Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Make a Rose and Chocolate Hearts Topiary!



This is a topiary with roses and chocolate hearts that you can make with just a little creativity.  It almost looks wedding-ish or Christmas-y, but the hearts are for Valentine's Day.  I apologize my pictures are not a little lighter and clearer.  Click on the pictures to see a closer up of each picture.

What you will need:
A foam topiary(mine is laying down in the picture so you can see the whole thing.
A vase or basket
A small amount of Spanish moss
Two leafy garlands-I have a large leaf garland, and a garland with smaller leaves
Twelve or so roses
A gold swag or gold leaves
Gold ribbon
Heart shaped, cream filled chocolate candies, wrapped in red($1 a bag at Walmart)--you'll probably  need 3 or 4 bags-they're small
Corsage pins
Wire cutters
Scissors
    
Most of the items I used were very inexpensive, so this arrangement won't cost too much to make.  Just pick a foam topiary up from the craft store, and pick a vase or basket that the topiary base fits nicely in.  
Add spanish moss to fill in any emply space in the base if you need to, and just a little on top of the foam base to cover it.
Circle the gold leaves at the base of the arrangement(on top of foam base)-spread them out nicely.  Some fabric florals have wires in them so that you can bend them the way you desire.

Next, swirl your large leaf garland around the base, and then around and up the rest of the topiary.  Bend the wires in the garland so that they go around like you want them to.  Use a corsage pin if you need a little help to hold the garland in place-stick the pin in the foam.
Take your cream filled chocolate hearts, and drive a corsage pin thru the middle of them, and then place neatly over exposed sections of the topiary foam.  I added two hearts to the gold leaves also.

Next, add your roses around the garland wherever they look best(you gotta just let your creativity take over!).
Use the second garland and gold ribbon to fill in empty spots.  I remove the individual leaves from the garland, which are clustered together in 2's and 3's, and then attached to the vine with a plastic circle.  I remove the cluster, and insert the corsage pin thru the plastic ring.  Then I add wherever needs filled.  You can sometimes add 2 leaf rings to a pin for a fuller effect.

A beautiful centerpiece or corner arrangement!  With enough little chocolates that it can be called a Valentine's arrangement!  
Be creative and add or subtract your own ideas!  Enjoy!