Make Your Own Topiary

Before we introduce the newest release on Saturday (how is it October already??!!), I have one final project featuring Topiaries, September’s Stamp of the Month from Clear and Simple Stamps. If you want to add this set to your collection, you have a few more days to use the discount code CSS0910 for a $1 discount on your purchase of the set.

Here’s my Topiaries-inspired project. I made my own faux topiary using a plain Styrofoam ball and a bunch of small cardstock circles. This was so easy to do and turned out great. I started by punching out a bunch of circles from a piece of Kraft Like a Rockstar Green cardstock. Once I had a good pile going, I started pinning them to the Styrofoam ball using plain straight pins. I kept at it until the ball was almost completely covered, leaving just a tiny uncovered space so I could easily poke the end of a dowel through the ball to stand it up in my small flower pot. I painted the dowel brown with acrylic paint first to fit nicely with my color scheme. To hold the dowel securely in place, I squeezed some floral foam into the bottom of the little flower pot. I also cut a circular piece of Kraft Like a Rockstar Green to fit the inside of the flower pot to cover the floral foam. I threaded the circle on to the dowel before sticking the end down into the floral foam, then tied a pretty bow around the dowel at the base of the topiary. A squirt or two of Sparkle Shimmer Spritz added a fun sparkle to the project.

Now comes the stamping part. I stamped one of the topiary images along with one of the pots on a cream panel using Espresso Your Style ink. I inked around the edges with brown ink, then attached it to an Espresso Your Style panel before machine stitching underneath the image. The panel is embellished with a pair of buttons. I punched a hole through the top and ran some twine through it. I used the twine to attach my simple tag to the topiary through the knot in the bow. The topiary and matching tag make a lovely gift for someone like me who does not have a green thumb--LOL!

Materials Used:
Topiaries stamp set, Espresso Your Style ink, Espresso Your Style, Kraft Like a Rockstar Green, and On the Catwalk Cream cardstock, Espresso Your Style satin ribbon, Espresso Your Style buttons (Clear and Simple Stamps); Creamy Caramel Classic ink (Stampin’ Up!); ¾” circle punch (EK Success); Sparkle Shimmer Spritz (Tsukineko); twine (Papertrey Ink); brown acrylic paint; clay pot; Styrofoam ball; straight pins; dowel; floral foam