Woodlands Camping Party

Several friends and I got together recently to do a dollar store challenge. The assignment was to come up with a DIY project or decor look using primarily items found at a dollar store, the Target Dollar Spot or Goodwill.

The inspiration for my Woodlands Camping Party started at Target in the Dollar Spot with this adorable backpack and canteen. I picked up the tin mugs while I was there on the chance that I could do something with them. Later that same week I found these fabulous tin plates from Goodwill for a dollar each. My idea was born.  I simply layered them with placemats and tree slice chargers that I already had. I clipped some greens from my yard and finished the look with some of my Christmas pine trees and moss for a center piece.

My napkins are Dollar Tree dish cloths 2/$1 tied with Dollar Tree rope for napkin rings.

The campfire is just three 6" squares of orange and yellow tissue paper. I layered them, then scrunched and gathered them around a small battery votive (all from Dollar Tree). Then I nestled the wrapped candle in a bed of rocks from my yard and added some twigs. It even flickers!

I'm excited to make a life size campfire with a large battery candle and big sheets of tissue. Wouldn't that be cute at Christmas surrounded by flocked trees and buffalo plaid?

Of course I served S'mores.

I hope this post has inspired you. Parties don't have to be expensive to be fun and sometimes a party for no reason other than celebrating the everyday is the best reason of all.

Encourage one another,

 

Tutorial Tuesday #13 - Taffy Sundaes

These sundaes are so much fun to make and will last for years. I think they add a real fun factor to almost any tabletop decor. 

Although I’m showing red, pink and white sundaes here for Valentines Day you can make them in any color combination, for any season.  

I buy my salt water taffy from Oriental Trading Company and love that you can purchase big bags by color. Although you probably won’t be eating the taffy (unless you have left overs or have a sweet tooth like me) know that they are soft and fresh and are really good. I appreciate that they arrive within a few days of ordering.

The first thing you’ll need to do is gather your containers. I’ve purchased sundae glasses at thrift stores and rummage sales. You can usually find them during the summer months at Walmart and dollar stores. Don’t limit yourselves to traditional old fashioned sundae glasses though. Here are some other ideas. 

After selecting your container, measure the width of the opening and buy Styrofoam balls that size. For the clear glass dishes I wanted to fill the bottoms with coordinated candies and not see the bottom of the Styrofoam through the glass so I cut the balls in half with a serrated knife.  On the black and white dishes I left the Styrofoam balls whole which helped eliminate the need to glue onto the more expensive dish.

You may need to sculpt the Styrofoam slightly so it fits securely into the top of your container.

Fill the clear glass containers with candies of your choice.

Then you simply start hot gluing the taffy onto the Styrofoam, one at a time, beginning where the styrofoam meets the glass, working your way to the top of the Styrofoam ball. I glued white taffy around the top to look like whip cream. The cherry is a gum ball. I added fun straws (cut to size) for a pop of contrasting color. 

That’s it. How easy!

Encourage one another,

 

Favorites Friday - Containing Myself

Today I wanted to share with you a decorating trick that I've been having fun with for the past few weeks.

Containers.

I recently found these wire baskets at Hobby Lobby and have been having so much fun using them in my table and counter top decor.

I'm a big fan of using trays under displays to give them importance but these baskets...😍... I love how you can curate a collection of ordinary, somewhat related items, and it just seems to elevate them to an interesting display all while adding color, texture and interest to an area. 

I shared the box below from Joanne Fabrics recently and it's what started the whole "container" idea.

If you're like me, your cupboards and closets are full of unused treasures that are just hidden away. Why not pull them out and display them in an interesting box or basket?

Your display is easily moved and feels somehow cohesive when corralled by the container.

I know I can feel overwhelmed by the thought of decorating a big space and these little vignettes are just so much more doable.

I hope this post gives you some ideas and inspiration on how to cozy up your space.

Encourage one another,

 

Tutorial Tuesday #12 - Frosted Felt Conversation Heart Cookies

I love making frosted sugar cookies for Valentines Day, but after all the sugar overload from the holidays I really didn't want the temptation of more sweets around. So this year I decided to make my cookies from wool felt. 

(My darling chippy metal cake stand was purchased here.)

 

You can make these fun cookies from wool, felt or my favorite, wool felt. You'll just need a fabric that doesn't fray since all the raw edges are left exposed.

