Valentine's Day Topiaries~

Today's craft project; Valentine Topiaries~

Applying moss to various shapes- cardboard cutouts, or Dollarstore Valentines plaques. I painted the plaque green, before applying the moss. I glue the moss on with a glue gun, thinly applying it to the edges and creases of the letters first,  then- do the flat surfaces. Do the back last.

I always twist a few branches together and join the ends with duct tape,

so the stem looks more natural, and not so much like a "pole".

I use doubled or tripled (glued together) cardboard box- cut out shapes.

There seems to be 2 types of florist foam out there~ "wet" (softer) and the hard

kind, meant for dried floral arrangements. I used the hard kind.

I always put it on the stick, and  insert my topiary LAST. 

If not, the hole becomes loose, and the stem wabbly as you glue on the moss.

Beware of glue gun strings. These should be cut off the moss with scissors~ (in order not to pull the moss off with it.) The moss is patted on, with a bunch of it in my hand. In order not to lose the letters definitive shapes, critical corners of the letters ate covered with  moss dust- the finer stuff that has fallen loose out of the bag. I prefer the brown and green kind of moss, as the I found that the very green kind made it look too fake. You will need quite a few glue sticks for this craft project~

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