Now that things have settled down (a little) I'm excited to share some of the fun "projects" I've been working on. To start, I spent a weekend in Davisburg, Michigan for The Makers and Doers Festival (formally called A Weekend In The Country). I held a series of live workshops, including one dedicated to creating simple, budget friendly, fall centerpieces. Each centerpiece was made of produce/flowers from the grocery store, clippings from the yard and things most of us already have laying around the house.
My "Five Minute Fall Centerpiece-in-a-Tote", was the most popular among the attendees. It's very easy to put together and makes a big statement. Especially if you make two. Using grocery store flowers and a basket or tote you already have around the house makes it inexpensive enough that even making a pair is still easy on the wallet. Since it was such a hit at the festival, I thought I'd share the tutorial here as well.
What you will need:
-A small, inexpensive vase
-An attractive storage tote or basket (my striped storage tote came from Hobby Lobby)
-A dinner plate
-A large bouquet (or two small bouquets) of grocery store flowers
-Curly willow branches or branches from your backyard
-A handful of plastic grocery bags
The simple steps:
1. The first step is to place the dinner plate in the bottom of the basket or tote. This provides a nice sturdy, level base for the centerpiece and will also catch any incidental water drips.
2. Next, fill your vase with water (and any vitamins included in your flower bouquet). Then place inside the tote, resting it on top of the dinner plate.
3. To help keep the vase from tipping over and to keep the tote looking full and plump, plastic grocery bags tucked in around the vase will do the trick.
4. The next step is to add your flowers. I simply unwrap the flowers, trim them to the height of my vase and set them into the vase. If you would like to take the bouquet and re-arrange the flowers, you could, but most of the time I find it's not necessary. Sometimes, if the bouquet is on the small side I will use two bouquets.
5. The last step is to add a little height to the arrangement. I used curly willow branches that I found in my grocery store floral dept. These can be used over and over again. If you can't find curly willow branches at your grocery store, branches from a tree or bush in your backyard could work also.
What makes this arrangement such a high impact element is the size and height of the arrangement, the eye-catching, black and white stripes and the interesting texture of the canvas tote. If you don't have a canvas tote, you could use woven basket (like I did with this centerpiece). Baskets are also a great way to create an eye-catching piece, and most of us have one available.
Taking advantage of the grocery store floral department is a convenient and budget friendly way to incorporate fresh flowers in your home. Whether your entertaining, decorating for the seasons or just need a little visual pick-me-up. Last year, I made a large fall centerpiece using a similar approach with flowers from the front yard (click here for details).
Better get back to the design studio. Thanks for stopping by!
For information on my affordable online design service please click here.
All photos credit to Sarah Macklem of The Yellow Cape Cod, unless otherwise marked.
L.O.V.E. your style. You got it goin' on, my friend. Very pretty! And simple.
ReplyDeleteThank you! xo
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