Fall Centerpiece

I have been in the "creating mood" and have decided to share directions for making the centerpiece we now have on our dining room table. I will include some pictures.

Here is what the finished product looks like (from all four sides):

The best part is that you (should be able to) get all of the supplies you need from Wal-Mart for under $15 and it will take less than 30 minutes to put it all together.

To create this centerpiece, you need two tall, glass vases--one that will fit inside the other with some free space all of the way around. The vases I used were sold side-by-side, the larger was about $3 and the smaller about $1. Look in the section where floral items are sold.

You also need a bag of candy corn. You can use any color/type you like; I used the traditional yellow/orange/white kind. (You might want to get two bags if you like to snack while you work.) The candy corn costs less than $2 per bag.

Start by placing enough candy corn in the bottom of the large vase to make the small vase even at the top when placed inside. Wiggle the small vase around until you get it set flat inside. Then, carefully place candy corn around the outside of the small vase, filling the gap between the two. Go slowly and place the candy carefully for the best presentation.

Here are some pictures about what you will have at this point:

The next things you need are mini-scarecrows and faux-flowers in fall colors. Below are pictures. You can get all of the these in the fall section at Wal-Mart. The scarecrows are about $1 each and the flowers are around $2-$3 each. Feel free to mix and match with whatever you like. I personally liked using one scarecrow fella and one scarecrow gal, and I thought the fake pumpkins were a nice touch:

Place these items in the inner-vase, alternating between them. (Have each scarecrow facing opposite directions and each flower bunch facing opposite.)

The easy part is done! The hard part will be keeping the kids from snacking on your candy corn. Good luck!

(NOTE: There are two reasons for using the inner vase (rather than just filling the large vase entirely with candy corn.) One: the candy corn will get sticky as it sits out. This process will help protect the sticks on your scarecrows and flowers so that you can re-use them. Two: you can forgo the scarecrows and faux flowers and use real flowers, if you prefer. The inner vase will allow you to keep your bouquet watered without ruining the candy corn effect.)

Feel free to improve upon my design to suit your own tastes!