Candy Topiaries

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  The sun is shining and everyone is good and healthy at our house, which means it is a weekend of cleaning, tree decorating, catching up on projects and finishing our outside lights!
I thought I would share with you today a very simple Pinterest inspired topiary that I just completed.

I started out with 2 clay pots (that only cost me 0.25 cents!) and spray painted them gold and a top coat of glitter. 

Then I cut a Styrofoam ball in half and hot glued it inside my pots.

Next I took my spray painted sticks and hot glued them inside the Styrofoam.  I put my other Styrofoam balls on top of the sticks to make sure they were centered.   I then covered them in colored duck tape (this is definitely a must do or you will have white spaces showing in between your candies.

I used Snow Drops that I got on clearance at Craft Warehouse to go inside my pots...

Now came the super tedious fun part!  Simply hot glue the thousands of candies...

Yes, I see the one escapee at the bottom ;-) 

I followed up the finished look with a coat of Polyurethane spray to keep the candies from melting and getting all sticky.

Here are my disclaimers if you choose to do this project yourself...

The large one is super top heavy because the genius making it didn't realize how heavy a million candies are for one piece of Styrofoam!  If I were to do it again I would advise a shorter or wider stick and something heavier in the pot to keep it down. 

Also if you are a perfectionist this may not be the project for you.  The little mints don't like to line up perfectly the whole way around.  I don't mind it at all, since I usually prefer things with a little bit of flaws ;-) but it may make some of you OCD gals crazy! 

Last bit of advice...make sure you buy way more candies than you think you will need.  I way underestimated the amount of mints I would need to make these.  I originally purchased 3 bags of red and green mix and I only had enough red to finish half of the little one.  I ended up going to the store 3 times for mints! 

I will also fully admit that I have one more topiary sitting in my garage waiting for mints, but I have no motivation to do it right now because it took me so long to glue the little suckers on ;-) 

Most of you probably have a lot more patience, skill and common sense than I do and would most likely breeze through this project though...

I will also be linking up to these fabulous parties...
http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/
; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/; http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/ ; http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com; http://vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com ; http://kissedbyafrog.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.happyhourprojects.com/ ; http://www.homemakerinheels.com/ ; http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/; http://littlebighouseontheprairie1.blogspot.com/; http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/; http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com; http://todayscreativeblog.net/;http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/; http://www.thegunnysack.com; http://caribbeanmissionarywife.blogspot.com; http://athomewithk.blogspot.com/; http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2011/12/christmas-blog-link-party-christmas.html; http://jane-adventuresindinner.blogspot.com/