How to make a Bunny Topiary for $15

Bunny Topiary Tutorial

Springtime and Easter bring about flowers, Easter celebrations, and all things bunny.  Since the sun is shining and people are out enjoying the weather, now is a great time to jazz up your doorstep.  

This “how-to” will walk you through all the steps to make a custom topiary in the shape of a bunny.  It’s inexpensive too…less than $15.   

You can not only jazz up your doorstep, but Springtime is also a great time to allow God to spring up something new in your life (read more about it in my encouraging post here).

Spring DIY Decor Inspiration

While scrolling through Pinterest, which is one of my favorite times of the day (are you following me yet? )  I saw these super cute moss bunny topiaries and was inspired to create my own. 

You may ask, What is a Topiary?  It’s a fancy word, I know.  Topiaries are just trees and shrubs cut into cool shapes.  If you go into any home store these days you can find fake ones for indoor/outdoor decorating.  They can be expensive ($100- $500) and may not be exactly what you need for the space you are designing.  That’s why I opted to make my own.

Bunny Topiary Supplies List:

• Planter (Dollartree) $1
• Rocks/gravel (Dollartree) $1
• 2 large bowls the same size (Dollartree) $2
• 2 smaller bowls the same size (or paper and a plastic bag, see instructions below) $2
• Packing tape (Dollartree) $1
• Moss (hobby store, I bought Spanish Moss from Hobby Lobby) $4
• 4 bottles of School glue (I just bought glue from the Dollartree while I was there) $2
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks $1
• Wire pipe cleaners $1
• 2 sheets of any kind of paper cut into 4 pieces – Free
• 5-6 cotton balls – Free
• Ribbon – Free

Total: $15 or less if you have some of these things at home already

Let’s Get Started:

We are gonna work from the bottom up.  Place some rocks, dirt, or gravel in the bottom of your planter to add weight to the whole topiary.  Really you could use anything with weight because it’s not going to be seen. I picked up some rocks/marbles from the flower section at Dollartree.

On to the bunny body:

Hot glue the two larger bowls together to make a sphere.  The bowls I purchased had a ring around them that I didn’t like, so I cut it off before gluing the two together.  Now place the round sphere you just created inside the planter and hot glue around the edge of the planter.  This can get a little tricky.  At first, I hot glued the whole planter then dropped the bowl in place, but the hot glue was cold and not adhesive before I could get the bowls in place. Just do trial and error.  I finally placed the bowls in place and dropped hot glue around the sides and down inside the planter in small sections.

Now for the second sphere:

Ideally you should be able to hot glue two smaller bowls together like the bottom part of the bunny, but I couldn’t find a bowl the size that I was looking for.  Looking around my house for inspiration, I just grabbed a plastic Walmart bag and filled it with newspaper, sealing it with packing tape.  I smashed, pushed and fiddled with it until it was a round shape.  The last step is to hot glue your smaller sphere to the top of the bottom sphere.

To make the Bunny ears:

I took black pipe cleaners and bent them in half and kinda curved them to look like and ear.  Then I placed hot glue around the inside edge of the pipe cleaners and laid a half sheet of paper on top.  Any kind of paper will do because it won’t get seen.  Cut away the excess paper and you have a bunny ear.  Repeat the process to make two, then hot glue them both to the top of your structure.  Finally, crumple up a piece of paper to the back for a “tail” and hot glue it to the body.

Get down and dirty with Moss

Covering this cute bunny in moss is what makes it a topiary, but it’s a messy step.  I purchased Spanish Moss from Hobby Lobby, but they also have moss in smaller bags at the Dollar Tree. It really doesn’t matter what type of moss you use though. 

With the Spanish moss, you have to cut it up into small pieces because it comes in large chunks.  I cut up about half the bag and it was plenty to cover the whole bunny.

Start at the bottom.  Cover a small portion in glue then press the moss into the glue.  Repeat, repeat, repeat around the entire bunny.  I did one side and let it dry overnight then did the other side the next day.  For the tail, I fluffed up about 5-6 cotton balls and glued them to the paper.

Add some frills

Now that your bunny topiary is done, you can add your own personal touch.  I had some silver ribbon and some lace around the house so I added that around the bunny’s “waist.”  I think it would also be cute with a bowtie for a boy bunny.

Set your custom creation on your porch or in the middle of a beautiful spring table decoration.  Thanks for creating with me.  I’d love to see your bunny topiary.  Feel free to upload a picture below or email me your pictures.

Until next time…stay crafty!

Always Angie