Hydrangea Bowl Fillers

 A month or two ago, I was checking Pinterest for new ideas on things that might be fun and easy to make. I came across some bowl fillers that inspired this project for my sister's nursery. I also plan to make a set in some other colors to go in my dining room... but I might let my fingers recover a bit from the callus that I now have from the pins.

For this project, you'll need... craft paper, a punch (I used a Martha Stewart one.), smooth Styrofoam balls 3" and 4", pins, scissors, a thimble, and spray-able Mod Podge.

This project is really easy, but it is time consuming. First, you will need to punch flowers -- I used about 2 sheets of 12x12 craft paper per 3" ball, and likely 3-4 for the 4" balls. By the time I got to the 4" balls, I had just punched all the paper I bought to speed up the process. I basically tried to not waste any paper, so I would turn the punch over and line it up with the edge of the page, punch all the way around all 4 sides, and then cut the edges off... repeat until you are out of paper.

You will be left with something like this....

Then comes the pinning... 

Basically, take one large petal and one small one... lay them in an off-set pattern where the small one covers the holes in the larger one. Make sure that you alternate them so that there is no white showing once it is pinned.

Stick your pin in the middle of the new flower. 

Use your thimble to push the pin all the way down. After a while you will thank me for the thimble idea... just trust me on that. My fingers got really sore the more I got done with this project.

Just another view of how the pinning process works. 

You don't have to spray them for display, but these are headed to a nursery with a humidifier. I was concerned that the paper might mold or something if they weren't sealed. 

I made 3 of each color in the 3" size, and 2 in each color of the 4" size. They turned out really pretty, and I can't wait to see them displayed in her nursery!