When the weather turns gray outside, add cheerful color to your winter décor with an easy-to-make floral ornament. Strawflowers (Xerochrysum bracteatum, Zones 8–10) are unfussy annuals that grow anywhere with full sun and well-drained soil. For this project, you will need flower heads without stems. Grow your own, or buy dried flower heads from a craft supplier or grower. The flowers used in our video were purchased from a small family farm in southern Ontario.

To make some strawflower globes of your own, you will need:

• Round glass ornaments (clear or colored)
• Small jar or vase to hold the ornament while you work
• Low-temperature hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Strawflowers (40 to 50 heads per ornament)
• Snips or scissors for trimming stems
• Tweezers or needle-nosed pliers

Steps

1. Trim any stems or leaves from the back of the flower heads to make them easier to glue to the ornament.
2. Carefully apply hot glue to the back of each flower, then gently press the flower onto the glass ornament.
3. Repeat until the ornament is covered with flower heads. It should take about 15 minutes to finish a medium-size ornament.

Tip: Even low-temperature hot glue can still burn skin. To protect your hands from burns when you are gluing, handle the flower heads with tweezers or needle-nosed pliers.