) And we’re going to be covering the centers with buttons anyway.

After the glue is dry, you can push the petals down a bit to cover the circle. I found that if I messed them too much while the glue was wet, they just pushed out of place.

Make some big flowers and more small ones. They look really cute with small petals layered on top of larger ones too!

Put a button on a corsage pin and push through the center.

To assemble the topiary:

Put the foam block in the pot, the dowel in the foam and the foam ball on the rod. Hot glue in place.

Insert the pinned flowers into the foam ball. As you maybe can see, I had trouble getting the flowers arranged perfectly to cover all of the ball. I used leaves, swirls and flourishes from the kit, as well as paper strips curled around a pencil to fill in some of the more bare spots, but again it’s more of that homemade imperfection ;)

I painted the pot and dowel rod. I also used a digital ribbon to embellish the rim of the pot.

I had a lot of fun putting this together and it definitely cheers up my desk, but it was time consuming. I found that I could put together about 7 flowers in an hour. I made 10 large and layered flowers and 14 small ones. Factor in drying time, painting, and arranging - I must have rearranged half a dozen times trying to get the best coverage lol, and cutting and attaching the extra elements… it is a pretty big project. But I love it so it was definitely worth it! And besides all that, it matches the bowl you see next to it that Tyler made me a couple months ago! :)

And speaking of Tyler, he had his best friend’s birthday party on Friday, so I made this card for him to give:

I used Little Buddy by Marni Designs. I double printed the kraft stars and attached them with pop dots to give it some dimension and then I made an envelope to attach to the inside for him to put the gift card in!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my latest hybrid projects and maybe I’ve inspired you to create something fun!

Wendy