I know many of you will have what you need to make this project but for those who may need some supplies, here's where I buy my wool felt. Many of you know Barri from Bareroots and her adorable original stitchery patterns and kits. Barri not only carries complete kits, but also has a great selection of wool felt and all the general necessities for stitching on wool felt. 

I need to tell you that I am not an expert on stitching on wool. Lots of you have more experience so please be gentle.

I'm just going to share with you what I found to work best for me. Do share with us any additional tips that work for you in the comment section below.

First off, I want you to know that I always prewash my wool felt. Since it's a blend of wool and rayon (percentages will vary with colors) it will fluff up just slightly when washed. I personally like the look of washed wool felt - it's no so flat and perfect looking. To wash I just run it under warm water then lay it flat to dry.

The biggest challenge when working with wool felt is that you can't see though it like you can with most regular fabrics. Getting your stitchery design onto the felt can be a challenge. I've tried several methods; tracing the design onto tissue paper and waxed paper, both with less than the desired results. Because you stitch through the traced lines the paper wants to tear as you stitch and makes it difficult to see what you're doing.

I ended up going over all the stitches a second time and that was just too time consuming. I settled on tracing the words onto lightweight tearway stabilizer. The stabilizer stayed in one piece until my stitches were complete then I gently tore the stabilizer away and picked the residue out from under the stitches.

This took no time at all and I liked the results when I was done. If you have done any machine  embroidery or applique, you probably already have non fusible tearway stabilizer on hand.

You can also just draw your letters free hand onto the small felt heart with a chalk or washout pen if you like your handwriting. I needed the help of a pattern so typed up some letters using a font that I liked and included it here: Download Conversation hearts here

Although you can just cut a heart from folded paper I've also included the heart pattern here mostly for size :Download Hearts pattern here

You'll want your smaller heart to be about 1/4" to 3/8" smaller than the larger heart all the way around. Less than perfect is perfect!

I used either three strands of embroidery floss or #8 perle cotton for this project, depending on the colors that I had.

I've also inserted a YouTube video here for those who need a refresher on how to do a backstitch for the words. (This is not my voice or video).

After stitching the words onto the small heart I used a blanket stitch to attach the small heart to the larger heart then connected the two large hearts using a blanket stitch. I stuffed the heart lightly before closing. Here's a refresher on the blanket Stitch: 

If you're still with me, know that typing this tutorial took way more time than actually making the hearts. I hope you found it helpful and that it encourages you to try some hand embroidery. It's a great cozy up to the fire project for the cold winter months ahead.

Encourage one another,

Tabletop Tuesday - Transitioning from the Holidays into Winter

After the trees are down and Christmas is packed away, I typically like to decorate our main dining table for winter. The house always seems so bare and blah and honestly, the thought of tackling the entire house seems overwhelming to me. Somehow a six foot table just seems more doable. 

I absolutely LOVED the neutral decor that I did this year for Christmas and wasn't quite ready to jump right into the Valentines Day reds and pinks, so I decided to go with a more neutral palette for this transitional tablescape; pulling in natural elements along with tarnished silver and winter whites.   

I found this wooden box on clearance after Christmas at Joanne Fabrics. It had wood dividers so I asked Bill to remove them so I could fill it with plates, candles and silver flatware. I added a faux narcissus that I found at Target for just the slightest nod to Spring.

            Look #1 - December 28th, 2018

I carried out the vintage postcard and photograph theme from Christmas at each place setting.

 

The wooden chargers and napkins are from Home Goods and my plates are by Pioneer Woman for Walmart. My older twig placemats are from World Market. You can see from the photo below that almost everything is exactly the same as in my Christmas tablescape, proving that you don't have to always buy new pieces. By just adding or subtracting a few key pieces you can get a whole new look without spending much money. 

I added a few eucalyptus sprigs among the existing cedar for some added texture. 

        Completed look #1 - December 28th, 2018

I was happy with the way the table looked until I was asked to join some other Instagram accounts for a tour featuring table top decor that showed how we tradition from holiday into winter. I started thinking my table may look too Christmasy, so I subtracted some silver and added winter fruit - citrus. (You can take the gal out of California, but you can't take the California outta the gal).

Did you know that you can't buy ordinary white grapefruit in Kansas? Well, at least I couldn't. I searched three stores and could only find pink grapefruit and I hated how the pink of the grapefruit looked with the yellow lemons so...

CUTIES!! (See how the cuties and grapefruit pull from the pillows on the two chairs in the living room? A happy accident!)

