Bountiful Harvest Topiary

Warm up your living space with a rich dash of red. Rose-blushed fruits and rustic branches lend earthy appeal to this classic topiary design.

Materials:

• STYROFOAM Brand Foam:
  • Ball, 5"
  • Vase Insert, 8" x 3-1/2" x 3-1/2"
• Metal urn, 10" tall
• Artificial red/yellow apples, 3", 24
• Twigs such as birch, curly willow or red dogwood, 12" lengths, about 20
• Grapevine, 18" lengths, two
• Green reindeer moss, one bag
• Porcupine grass, small amount
• Wooden floral picks, 2" long, 24
• Serrated knife
• Candle stub or paraffin
• Ruler
• Floral shears or wire cutters
• Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks
• Thick, white craft glue

Instructions:

1. Wax serrated knife with candle stub or paraffin. Cut small slices from two opposite sides of foam ball, leaving top and bottom rounded. Glue moss to ball, completely covering surface; let dry.
    
2. Use floral shears to trim twig bundle to required length. Glue and insert twig bundle into bottom of foam ball to create topiary "trunk." Let dry.
    
3. Glue foam vase insert snugly into urn; let dry. Note: For larger containers, glue foam block into container, trimming to fit as needed.
    
4. Glue and insert trunk into top of urn; let dry. Glue moss to foam at base of trunk, completely covering surface; let dry.
    
5. Use knife tip to poke small hole in each apple, varying placement for natural look. Glue wooden pick into each hole; let dry.
    
6. Glue and insert picks into foam ball, using photo as guide. Apples should look balanced, with some extending further from ball than others. Trim porcupine grass stems to 2" lengths and glue into ball, filling gaps between apples.
    
7. Glue and insert grapevine stems into urn base on opposite side of trunk. Wrap stems around apples, inserting free ends into ball.
    
8. Glue small pieces of moss to any exposed picks.

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