Teacher Gift --- Money Bouquet

I looked for something like this on Pinterest, but couldn't find it, so I made it up myself.  I'm the room mother for my son's class and he has an awesome teacher.  It was her birthday and I wanted to give her money collected from the parents, but I wanted to do it in a creative way.  So I thought I would make some sort of money tree or money bouquet.

I bought a vase and a foam floral ball from Hobby Lobby.  I pushed the ball into the vase so it wouldn't budge.  I bought little brightly-colored plastic appetizer forks and swords at the dollar store.  I collected $5 bills from the parents and twisted them around the base of the forks and swords before plunging them into the foam ball.  Some of the bills got punctured, but they are still usable.  Then I made double-sided flowers and butterflies out of card stock and wrote each child's name on it with a Sharpie.  Using my hot glue gun, I attached the card stock name card to the tops of the swords and forks.

I added the left over forks and swords to the bottom ⅓ of the foam ball to fill in the gaps.  I was running short of time or I would have tried to cover the foam with something - burlap, glued on leaves or floral moss would all work.  Since graduation season is just around the corner, I am going to use this idea again, but on a smaller scale and try to make it look a little more polished/finished.  I will either write nothing on the card stock or inspirational words like "Faith," "Blessings," etc.