I love the holidays – the Martha Steward style holidays that is. I like it to be pretty, and for all of my projects to turn out like her’s. I think it goes without saying that – that never happens. I have a track record that resembles more or less a miss, a miss, a miss and a couple of hits. I try not to beat myself up over all the misses, and to celebrate the hits.
Shawna Havenga of The Wild Dahlia demonstrating the intricacies of an arrangement.
Earlier in the week I attended a really fun event…DI-Wine where we were instructed on how to make a holiday centerpiece. Shawna Havenga of The Wild Dahlia gave us some really smart tips on how to create something beautiful and organic looking. Start with greenery, we used lemon leaves, fern, and eucalyptus. Frame out the highest and widest points within your vase or base. We used a floral foam to ensure the flowers and greenery would stay exactly where we intended them to be. These two tips really set the stage. Shawna also recommended stripping the stem of the flowers and ferns to decorate the base and cover the foam – any additional bald spots can be covered in moss. Perhaps my favorite new insight is to loosen the petals to open the roses, giving it a really natural, pretty look.
Sylvie and Tiffany celebrating the season with me.
I am very proud of the arrangement I was able to make, though it is a little more structured than Shawna might approve of, and one of the benefits of having an unstructured arrangement is undoubtably the cost – a little less expensive than the arrangement I created.
My creation.
This got me thinking what fun it would be to have party posies that I could bring as hostess gifts. Flowers are always welcome, those that come in their own little vase, jelly jar, or tin, are an instant hit. They require a little planning, you aren’t going to pull them out of a drawer and tie a ribbon around it and go, but its for this reason, that they will be appreciated that much more.
A perfect posey in a little vase be the bell of the ball!
Happy Holidays.