DIY Carrot surprise ball

Have you ever seen or heard of a surprise ball? I bought my first one at Tail of the Yak in Berkeley. It was made by the brilliant paper artist Anandamayi, who recreates the most amazing objects out of paper including a large stash of surprise balls. I bought a peach for my mom and an apple for myself. I have yet to open it in 5 years because it’s so darn beautiful! BUT, I have a feeling there’s something edible inside as the paper has discolored. I don’t have the nerve to try it out!

We thought Easter would be the perfect time for a surprise ball…wouldn’t the Easter bunny love gifting little trinkets in a carrot? We thought so! Inside ours we stashed some Easter treats and toys. They would be perfect in an Easter basket!

Materials:

• crepe paper rolls in orange
• crepe paper in green for the stem
• spray paint in a slightly darker color (optional)
• Easter trinkets
• glue gun
• scissors
• tissue paper
• general glue

1. 1. You’ll want to start with the bulkiest, roundest item. If you’re item is irregularly shaped you can make it a little more round by wrapping it with some tissue paper like we did with our little chick toy. Begin wrapping the item with your crepe paper roll in a criss-crossed pattern to cover all of your surface area. You’ll want to do this several times to add some bulk. If it’s lumpy you can round it out some by wrapping small items (candies are good for this) into the dents. If your crepe paper is slipping out of place you can add a small dab of glue here and there

2. Wrap the items so that it forms a longer shape like a carrot adding more layers on one side than the other. The easiest way to do this is to start with a longer item (like our tube of bubbles), but it can be done with several smaller items, you just might have to use a little engineering 🙂

3. Continue wrapping, adding smaller items or crumpled tissue paper as filler, and using small dots of glue until your carrot shape is pretty much how you would like it. Use a little glue to secure the end of the streamer.

4. For the last layer, cut the crepe paper streamer in half or thirds so that it follows your shape more. Wrap with the thinner strips until your carrot shape is refined.

5. Add a dab of glue at the end to secure.

6. For the green topper, make a tassel out of green paper. You can do this by using a long rectangle (18-24 inches long) of green crepe paper. Use scissors to fringe one edge of the rectangle, leaving a 1.5 inch area intact along the bottom edge. Roll the rectangle along the bottom edge, using a dab of hot glue to secure every few inches.

7. Secure it to the top of the carrot with glue.

Enjoy!

Photos and crafting by Ashley Isenhour