You can have anything you want (almost) if you don't mind making it!

Most of the time the things I make come out of seeing something I love and looking at the price tag and thinking "I could probably make that for one sixth the price"and that is where it starts!

A while ago I went to the most beautiful garden store. They had urns of ivy topiary in lovely shapes and of course I liked the heart ones. Some were real and growing and others were artificial. All stunning and hard to tell which were which. All several hundred dollars.

But I loved them! 

Now I do think real plants inside are really important. They clean your air. A house needs probably four or five real living healthy house plants. A unit maybe two or three. You can google about this. Nasa have a list of the best house plants for houses and how they greatly improve the air inside your home. Important stuff.

So these are ornamental and wonderful for spots that are not great for living plants ie spots that are a bit dark or whatever. 

In making things I find out so many things. Florists use oasis foam which is great stuff. If I get this I get it for about $2 a block from a cheap shop which is much cheaper.  Last week I went to an Adelaide florist suppliers. It was terrible. I don't know how they are in business. I came home and ordered what I need on ebay for less than one tenth the price. What has arrived so far is also superior to what they have. So don't just pay have a compare around. It is not a few dollars difference it is a huge amount. 

Currently my most urgent "I want that!" is from Pottery Barn online.... they have topiary trees with the large ball on top and some with three balls going up... they are gorgeous. I keep going back to look and have pinned them to my "to do" list. The reason? They all are almost $500 each. So I will post the results and how I did them sometime soon I hope. One thing I needed is sticks. After last nights storm I have a wide choice of sticks on the back lawn!

Anyway these are my ivy topiary from a little while ago.

The urn was a road side find. It is pretty big and very heavy. I adore the worn edges, cracks and peeling paint. I filled it with packing foam which is much cheaper (well free) than oasis and I made a heart of thick wire which was $40 cheaper than buying a wire form. I filled the pot with moss from the garden store which is only a couple of dollars a bag. The ivy came from Cheap as Chips! This is in our front entrance and I really love it!

This is much smaller and is on a side table. I used a finer ivy which I think came from Spotlight.

And this one is in a narrow pot and has mostly lived on the kitchen bench. I really love it. As I had the two smaller pots and found the big one really they each cost me under $10 and I have loved them for about three years so I am happy with that.

But now I am dreaming of trees! It is almost a challenge to see what I can make them for and compare to the four hundred and something dollar ones. To me that is fun and it means you really can have most things you would love, there is usually a way! Thanks to pinterest, you tube and craft blogs there are instructions on how to do anything online! I am often stuck but you can always find help or an alternative way. I'm really excited to have topiary trees. Give me a week or two and I think I will have them made up. 

Have a wonderful weekend. We have a much cooler day and had an electrical storm last night that was pretty terrifying. The garden is a mess but at least I have a supply of sticks!