Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - Ribbon Topiary

Here's the instructions on how to make beautiful ribbon Topiaries. I made four of them for my daughter's Pink Zebra Christening and I loved how they turned out.



    Step 1: Supplies


    I used pre-formed topiaries that I purchased at AC Moore for $6.81 each, but you can easily buy everything separately.   If you do that, you will need a Styrofoam ball, dowel and a base.  
    • Topiaries - either pre-formed ones or separate parts
    • Ribbon
      • Plan ahead and buy ribbon on sale or in bulk. You will use a lot more than you think you will. (Each of my centerpieces have 250 pieces of ribbon on them!)   
      • Refrain from purchasing ribbon that is smaller than 1" wide because it will take you forever to fill up the ball  
      • Don't be afraid of different textured ribbon - use grosgrain and satin, etc...  The only ribbon I don't recommend is wired ribbon. 
    • Stick pins - get the ones with little plastic balls on the end - not flat metal because they will kill your fingers
    • A good scissor

    Here is is the pre-formed topiary I bought.



    For the base I bought basic terra cotta planters and I spray painted them white.  I then hot glued white crinkle paper on top but you can use just about anything.

    Step 2:

    Cut the ribbon in 3-4 inch strips.  Try to make them consistent so the ball is even.  Make the ribbon into loops and use the pins to secure them to the styrofoam ball. Cover the ball with ribbon.  If you don't buy the pre-formed topiaries,  poke the dowel rod into a piece of floral foam in the pot, glue on a little moss, crinkle paper or just about anything and you have yourself a ribbon topiary!

    These pictures are from Sweet Craft Cakes, where I originally found the directions. 







     Here are some pictures the topiaries I made. It was so easy!










      Happy Crafting!!


      9 comments:

      Anonymous said...

      This is an awesome project...my question to you is would you recommend that all the ribbon be the same widths?

      Posh Little Parties said...

      Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. The ribbon I used were not all the same widths. The zebra print was the widest. I think it would look just as great using the same width ribbon. Happy Crafting!

      Anonymous said...

      I love this idea! About how many yards of ribbon would you say was used for one topiary?

      My2PinkLadies said...

      I'm not really sure since I used many different spools of ribbon that were different sizes. I used about 250 pieces on each centerpiece and they were about 4 inches long. Hope that helps!!

      Elizabeth said...

      Thanks a million for this tutorial! I'll be making these for my daughters' upcoming birthday party. And PS - I linked to you in my latest blog post: http://www.thecraftycharlestonian.com/2011/08/day-twoand-some-party-ideas.html

      Christine said...

      Thanks so much Elizabeth!

      Moniqus said...

      I am thinking of doing this for my next event in zebra and pink theme. I thinking of doing 10 and was wondering how many you made. If you don't mind also how much did it cost for everything once it was done. I love the idea but it looks like it may be costly

      Stefanie said...

      Thanks so much for this great tutorial! I'm about to get started on making these for my daughter's 1st birthday. About how long would you say it took you to complete one?

      Stefanie said...

      Thanks so much for posting this awesome tutorial! I'm about to make these for my daughter's 1st birthday and this is so helpful to be able to look at!