               Look #2 - January 4th, 2019

Coincidentally I had previously ordered melon striped towels from William Sonoma and they arrived the day I did the photo shoot. I love when things like that happen - another happy accident.

Then... we had a snow storm and I was stuck inside for two days and needed a project, so I created a lemon tree from some lemon branches from Kirklands. (I'll do a blog post on Wednesday to show you how I made this tree along with an olive tree if you're interested).

         Final look #3 - January 12th, 2019

All in all, I'm very pleased with the way my final look turned out and the best part was that the only real expense was the fruit (which I have been enjoying).

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can cozy up your home for the winter months ahead, but a word of caution: Tablescapes tend to have a mind of their own and can change - often!

Encourage one another,

 

 

Fall Home Tour Part 1 - The Basement

I've been busy decorating our basement for fall and thought it would be fun to take you on a bit of a tour to see what I've been up to. As much as I love decorating for fall, I love decorating for Halloween too. I have such great memories of Halloween as a kid. We dressed up in cheap dime store costumes and ran from door to door, covering a two block radius of our neighborhood without the accompaniment of parents. As we passed groups of our friends we would share the locations of the houses that gave out the best candy. I can still remember our next door neighbor inviting my friends and me in for homemade white cake with chocolate frosting. Halloween in the fifties was such a different time.

Back in late July I was wandering around Michael's one afternoon looking for Halloween inspiration when I spotted this.

When I first saw it I literally gasped out loud. Not because it was well made or well priced, because it was neither, but because of that text ribbon! I immediately went on a hunt for craft ribbon with text. (It's harder to find than you'd think but I did find some on Etsy).

 I knew I wanted to carry out the text theme in areas beyond my ribbon so I decoupaged a few cheap garish orange pumpkins.

I used tissue paper from Hobby Lobby for this one along with a French stamp from some old documents I purchased several years ago on our travels

and used pages from old brochures and magazines for a bolder, more creepy look on this one. 

 Then I incorporated them into a tired tray, along with pumpkins, black crows from Michael's and some creepy Spanish moss.

 

 

My crow plates are two years old from Nell Hills and I like how the twig placemats (World Market) and slices of wood add to the texture and rustic woodsy feel of the table setting. 

I carried out the text theme in my table linens from Pier1.

 

Originally I thought I'd do our mantel with skeletons but when I found this sign at Hobby Lobby I felt it was more me

and I love how my Mackenzie-Childs canisters look with the muted colors and black and cream ribbon.

Speaking of muted colors, I wanted to show you some before and after photos of the mantel garland.

I purchased the garland last year at Crate and Barrel and loved it, but this year I wanted a softer look so I just scrubbed the leaves with a super dry brush of off white paint. I love how it looks more like crispy fall leaves. I think this is a cool technique for those inexpensive leaves from the dollar stores. For some reason they always seem so garish and orange.

I also antiqued my Hobby Lobby sunflowers just slightly with brown wax from Annie Sloan and glued in some additional petals cut from the tissue and old papers that I used on my pumpkins.

I added some off white gauze cloth for a bit of creepiness and added texture.

The coffee table got an arrangement with a skeleton hand popping out of it along with a beaker of candy corn.

 

Another tiered tray...yes I do seem to have a tiered tray problem.

I found this cool Styrofoam skull at Michaels along with the beakers that I filled with snacks and added to our bar.

Notice that the regular candy corn has been picked out from the chocolate ones. (Me no likey chocolate candy corn).

Here's the same vignette  with some mood lighting.

 This next spot is our little low table with yet another tiered tray.

This is a perfect spot for some of my Lori Mitchell Halloween figurines.

Even the swym got a touch of the spookies

Well, I hope this tour has given you some ideas and perhaps has inspired you to try something new. Next time we'll go upstairs for a fall tour of the mantel, tables and kitchen area.

Love you more than candy corn, 

Encourage one another.

Please let me know if you have questions. I'd love to hear about your holiday décor in the comments below.

How I Store My Stuff

When we started shopping for a new home in Kansas we noticed something about the homes here that we weren't used to seeing in California.

Basements.

Some homes had completely unfinished basements that were just big open areas, as big as the house above, with concrete walls and floors and exposed pipes and support beams. Others had beautifully finished basements with bedrooms, bathrooms, media rooms, fireplaces, gyms, game rooms, wet bars and wine cellars. Then others were a combination of both, partially finished but with large open unfinished areas for storage. The common thread was that all the houses we looked at had some kind of basement and some kind of a storage area.

