Spring garden topiary made of paper mache and paper flowers

A friend of mine is planning a spring garden themed party for her little girl and had asked me to help with decorations. Of course I was so excited! I started gathering supplies for the topiary table centerpieces and realized how crazy expensive the craft foam balls were. I brainstormed and searched the web to see if there was anything else I could use that was more budget friendly, being as I needed to make 6-8. I came across a pin on a homemade pinata made from paper mache layered over a balloon. I thought, what a brilliant idea, I can do that for the topiary forms! 

It was a bit time consuming but I used a basic paper mache recipe, inflated balloons and strips of magazine to start. It was a 3 day process including drying time. The first evening I did layer one, then finished layer two the next evening after layer one was completely dried. Finally the evening of day 3 they were ready to craft with! I then used my handy Slice machine to cut the original and shadow of a 2 inch flower. I used chevron patterned card stock for the original size and solid card stock for the shadow. I then paired them together and pinned them in the center with a little yellow sewing pin ( oddly enough I found them packaged in a flower shaped box at Wal-Mart, see below). 

I deflated the balloons inside and then hot glued a wooden skewer into the hole, through a solid flower,  where the balloon end was. It is sturdy but I wouldn't call it durable. These are, after all, party decorations! I proceeded to hot glue the bottom of each pinned flower and immediately pin onto the paper mache form alternating the colors. After the topiary was finished I used craft foam in the base of the cute little garden boxes I found and put green basket filler in to cover the foam and give it a garden look ( see top for completed topiary).

The party is actually on hold for now, but I am so excited to be able to combine these super cute topiary center pieces with the artificial grass mats and other various spring/garden decorations we have gotten together. Crafting is so therapeutic! Thanks for stopping by!