Dabbling in Floral Arrangements

Picked and pruned by Rose.

After purchasing our first home, I set out on the mission of decorating it on a budget. Like most first time home owners, we had spent every nickel on the home itself and basic furniture. And now it was time to make it feel cozy and like a home.

Now, if my husband had his way the decor would have closely resembled a fraternity house: bed sheets hung as drapes, empty liquor bottles on the tops of the cabinets... Thank heavens I've been able to get him to abandon those style choices over the years.

Instead, I became an expert at shopping the clearance section of my local home decor stores. Slowly but surely, I began to fill our home with beautiful curtains, pillows, throws and pictures. But there was one clearance deal that seemed to constantly evade me: floral arrangements and wreaths. Even on sale or clearance, these decor items remained quite pricey. Yet my years of crafting gave me the knowledge that making my own arrangements was quite doable.

Beginning with DIY

As I conitnued to go to the home decor stores, I would take pictures of floral arrangements I liked. With pictures in hand, I would then go to a craft store and piece together the arrangement myself. An example is a beautiful fall table centerpiece I found. This was selling for $150.

As I examined the piece, I realized I would need several items:

• Wood box

• Small glass hurricane lamps

• Candles

• Floral foam

• Floral sticks

From my local craft store, I was able to build a similar centerpiece for about $70. This included purchasing the box, hurricane lamps and candles which could be repurposed for other arrangements as well. This could easily be lowered even further by building your own box, and repurposing candles & candle holders you already have in your home. Here's how mine turned out:

Faux Floral Classes

As time went on, I wanted to start taking some classs to elevate my skill level a bit. While centerpieces were easy to "eyeball", I found that making more complicated pieces (like wreaths) had much more technique to them. What's great is there are several in-person and online options of these types of courses. Here are a few places to check out, but also look on the website or socials for locally owned craft stores in youur area.

• Michaels - https://www.michaels.com/classes (In-Person and Online)

• Joann - https://learning.joann.com/ (Online)

• Craftsy - https://www.craftsy.com/ (Online)

Live Floral Arranging

Most recently, I decided to take a floral arranging course at my local florist shop. The store had recently moved to a new location that was on the way to our local library. As I drove by one evening, I noticed in the front window that a class was going on. Later, I checked their website and sure enough, they offer classes! I recruited one of my friends to go with me to create a Thanksgiving Centerpiece.

For $80, the two hour class included all of the live flowers, a cornucopia basket, floral foam and all the tools we would need. A florist took us through the process of creating the arrangement from scratch. In addition we learned wonderful tips like:

• Start with a focal flower or foliage as the feature

• Balance heights and shapes

• Forage and gather unique container options

• Incorporate textural greens like ferns or eucalyptus

• Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun

It was an amazing and fun class, and a great way to get ready for the holiday!

The Final Stem

Floral arranging can be done with a variety of budgets - both money and time. This creative hobby can help you fill your home with faux or live flowers. Now whenever I buy faux or real flowers, I'm inspired to play with colors, textures, and shapes thanks to the tricks I've learned over time. And taking this classes gave me the confidence and skills to create pieces I love.