It's Time For A Fun Michaels Pinterest Party!!

I have the most amazing, stupendous and wonderful (did I use enough adjectives?) opportunity to take part in a Pinterest Party at my local Michaels store.  Michaels and Hometalk have joined forces to bring these Pinterest parties to Michaels stores across the US and Canada.  Each store has been assigned a blogger that will be there to help you make one of 5 Pinterest crafts and also show you their take on one of the crafts.  All you need to do is check out the Pinterest inspired displays at your local Michaels store, then buy your supplies and meet us in the classroom to create your own amazing pin-worthy project!!  It's that easy!!

This party is happening February 16 from 1-4PM.  I know you're not doing anything as fun as this, so I know you'll all be there!!!  Here is a link to all the bloggers who are participating at Michaels locations across the US and Canada Pinterest Party Locations and Bloggers

Also, I encourage you all to join Hometalk.  Hometalk is a home and garden social networking site.  It's a great place to find inspiration and also post your own projects.  If you follow Michaels on Hometalk (http://www.hometalk.com/michaels), you'll be entered to win a $100 Michaels gift card!  Five winners will be announced on Hometalk's Facebook page on February 17.  Who doesn't love a giveaway?!!  

We were given a choice of five projects to choose from and I had a hard time picking just one.  While I was at Michaels shopping, a light bulb went off in my head!  One of the projects was using a clay pot, painting it and stenciling a design.  The idea that popped into my head was a topiary using the clay pot, a wooden dowel, a styrofoam ball, and sheet moss.  Then the idea developed further.  With wedding season approaching I thought I could make something that could be used as part of a table centerpiece.  I decided to call it a best wishes tree because people could write their congratulations, best wishes messages to the bride and groom and pin them to the tree.  It's funny how ideas form because then I thought of all the other ways this could be used!  This could be a thankfulness tree, a love note tree, and Easter blessing tree.....the possibilities are endless really!!

So here is the finished product so you get an idea of what I did, then I will give you a quick tutorial.  Please be patient with me!  I haven't written a craft tutorial before so this will be my first!

Here are the supplies you will need to make a Best Wishes Topiary:

1 Clay Pot (I used a medium sized pot probably 6 inches in diameter)

1 square block of floral foam

1 wooden dowel

1 bag of sheet moss

1 spool of ribbon in a pattern you like

1 spool or ribbon in a coordinating pattern (if you choose)

1 container of bride confetti

1 package of colorful twine

1 package of brown paper circles or labels (non-stick)

A few push pins

A whole punch

An Exacto knife

A hot glue gun and glue sticks

Acryllic craft paint (I used 3 colors)

1 wooden embellishment if you want to use one

Paint Brushes

Scissors

Plate for mixing paint

Water

The first thing I did was cut the dowel to the size I wanted using my Exacto knife.  I could've done this quicker with a saw, but it wasn't hard to cut with the knife, it just took a little extra time.  

Once I had my dowel cut to size I mixed Raw Umber craft paint with some water on a plate.   I brushed the watered down paint onto the dowel using a small paint brush.  You don't want to let the paint dry.  I let the paint sit for a moment then wiped the paint off with a paper towel.  I did this once more until the dowel was the color I wanted.

Next it was time to paint my clay pot.  I did the same thing with my paint, I watered it down.  I wanted the pot to look a bit aged, not just painted white.  I took a larger paint brush and brushed on the watered down paint.  I did this to the whole pot (not the inside or bottom) until it was the color and effect I wanted.

You can see above that I put the paint on with lots of brush strokes, almost sloppy.  

This is the effect I got with a couple coats.  

Next I put my foam square inside the pot and hot glued the sides so the foam would stay in place. Once I was done with that it was time to work on the styrofoam ball.  I don't have pictures of this process, but it's very easy.  (My fingers were covered in hot glue and moss and there was no way I was touching my camera with that on my fingers!)  All I did was take a sheet of moss, tear it into a smaller piece and hot glue it onto the ball.  I did this until the whole ball was covered.  

For the opening of the clay pot, I cut a circle of moss a little bit larger than the clay pot and hot glued it onto the foam and the edge of the clay pot. 

Next thing I had to do was get the wood dowel into the ball and into the foam in the pot to make my topiary.  I put a bit of hot glue on one end of the dowel then pushed it into the moss covered ball.  I did the same thing on the other end of the dowel and pushed the end into the floral foam in the pot.  

It was now time to decorate my clay pot.  I put my thinner ribbon around the edge of the pot, attaching with hot glue.

Then I made a bow by hot gluing my larger, patterned ribbon into a circle and taking a smaller piece of the same ribbon and wrapping it around the middle of the circle and gluing that. I added my brown and turquoise ribbon around the middle of the bow to add some contrast and glued the bow onto the front of the ribbon lined rim of the pot.

You could stop here and have a really cute topiary, but if you want to make it a little more fun, add some embellishments to your moss covered foam ball.   I used an inexpensive wood embellishment that I painted in a hot pink craft paint and hot glued it to the front of my moss ball.

For a bit more bling I used push pins and pinned little bridal flower confetti onto the ball as well.  I also sprinkled them on the base of the topiary.  

The last step was to cut out some circles using brown card stock.  You could do this with scissors or you can even buy them pre-made.  It's a lot easier to buy them pre made, but the pre made were $5 and my paper punch was $12.99.  I used a 40% off Michaels coupon which made it a good deal.  It made more sense to buy the paper punch even if it was a bit more work.  I used the paper punch and cut a whole bunch of circles at one time.  I used my whole punch to poke a hole in the top of each circle, hot glued on a confetti flower and tied a decorative piece of twine through the hole.  I attached the circles to the tree using the push pins and I was done!

I'm really thrilled with how it turned out.  At the Michaels and Hometalk Pinterest Party on February 16 from 1-4PM I will be showing you how to make this in person.  It's a lot of fun and easy!  I will probably change it up a bit just for fun and to show you other ways this idea could be used in your own home.  

I really hope to see a bunch of you at my local Michaels store!  I would love to meet you and help you out with the craft you choose as well.  Remember to click on the link (Pinterest Party Locations) to see what bloggers will be at the different Michaels stores in the US and Canada.  Make sure you follow Micheals on Hometalk and if you haven't joined Hometalk you need to!  I hope someone I know wins one of those $100 gift cards!!  

 I really hope this tutorial was helpful.  I had a great time making this and I know it will be even better when I do it with of all of you on February 16!

As always, thank you so much for reading!  Have a great week!

Thank you,