Carnation Topiary

 I recently made this topiary for a shower I helped host.  I'll be blogging about the shower next week, but in the meantime....I'm obsessed with topiaries, and I'm pleased with how this one came together.  They really are easy to do, though more pricey than some arrangments, it's worth it to me! 
I grabbed a long candlestick I found at the thrift store for the base of my topiary. 
I also found this foam ball.  They sell two kinds, regular styrofoam, and these you soak with water so the flowers last/live/thrive/dance....whatever.  The balls are a few dollars.  You run them through water to fill them up with water for flowers to drink.  They get a little heavy at this point.  I learned through a wedding that these probably are best resting on something, as opposed to the ones flower girls carry. 
I also bought bouquets from the grocery store for this guy. 

 I think this ball is about 8 inches, and it takes four bunches of carnations to cover the ball.  A lot of my carnations were closed.  4 bunches would give you plenty to work with, but I hate having too few....oh.  The.  drama. 
And then, you just cut the stems, and poke them into the ball. 

 You could rest them on top of the candle stick, maybe glue a small disk to the top to hold it in place.  I was just working with the tools I had, so I just carved (these are easy to 'carve, the basically crumble away as you need them to) a slot to stick the top of the candle stick. 

 The end.....of the topiary instruction, this is just the beginning of the shower!