Sunday, November 27, 2011

Simple flowers

I like getting flowers on a regular basis, and I've come up with a few ways to dress them up simply.



Recently, I got a bouquet of pink carnations from my husband.  They were simple, fresh and lovely.  I decided to arrange them nicely using a milk glass vase leftover from my wedding.  A single type of slower is often quite striking when arranged in this manner.

Simple flower arrangement instructions:

Materials:
  • a good sharp pair of scissors, kitchen shears or a knife and cutting board
  • floral or other sturdy wire
  • mushroom bird, brooch, butterfly or bird's nest
  • ribbons or lace
  • Pretty vase or other vessel

1) Place the flowers in water while you work with them to keep them fresh.
2) Cut your first stem so that it peaks over the edge of your vessel by a fair bit.  Cut other stems to match until you have a ring around the outside of your vessel.
3) Cut other stems just a bit taller to put in the center and give your arrangement a rounded shape.
4) Take your bird, nest or other ornament and secure it to the wire.  I threaded the wire through the bottom of my bird's nest.  Hot glue may also be helpful to secure it, if you don't mind getting glue on your ornament.  Cut the wire so that the ornament sits neatly on the surface of your flowers.
5) Add ribbon or lace streamers as desired.  I chose to tie a bow with mine.  Place the ornament in your arrangement and trim.

Tips:
  • When dealing with more shallow vessels, it is sometimes helpful to use floral foam so that your flowers don't fly out.
  • Your flowers will keep longer with a homemade or store-bought flower preservative.  Some recipes for homemade flower preservatives can be found here.