The house we ended up purchasing was perfect for our needs; a finished basement with just the right amount of unfinished storage. My philosophy has always been that your stash should not exceed  your given storage space, so not having a huge storage room would hopefully help keep my stash in check.

I must add here that in our home in California, Bill and I shared the massive built-ins that lined the walls of the garage. I kept extra dishes and seasonal decorations out there along side his lawn chemicals, car wax and whatever else men think they need.
When we bought this house we agreed that Bill would take the little storage there was in the garage and I could have the small storage room in the basement. Knowing that I needed to be able to fit the entire contents of my previous sewing room plus overflow dishes and seasonal decor into that small space forced me to carefully evaluate what was making the move. I purged heavily before moving, bringing with me only the things I loved. Once we got moved in we purchased six industrial shelving units to line the walls of the storage room and I started organizing.

My hope with this blog post is that you might get an idea or two that will help simplify how you store the things that you don't use everyday. I am by no means an expert. This is just what has worked for me.

Just off the main media room in the basement is a door leading to my storage area. I kinda think of it as my girl cave because it's mostly mine although I do share it with two AC/heating units, a hot water heater, media equipment and a few fishing poles.

I love that it's tucked away behind the bar and under the stairwell because I can shut the door and nobody knows that it's there and that it sometimes looks like this (insert scary music here)

This is how it often looks after a party or major decorating spree - or both.

So the other day, while tackling this room I decided to snap a few photos and show you how I store my stuff.

Below is a photo of the wall to the left as you walk past the heating units and water heater. On this side I keep all my extra dishes and linen. Across the top shelf are clear storage bins with Christmas decorations.

Tip #1: Buy MATCHING CLEAR storage bins when possible. It looks neater. Although most of my bins are labeled, being able to see at a glance what's inside is so helpful.

Tip #2: Measure depth, height and width of your shelves and space before purchasing storage bins to maximize storage space.

My shelves are not arranged neatly but I do try and keep like things together.

Mason Vista dish collection

Valentines and Easter dishes

Place mats and table linens.

On the opposite wall I store my fabric, again in mostly matching, labeled bins.

I put like fabrics together, stripes, solids, dots, etc and label each box.

Tip #3: Label the boxes

This really helps me keep organized and helps since I sew upstairs so it's easy to grab a box of fabric I think I might need and take it up to the machine.

Across the top of the sewing and craft supplies are more big bins with seasonal decor. More Christmas, fall, spring and patriotic. Since I tend not to decorate the same each year I don't label the bins for areas (mantel, kitchen island etc). I just label and store them for the season and recreate each year.

Here's a view of the area under the stairwell. I keep luggage and oversized items in here - small fully decorated trees, a couple of big Santas, my big tiered tray from the kitchen island. It's dark and the ceiling is low so big things that we don't use often go in there.

Yes, we have a skeleton in our closet. I'm pretty sure every family does.

Probably the best thing that I did was

Tip #4: Hang wreaths and garlands

 

I had Bill insert long screws into the studs so I can hang my wreaths and garlands - four deep. This keeps them from getting crushed, I can see what I have at a glance, and they are up out of the way. If I had to put them into tubs I never would have had enough room to store them all. Also because they are in the basement there is relatively little dust.

Looking back toward the way you walk in is my eight foot Christmas tree, seasonal door mats to the right and two more wreaths hanging up out of the way on the rafters. Yes, that's fishing gear above the sound system equipment - I'm a generous wife.

It's certainly not pretty by any stretch of the imagination but it's functional and I know where everything is. I love that I don't have to bug Bill to get something down for me when I need it and I get my exercise running up and down the stairs. It's all good.

I hope you got an idea or two on organizing bigger storage areas. I'd love to hear about how you organize your stuff and what works for you.

Until next time - love you more than labeled matching clear boxes.

Encourage one another,

 

 

 

 

Decorating with Tiered Trays - Part Three

This is the third post in my three part series on decorating with tiered trays. You can find part one here and part two here.

These last two tiered trays that I have to show you are rather primitive. I like the warmth that the wood provides and that they are easy to style. This first one was purchased at Nell Hills in February ($85) to go in a corner in the kitchen under the upper cabinets. Remember that rule I mentioned in the first part of this series; the one about knowing where you want to put your tray and measuring the spot before you buy?

Yeah, well I didn't do that.

