I've been seeing those cool moss spheres everywhere. And I've been wanting one. But I just didn't want to fork out the money. They're darn spendy!

I found this one at Ballard Designs For the small 6" tall one, they want $20:

And this one at Home Decorators. It's 20" tall, and it is $99.Yikes! No way am I forking out that kind of money. Decided I would try and make my own.

First I needed an urn. Bought this one at the thrift store for $3.50:Pulled out all of the flowers and spray painted it Antique White (love that color!):Thought it was a little too bright, so I rubbed it with some stain I had in the garage. Forgot to take a picture of that step, but you will see it in the final project. Be patient.

Next I needed to make me a mossy ball. I bought a bag of moss at the dollar store. Then went shopping for a styrofoam ball. Holy moley, do you know what they are charging for those? Highway robbery I tell ya!

I was going to just wait for them to go on sale, but then I came up with an even better idea! I live in a house filled with boys. They all love sports. I just asked them if they had any balls that were so old and flat they couldn't use them any more. They brought me this:

It was the perfect size. Woohoo! I pulled out my glue gun (and lots of glue sticks), and my one dollar bag of moss. Just started applying hot glue and pushing moss onto it. After a while, my ball looked like this:Reminded me a little of Wilson in the movie Castaway.

Almost finished now:OK, are you ready?

Here is my moss urn:

I luuuuuv it! And it only cost me $4.50. And yes, I really did stain the urn. It just looks really bright in the photo. Don't ask me why.

Note: If you don't have an excess supply of flat soccer balls, they sell bouncy balls at the Dollar Store on occasion. Those work great too!

I am entering this project in the Creative Crafts of 2009 contest over at Floral Showers.

If you want to see some other fabulous thrifty ideas, check out the Frugal Friday party over at The Shabby Nest. Or even better, join in the fun!