A little do-it-yourself home decor project to start off the week.  (I’ll be announcing the Project Life winner later today.)

(I know someone’s going to ask about the yellow candlestick and that turquoise vase-pot-container-thing. Got both of them at Home Goods.)

This is what you need:

styrofoam ball (I used a larger size but you have options)

sturdy toothpicks

hot glue gun

small flowers or moss (more on that toward the end of the post)

mini fake fruit ( same or a variety). I picked up a couple of these little variety packages of mini fruit at Target, in the home decor section, but you can find mini fruit at your local craft store too.

So this is what you do to start: Poke a toothpick in the bottom of one of the little fruits:

Then you stick that anywhere on the styrofoam ball. Push it all the way down:

Repeat those first two steps with each little fruit, placing them side by side or clustered, so long as they’re touching one another. Nestle them as close as possible:

Keep adding fruit. Get some water and stay hydrated.  : )

You will eventually have your entire ball covered in fruit. Adorableness:

Okay … notice all those gaps? There are a couple ways to fix this. 1) Cover your ball with crafting moss first so that you see that instead of styrofoam. Or 2) use very small flowers to fill the gaps. I picked up a couple bunches of these flowers. The yellow goes well and they’re little. Perfect.

Trim the little flowers so there is just a short stubby stem:

One by one, hot-glue those little flowers between the fruit, filling in all the gaps:

That’s it! Done. So easy. And there is even something therapeutic about covering a styrofoam ball with fruit or flowers. (I’ll be sharing a flower topiary soon.) Know what? This could be a really fun project to do … on your own, with your friends, with your kids …

And remember: Those big craft stores (Michael’s, JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, etc.) — they offer great coupons (like 40% an item) and have sales on florals and stuff ALL the time. There’s no reason to pay full price. Also keep in mind that the bigger your styrofoam ball, the more stuff (fruit, moss, flowers) you’ll have to have to cover it.