Small Project=Lots of Time

Have you ever found project and decided to do it only to find that it took 3 times as long as you planned to finish it? That's what's happened the last few days, but I finally finished it.

"IT" being my faux topiary trees that I found HERE at Simply Designing. Very cute huh?! Red, white and blue was very cute but I seriously don't want to store them to use just a couple times a year so I improvised and used matching colors for my family room.


Notice the can I have the dowels in? That my friends is an Almond Roca can, painted because I knew someday I'd find a use for it and just couldn't throw it out =)

Here's a ding-dong moment: I didn't have a star punch so I went to Michaels armed with my 50% off coupon and scored a star punch, the ding dong moment is that instead of punching 9 sheets of stars I should have had either my Cricut or Silhouette cut them....DING DONG! I felt like such a dork when DH looked at me and said "you have 3 machines and your punching stars, why?"

The most painful part of this whole thing was pushing the pins through the paper and into the styrofoam....my fingers are still sore but looking at it is so worth it!




Ingredients:
{Paper} Bazzil Basics in String of Pearls, Flat Broke and Red Carpet
{Paint} Leather Brown and red spraypaint (I sprayed balls before sticking stars on 'em)
{Extras} Dowels cut in 12" 15" 19" increments, can, stick pins, 5" styrofoam circle, foam block to push dowels into, star punch (use your Cricut or Silhouette and save time...lot of time...oodles of time), fabric to cover foam in can holding dowels (I woulda used raffia but I lost it only to find it after I finished)