When I was planning bug's party I really wanted to come up with a cute decoration to put on the tables. As I was inspired by the paper I found for the invitations, I wanted to use it in the rest of my crafts as much as possible. When searching the internet for party ideas, I came across Heather Bailey's paper globe tutorial. I instantly loved the idea and started trying to figure out how I could adapt it to my talents/budget/schedule. You can (and should!) read the whole tutorial if you want to make these, but here is how I adapted it.- I wanted to make 6 of them and couldn't imagine cutting out and folding 120 circles by hand - I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy! I went out (with a 40% off coupon of course) and bought the largest Fiskar's circle punch I could find.
- Then, I chose 5 of my favorite paper prints and punched all my paper circles during the quiet early morning hours in the NICU while I was working nights.
- Next, I configured a triangle (by trial and error) to place in the center of each circle and discretely marked off the points so that I could use my Fiskar's paper cutter to score each circle.
- I used Elmer's no wrinkle glue and binder clips (to hold the circles together as they dried) for the assembly following the instructions in the tutorial.
- Small terra cotta pots were spray painted light blue to "plant" my topiaries.
- I found floral foam at a dollar store (which was a big savings as it is quite expensive) and used a small piece hot glued into the flower pot to anchor the topiary.
- For the "stems", I used wooden dowels cut in half and spray painted white.
- To put everything together I inserted one end of the dowel into the foam and the other into the paper globe. I tied a small piece of my leftover ribbon (the ribbon topiary is next!) below the globe and filled the pot in with crinkled paper shreds.
In the end, we only set up 4 guest tables, so I used the extra topiaries as decorations on the food tables. Here are a few more shots of the topiaries in action!