Actually I did measure the height of the cabinet and knew the tray was a smidge too tall (24"), but I loved the tray and thought maybe Bill could cut it down so I bought it anyway.

Once I got it home I decided cutting it probably wasn't such a good idea so I sat it on my stoves grill until I could decide whether or not to return it. Seeing it there, made me think it just might work right there, so it has lived there ever since. 

I know this isn't for everyone but I love decorating above and around my stove for the seasons. I spend a lot of time cooking these days and surrounding myself with happy things makes me so, well... happy.

It all started quite by accident. I had made this LOVE banner for Valentines Day and planned to hang it on my range hood just below my heart wreath, but no matter what I tried I didn't like it there and ended hanging it behind the stove instead.

Once I took it down after Valentines Day, the area seemed sooo bare!

I love hanging my ADORNit watercolors  on my "clothesline" over the stove and displaying them on my tiered tray. They remind me to be thankful, brave and happy while celebrating every day.

As I edited these photos I realized that the white film on the grill and around the lambs feet is flour! Ha I made my granddaughter a birthday cake the day before I took these photos and I guess flour fallout is real. Thankfully I dusted in the following photos. How embarrassing! (The cake was delicious by the way).

For me, part of decorating is surrounding yourself with things you love and that have meaning.

A tiered tray is the perfect spot to create happy vignettes.

 Sadly I don't have a sewing room in this house but I styled the next tray as inspiration for those of you who do.

I gathered some favorite treasures to display on the two wooden shelves. Notice that the fabric and cookie sheet extends beyond the edge of the lower tray. You can't do that with trays that have a ledge.

 Again, this little tower of happiness doesn't take up much counter space but adds some color and charm to the space.

 

This next tiered tray is from HomeGoods. I saw it on a trip there recently but didn't buy it (it was $99). I couldn't stop thinking about it so when it was still there a few days later I popped it in my cart.

I have never liked this spot behind my basement sectional. I've tried trays and plants there but everything seemed flat and uninteresting

until I brought this 39" two tiered tray home. (There is 15" between the tiers!)

I added a few stacks of books and a small collection of porcelain boxes along with some greenery. I love the height and interest it adds to the table and you can style these so that they look good from all sides.

My most frequently asked question has been, where do I buy tiered trays?

I combed the internet to hopefully find some resources for you but didn't have a whole lot of luck. This first one is called The Charlotte from Vintage Farmhouse Finds  and is $129. I like that the tiers seem further apart (although they don't give those dimensions on their website and they didn't respond to my email).  

 

Here is the same tray styled and by their photo it looks like it has fairly good spacing between tiers.

This next photo is from Pinterest - same Charlotte tray just styled differently.

If there was a negative I'd say that the high ledge could be somewhat limiting.

Speaking of Pinterest, you might want to check out my board on tiered trays here.

Not to be too negative but I would not buy this one from Pottery Barn

I know some of you have it and have commented that the tiers are too close together (just 6"). I also think the sides are too high. Just my opinion.

Of course check out Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, Nell Hills (they ship) and your local independent gift shops. They are there,  sometimes you just have to look since they are usually used as display pieces and buried under other merchandise.  

The other question I got was do I use the stuff I put on the trays or is it strictly for display. I usually leave them alone except for the times I'm having company for dinner and wonder what I did with those soup bowls...then I'll borrow.

I hope you have enjoyed this series and have found it helpful. Next time I'll be back with another sewing tutorial.

Until then,

Encourage one another,

 

Flamingo Fever

 My ADORNit fabric arrived last week.

 

OMGosh, how cute is this collection?

My assignment as an ADORNit Ambassador is to use the fabric they send me in any way I choose, so I went with something I was comfortable with: my embellished burp cloth. Colored burp cloths found here.

"HAPPY" and "mem0ries" words found here

After I finished sewing and while I still had the ironing board out I thought I'd quickly iron the cloth napkins that were stacked in the ironing pile. Well, a funny thing happened while I was standing there, mindlessly ironing. I got to thinking, why not embellish napkins too? So I started pulling out dishes and fabric and placemats and auditioning combinations until I got a combo that I loved.

Then, because I had a mini coloring book that matched my fabrics, I water colored a flamingo, cut it out and glued it to a toothpick. 

Voila -  instant cupcake topper!

Gah...how cute is that?  Kind'a makes you want to have a party doesn't it?

