How to make a topiary tree from a mold and an old ugly topiary.

I love a topiary tree….Wanna know what I don’t love?? The price. I saw these beauties while browsing over at Ballard Designs. Who doesn’t love them?? Yeah. They START at $49. After looking around for a while at all my favorite discount stores and discovering that I couldn’t afford what I wanted, I decided to make my own.

Ballard Designs Topiaries…

Some of my favorites from my FAVORITE store filled with yummy expensive eye candy: Green Gates… They were absolutely gorgeous, but none of them were under $40. That place is great for inspiration though…..

A while back I picked this up for $3 at a fabulous antique/thrift store. Yeah, not so fabulous is it??? Look at all the dust on it. YUCK! I KNEW it wasn’t what I wanted, but the pot itself was worth more than the $3 especially with the twigs and greenery. I loaded up Anne Pearce and Essie and headed to the Hobby Lobby.

I bought this HUGE bag of Spanish Moss for $4.99. I will be watching for the next time this stuff goes on 50% off….. I have tons left, but I am IN love with this moss.

I also picked up this topiary form. (Sorry for no totally before picture… I got excited and forgot.) They are $9.99, but I had a 25% off coupon….So far so good. It also had a green floral insert at the bottom shaped for a pot.

The first thing I did was rip the first tree apart in a frenzy take the first topiary apart…. I used the pot and saved the twigs that were wrapped around the stem. I used them to wrap this stem lightly. I secured it with wire that was attached to the first pot.

As you see in the picture above I just started layering it on and attaching it with hot glue. (what else would I use?) It really was fun and easy. I just kept pulling out a handful, pulling it apart to separate it some, and layering it on. This picture shows the bottom of the mold….I went ahead and glued it in my pot to make it easier to work with.

layer some more….

and more….

until I was satisfied with the result. I would cup my hands around it as I went to make it a round shape. I also trimmed some of the strays with scissors.Then I glued regular Spanish Moss around the bottom….. I am thinking of tying a burlap bow around the stem to add some more interest… Hmmmmmm….

Even my 13 year old thought it was amazing… He had to clown around with it a bit…..

And here is the finished product: See that little bird’s nest?? I made that too…Simple as pie. I’ll show you what I did later this week.

If you look in the background you will see my hutch that has been sanded and is ready for painting….oooohhhhhh. I’m beside myself… Ok. back to the project at hand.

Here she is sitting on the new (old) table I stole borrowed from my mother’s storage unit. My house doesn’t really have an entryway, so I’m working on creating an en entrylike space… See that plate in the background?? My Bigmama painted 3 for me. GORGEOUS I say. So, what do you think? Is it something you would try? It really was an easy and inexpensive project for the end result. MUCH cheaper than buying one in a store.

Breakdown:

1st pot: $3

Topiary form $9.99 at 25% off…$7.50

A couple of dollar’s worth of Spanish Moss….

The entire thing was about $12-13. Now, THAT’S my kind of topiary.

I linked this to Metamorphasis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.