So it’s another “first” post, this time I’m doing a DIY craft feature where I hope to impart a newly acquired skill or give away a freebie download. This time, I’m going to show you how to arrange flowers!
For Mother’s Day weekend; my sister (and fellow blogger –
JewelOri), her other half (I’ll call him J) and myself set about making a flower arrangement to give to our Mum’s. I was very surprised at how well they turned out, so much so that J’s Mum didn’t believe he had made it!!! See for yourself…
So here’s how to do it.
What you will need:
- Florist oasis (can be bought online or at most garden centres)
- Knife (to cut the oasis )
- Florist scissors
- Greenery (can be taken from garden – in our case it was Mum’s garden!)
- Flowers (we used supermarket flowers, each arrangement used one small bunch)
- Sturdy flower put (i.e. not plastic)
- 3 Sticks for the trunk of the arrangement (we used twisted willow branches, again from Mum’s garden)
- Bowl or sink of water
Step 1 – Cut your oasis
You will need two cubes, roughly 4 inches by 4 inches (10cm) with the edges and corners rounded. It doesn’t have to be perfectly spherical. Then place these into a bowl of water and let them sink. Do not push them into the water otherwise you’ll get air bubbles.
Step 2 – Pick your greenery
You’ll want something leafy so that you can cover the bottom and fill out the flower ball on the top. The end result is to have something that looks like a topiary bay leaf tree.
Step 3 – Assemble the trunk
Place one of the oasis balls into the flower pot and push the 3 sticks into the oasis so that it is firmly in place but not pushed all the way through to the other side of the oasis. This creates the base and trunk of your arrangement.
Step 4 – Cut your greenery
Work with small sprigs of greenery at a time, two or 3 leaves on a stem. Cut away any stray stems that look unsightly
Step 5 – Arrange your base greenery
Push the sprigs of greenery into the base oasis until you can no longer see the oasis.
Step 6 – Select your flowers
We decided to go for two colours within our arrangements, but you can use more colours or just one colour in yours, it is entirely up to you.
Step 7 – Secure the top oasis
Carry your arrangement back over to the sink and whilst holding the trunk of the arrangement push the second oasis ball onto the top of the sticks. Don’t worry about the water coming out of the oasis, this is normal – just make sure you have a towel to hand!
Step 8 – Add the flowers
Now you can start adding the flowers to the ball. You don’t need a huge stem on the flowers, about an inch (2.5cm) will do. The aim is for the top to be spherical, so depending on how round your oasis is, you might have to push some flowers in more than others.
Step 9 – Keep adding
Keep adding flowers and greenery until you can no longer see the oasis ball beneath. Don’t forget the underneath of the top ball, it is a good idea to stand back and look at your arrangement from all angles to make sure you don’t have any bald spots.
Step 10 – Stand back and admire!
And there you have it, a beautiful flower arrangement that costs under a tenner to produce, now all you have to do is decide who to give it to.
Until next time…
Amanda x
