Easy Rustic Topiary Place Card Holders That Will Surprise You
Oh my word, January is almost gone and I’m so happy, it’s been a looooong, lean month. Has it been a rough one for you too? The end of the month also means it’s time for the International Bloggers Club Challenge. If you’re visiting for the first time, the IBC is a group of bloggers from all over the world who get together at the end of every month to share their projects. Last month we repurposed a rusty metal frame into a small craft table and this month we’re sharing Valentine’s crafts.
I’ll let you in on a little secret, I went to the deepest, darkest recesses of my craft cupboard to try come up with an idea. Ribbons and wood scraps and paint and noodles and ice cream sticks all went flying. Suffice to say, bits of all that crafty chaos madness finally became these rustic topiary heart place card holders.
Wanna know how I did it? Those rustic topiary place card holder hearts were made out of a pool noodle. Yup, a pool noodle 😉 Are you surprised? If I had the moola, I would have toodled off to the craft shop and bought me some of those polystyrene hearts.
But no moola means you gotta make a plan and the IBC is very close to my heart. These ladies have been there for me and they always come up with the most amazingly creative things. There was just no way I was not going to let my tribe down.
I get by with a little help from my friends
And to be honest I actually had a lot of fun carving the hearts. They were a lot easier than I thought. It was almost as therapeutic as carving our giant skeleton key.
Making Rustic Topiaries from Pool Noodles That Look Real
Using a craft knife slice the bits of the noodle off. It should look almost like a spinning top. (I’m hoping the pics below help explain what I’m trying to say) Once the bottom had been carved away, I made a nick in the top and shaped the rest of the heart.
It’s kinda like peeling an orange with a craft knife 😀
To mimic leaves I roughened the hearts up a bit with a grater.
And then we sprayed those hearts green.
While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I took a walk around the garden and found some twigs that would make great trunks. The pool noodle had a hole right down the middle, so the twigs were just glued inside. To hide the hole on top of the heart, spray and glue some of the leftover pool noodle bits over the hole.
Fill a few tin buckets with soil and add plant the rustic topiary hearts.
For extra love, you can tie little hearts made from bits of bark to the buckets. Since these are supposed to be place cards, I thought I’d write the names on the bark hearts. But the bark is rough and every time I wrote something it looked like a drunk spider had fallen into a bucket of paint before trying to crawl home. So I used ice cream sticks instead to make little signs.
Oh, how I wish I could sit around a table with these special ladies, Katrin, Keri, Mary, and PIli. Since that won’t be happening anytime soon, the best I can do is create a virtual table and add their names to the place cards.
There will always be a piece of my heart that smiles when I think of you.
I’d love to know what you think of the pool noodle place card holders. Is it something you would make to add to your table decor? If carving pool noodles isn’t quite your style then you’ll love these little topiaries we made from beads.
If you like the idea of making rustic topiary place card holders from a pool noodle don’t forget to pin it for later.
Do you have any special plans for Valentine’s Day? I must admit, we don’t really make a big thing of it. We prefer to surprise our loved ones with gifts and love notes throughout the year. What about you? I’d love to hear how you celebrate, or not. Either way here’s wishing and your loved ones a beautiful February and remember to pop on over to see what craftiness the rest of the IBC have come up with.
Oh before I forget, if you don’t want to go to all that trouble and find some of the materials we used, we’ve got you covered Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more crafty ideas to share with you 😉
Hi! I love this idea, they look like real greenery! I need to do centerpieces for a Valentine’s dinner and this would be perfect. One question – how did you cover the hole at the top of the noodle? Did you fill it in with anything? Thanks!
Hey Laura, so glad you like the idea. I used some of the offcuts and glued them inside the hole and then drizzled some of the grated bits over the top. All the best for your VAlentine’s dinner and have fun making your heart topiaries
now I would like to take this idea…and make 12 inch round ones -or-some cute shape…I really thought you had put moss on…what a great idea….and so inexpensive…good girl!!!
Thank you so much, I’m really glad you like them. Pool noddles are so versatile
Oh my gosh, at first glance, I thought you covered each heart with moss. Amazing it’s just green spray paint! Love how you “saved moohla”!
Thanks so much Victoria ? Pool noodles are so versatile, thank goodness I had some in the craft cupboard
It’s so beautiful, thanks for sharing. 🙂 I just have one question, can we use any kind of paint or is there special paint that we can only use and where can we buy the paint? Thanks!
Thank you so much Josephine, I’m glad you like them. I used Rustoleam spray paint but any paint should work. We buy ours at the local hardware store in South Africa. Hope that helps
How did you do the wooden heart ?
Hi Jo Ann. We bought plain wooden hearts at the craft store and just added bits of bark on top. Trees that have a thin layer of bark like Ironwood, Beech and the Paperbark thorn tree work the best. We used Paperbark because we have a beautiful one growing in our garden. Just wet the bark and then put something heavy on top to flatten the bark. Once it’s dry you can cut out all kinds of shapes.
Great idea u should do a video
Thank you Anon, I’m terribly camera shy and videos scare me. Maybe one day
where, Michelle, did you find the little buckets?????
We got them a while back at a craft store in Centurion. I’m not sure which country you’re from Jim but I believe they sell them at Target in the States and I’ve seen them on Amazon and Ebay too. Let me know if you come right.
These are so beautiful! What a smart idea to use noodle! You did a great job with it!
Thank you so much Katerina
Michelle, these are wonderful. I, too couldn’t believe my eyes that they were not real greenery!
Yay Maya, I’m really glad it worked out. Thank you
What an amazingly creative idea!!
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Thank you Jodie 😀
These are seriously adorable, Michelle! Pool noodle – who would’ve thought. You never cease to amaze me with your creativity and talent.
Thanks so much Marie. When money is short my mind tends to do the weirdest things 😉
These are so sweet. How creative to make the hearts from pool noodles. I just love the whole look. Pinned
Thank you so much Debra. I’m so glad you like them
Michelle you are such a sweetheart. You created these beautiful place card holders out of thin air. And they look so professional. I thought you had used moss or something real for the green. I too would love it if we could all get together one day.
Here’s hoping Mary <3
Michelle, you are such a special person and I’m fortunate you call me your friend. These place card holders are so beautiful, I would have never imagined you used a pool noodle to make the hearts. I’d love we could meet together some day too, imagine how fun it would be!
Me too Pili, we would have a ball
Michelle, I love this!!! You’re amazing! Seriously how did you think to make hearts out of pool noodles?!! They look wonderful!! Thanks so much for including me at the table, what an honor!!! Wouldn’t that be wonderful if we could all sit down and chat it up?!! Well here’s wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day from around the world!
I panicked and that pool noodle was taking up space in the craft closet 😉 Happy Valentine’s day to you too my friend
The greenery looks so real & I was surprised when I saw they were pool noodles! Like most things you do, I think one thing and then I’m shocked (pleasantly) when I learn exactly what it is 😉 Pinning & sharing!
😉 Thanks so much for the share Angie, they were lots of fun to make
Aw Michelle, you made my day with these beautiful and special place card holders! I too wish we’d could all hang out, but hey, you never know, one day I’ll knock on that door! You are so so amazing to make the hearts from pool noodles! Love it and the whole rustic look of them is so beautiful!
Oh wouldn’t that be lovely Katrin. Just imagine the fun we’d have 😉