Teeny Tiny Toadstools...

Okay, so I made a bunch of teeny toadstools when creating these ornaments:

I've had a couple emails asking about them.....so thought I'd share the process.  This isn't a complete tutorial because I didn't take photos of the entire process.  That being said, if you are crafty at all, this will give you the general idea.

The items you'll need are:

hot glue gun for the moss
E6000 to glue the caps to the stems
polymer clay in white and red
clear nail polish to use as a clear coat
tiny wreaths
bits of moss, torn into inch sized pieces
floral wire, cut into 4 inch lengths
floral foam to hold the toadstools
tooth picks for painting dots
white paint for dots
small paint brush for it's tip to make toadstool caps.

First I made a ton of poly clay toadstool caps and stems.  I used red for the caps and white for the stems and made a variety of shapes of both.

1.  To make the caps, take a small pea size piece of clay.  Use the wooden tip of the paint brush and make a slight depression in the cap.  This is where the stem will fit into.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

2.  To make the stems, roll a pea size piece of clay between your fingers creating a tip at one end and a larger base at the other. 

Mass produce these before moving on.  You will NOT put the stems and caps on before baking.

3.  Cut a 4 inch piece of floral wire and insert it into the stem as far as it will go without poking through the top.

4.  Set everything on a baking sheet, spaced apart.  Bake according to directions and let cool.

5.  After baking, attach the stems to the caps with a little dot of E6000.  Let dry completely.

Once dry, I used a block of floral foam to hold the little toadstools up while finishing them. Here you can see how small they are.  Notice I didn't unwrap the foam.    Here they all are, ready for polka dotting.  

6.  To make the polka dots, dip a toothpick into the white paint to make the dots and just tap all over the cap until they look like you want them to.

Once painted, they look like this...let them dry completely.

7.  Coat everything with clear nail polish.   I use nail polish because it doesn't yellow, it drys without a sticky residue and I always have some on hand.  Let dry completely.

8.  To wire, take your tiny wreath and wire three of the toadstools to it like in the photo. I pushed the wire through some of the vine and around some, just securing it as I went.  Try to wire them as close as possible so it is easier to hide with the moss.  

Continue making all your wreaths in the same manner....mass production style.

9.  The last step is to cover the wires.  You'll need to tear some packaged moss into little bits then hot glue some of the moss onto the wreath to cover the wires.  

No need to work it between the toadstools, just fluff the moss up.  It is easy to move the toadstools since they are on wires.  Just push them aside, fluff the moss, and push them back into position.  You can always add more moss if needed.