Spring Candy Topiary Craft!

I made these fun Spring Candy Topiaries this week at a monthly craft group I attend. I was so happy with them, I thought I'd share them with you! They are made with food, after all, so I guess they're appropriate for our recipe blog:)

Idea from Crafty Sisters...

Materials needed:

• Pots (can use terra cotta (painted or plain), painted ceramic, tin buckets, mason jars, etc...)
• Floral foam
• Ribbon
• Homemade flower (optional)
• 3 to 5" styrofoam ball(s)
• Acrylic craft paint
• Foam brush
• Wooden dowel(s)*
• Several bags of jellybeans**
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Moss

1. (Optional): Paint styrofoam ball(s) a color that matches one of your jellybeans. I painted my white styrofoam pink.
2. While your paint is drying, cut floral foam to fit snugly into your pot(s). Stuff the empty space with some paper. (pictured above, left).
3. If desired, wrap a ribbon around your pot(s) and secure the ends with a little hot glue. I also added a homemade flower. There are so many fun ways to make flowers! See HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for tutorials.
4. *Cut wooden dowels, if necessary. (I bought a long one that was a half inch in diameter and used garden shears to cut mine.) I would suggest a thick dowel to support the weight of your candy topiary. They do get heavy! 
5. Wrap wooden dowels with ribbon: Start with a little dab of hot glue and wrap the ribbon on the diagonal all the way down until the dowel is covered. Secure end with some hot glue. Set aside.
6. When your paint is dry on your styrofoam ball(s), set them on a towel or washcloth for a workspace, so they don't roll away. With your dowel, carefully poke a hole into your styrofoam ball(s), a few inches in, then remove the dowel.  Beginning around the hole, make a small line of hot glue, then press the jellybeans slightly into your styrofoam ball. Be careful not to squish the jellybeans!
7. When your styrofoam ball(s) are completely covered with candy, squirt some hot glue into the hole you made with the dowel, then push the dowel in. Carefully push the other end of the dowel into your floral foam in your pot(s). Cover the top of your pot(s) with moss and you're done!

**My 4" styrofoam ball took 1 1/2 bags of jellybeans and my 5" ball took a little more than 2 bags of jellybeans! I promise I didn't eat that many:)