 

I don't know if anyone is interested in a tutorial on these simple sewing projects. Just let me know if you do and I'd be happy to do a couple for you, but really, they are so simple that I'm sure you can do them without help. The most important thing is to start with cute fabric. The rest is easy.

These projects are such great ways to incorporate fun fabrics into everyday life and everyone knows  that life is so much sweeter when embellished. Don't you agree?

Love you guys!

Encourage one another,

 

Visions of Sugar Plums

 

One of my favorite local gift shops recently had these fabulous candy topiaries on display in their window

but when I inquired about purchasing one I was told they weren't for sale - that they were for display only.

Whaaa... 

So what's a gal to do when she is told "No"?

She takes a photo of the "NFS Display Only" items, buys a boat load of candy, plugs in her glue gun and gets to craft'n, of course.

Here's what I came up with:

 

Sugared fruits and large and small gummy round disks were purchased at World Market and are by Haribo. Vertical sugared sour tubes were from Target.

 

 

Jumbo red, green and white gumballs are from World Market.

Small gumballs, and all varieties of peppermints are from the Dollar Store.

Turns out I'm glad the nice people at J'Adore wouldn't sell me a topiary because I wouldn't have had the fun of making them myself - and they were FUN!

Here are a few of the things I learned as I made my candy topiaries. If you decide to make some I hope these tips save you time and some money.

  

First stop was a quick trip to Michaels for Styrofoam cones. I'm sure they are available at Hobby Lobby too. I purchased three cones from 9" to 18" tall.

Helpful Hint #1: Although the cones are available at least five sizes, I suggest starting with a smaller to mid size cone. These take a lot of candy to cover and the first one I did took me about three hours to complete. I did get faster with each consecutive one but you should consider any time constraints that you might have as well as the attention span of those doing the decorating. I think this would be a great project for teens as well as adults. Since you will be working with hot glue I feel it isn't an appropriate project for children.

 Next you'll need to purchase candy. Lots of candy! As I was constructing my topiaries I realized they were a lot like planning  and constructing a quilt with the same elements of design to consider: color, repetition, texture, shape and scale.

Helpful Hint #2: Try keeping your candy colors to two to four. Although it's tempting to use all the colors in the rainbow, in my opinion, your topiaries will be more visually appealing if you use fewer colors. You can create interest by varying the candy shapes, sizes and textures. Repeating colors and shapes as you build your topiary from the bottom to the top will result in a cohesive design. 

Gumballs, M&M's and peppermints are good candy choices. Peppermint disks and sticks are inexpensive and the sticks can be cut with a serrated knife. Candy canes add a fun shape while repeating the red and white theme. 

Helpful Hint #3: Start your candy shopping at the Dollar Store. I found lots of gum ball (my favorite) options there and was surprised at the large variety they carried. I spent over $100 on candy for the three topiaries that I built however I had lots of left over candy. Some candy that I purchased just didn't work well for topiaries (Skittles, Ike & Mike, Dots).

Helpful Hint #4: Consider the size of the candy that you purchase. Although M&M's work well for accent candies, smaller candies just take too long to cover the Styrofoam. Big gumballs and those big round flat disks I found at World Market were my favorite for making quick progress. 

Helpful Hint #5: Buy multiple bags of the same candy. Our Dollar Store had some bags of gumballs with all red gumballs but to get green or white gumballs I had to buy multiple bags of assorted colors to get enough of one color. Remember, the bigger the cone, the larger the circumference, and the more candy you'll need to go all the way around.

Once you feel like you have a good selection (again like quilting you'll need a stash) open, unwrap and sort the candy by color, shape and size.

It's good to have everything out so you know what your creative options are.

Working on a piece of wax paper or parchment start gluing from the bottom of the Styrofoam cone, building your way up in rows. I didn't plan my topiaries in advance, I just started gluing. Try to use just a small dab of hot glue applied directly to the candy and try to control the "spider webs" as you go.

Helpful Hint #6: If you glue something down that you decide you don't love, simply pry it off and try something else. These are forgiving and the Styrofoam is resilient.

Helpful Hint #7: I kept a pair of tweezers and an orange stick handy to help apply and remove unwanted candies. 

Once you have covered the Styrofoam cone look for stray hot glue webs and give your topiary a brushing with a stiff paint brush to remove any webs or candy crumbs. Display on a candle stick or cake stand if you have them.

I hope this has been helpful. Please share your creations and experiences with us here. Most of all Have Fun!

Encourage one another,