Paper Flower Topiary using CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

After browsing Pinterest and seeing all the gorgeous topiaries I decided to come up with one of my own. Of course, I had to make it unique and different from all the ones I had seen and this is what I came up with. =) 

This is one of the 3 projects I created after being asked by Cricut to design some projects for a bigger campaign they will be doing with summer projects. Very exciting!!!

Since I love making paper flowers I came up with something fun using actual paper flowers cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge from Close To My Heart. Nope, not the 3D ones... it was actually this one...

I cut them using Close To My Heart Creme Brulee Cardstock in sizes 3", 2 1/2" & 2". You'll need the 3 sizes to make 1 flower on the topiary. I took about 10 sheets of cardstock to cover the 4 1/2" styrofoam ball.

To help you out I created this quick video showing how to make the flowers and attach them to the styrofoam ball.

And if you prefer to see pictures of the process, don't worry I've got you covered too... 

You'll want to cut 3 sizes of each flower (3", 2 1/2" & 2") using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. Then ink up the edges with an ink color of your choice. I used CTMH Orange on Creme Brulee Cardstock.
Next you'll want to take a little squirt bottle and spritz each flower with 2 sprays on the front and 2 sprays on the back. They will start to curl up and the ink will spread inward.
Now for the fun part..... wad up the flowers into little balls.
Open them back up and layer them smallest on top to largest on the bottom.
Now take a push pin and carefully poke it through the center of the flower stack. I use the foam pad from the Close To My Heart piercing tool kit so the pin goes into the pad rather than poking my fingers. ;)
Squish the flowers inward to cover the push pin and shape it to look like a flower.
Now take the push pin and insert it right into your styrofoam ball about 1/2" from the previous one and go all the way around the ball to create your topiary. Oh oh I almost forgot to mention you'll need to make a little hole at the bottom of your styrofoam ball for the stem (aka wooden dowel). I just used scissors and twisted them until I had the size and depth to what I needed. And to make the stem green I wrapped it in floral tape. ;) You could also paint it if you prefer.
Here is closer look at how they will look once they are put up against eachother... I started covering the styrofoam ball with flowers by going across the center and then the row above and below and continued until it was completely covered.

Once you have the styrofoam ball completely covered you'll simple take a vase and fill it with the green floral foam. I poked the dowel directly into the foam and covered it with the green moss that can be found in the floral section at the craft store. Now just use some thick ribbon... I used the Dark Chocolate Striped Ribbon from Close To My Heart and tied a bow onto the stem/dowel. I trimmed  the edges of the ribbon by folding and cutting at a downward angle to create a nice clean finish.... viola!

Hope you enjoyed my topiary and will want to make one too. Please feel free to share your finished project on my facebook page or send me a link to your blog post. I'd love to see it. =")   
Did you know you can get a FREE Art Philosophy Cricut Collection or $100 in Close To My Heart Products when you Join My Team as a CTMH Independent Consultant THIS MONTH (March). Plus you also get nearly $300 in products that come in the Consultant Kit. Seriously you pay only $99 to join and get almost $400 in products! SCORE! Head on over to my Join My Team page for more info or check out my FAQ's page.

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