DIY Creative Floral Arrangements: Part One

Hello, blog friends! Today is the first post of a five week series on how to create your own fresh floral arrangements...on a budget. Using a little creativity, you can make stylish, unique, and modern arrangements with grocery store flowers and items you already have around your home...and I'm going to attempt to tell you how! (Yes, I do realize that I just sounded like an infomercial....it must have been all those advertising classes in college....)

I chose to share this with you all because it's something that makes me so happy, and I really believe that fresh flowers are one of the most important elements to making your house feel like a home. I chose to get creative and only use items I had around my house to make these floral arrangements. There really is no need (in my opinion) to spend a ton on something that will only last a week or two. I also only purchased flowers that can be found at most grocery stores and super markets. First up is this little beauty:

And here are the steps on how to make it yourself!

STEP ONE: Go to your local grocery store and purchase a few of your favorite flowers. I would recommend getting a large hydrangea for this arrangement. The antique hydrangea I purchased for this project is one of my favorites because it so huge and only costs $6. The other "filler" flowers that I bought are hypericum berries and craspedia, but really you can get whatever you like. I didn't use the violet flowers for this project...I'm saving those for next week :).

STEP 2: Take all of the flowers out of their packaging and place them in a large container of water. If you're going to leave them there for a while, make sure to trim all of the stems about 1 inch with good scissors or floral shears. Save the plant food, you will need it!

The other items you will need for this arrangement are: A clear glass vase (round or square), and a smaller vase that can fit inside the previously mentioned vase (or you can just use a cup or drinking glass, that's what I did). The smaller vase or glass will need to be filled halfway with water.

STEP THREE: Place the smaller vase in the center of the larger vase. Take some sort of "filler" material and begin placing it between the smaller and larger vase. Fill it so that the smaller vase can't move or tip over. I used spanish moss for this because I had some leftover from my patio project, but feel free to use anything you want or have like coffee beans, rice, sand, pebbles, lemon slices, lime slices....you name it, you can use it.

Make sure to pack the spaces between your two vases really tight with whatever filler you choose to use.

Your vase should look something like this when its finished.

STEP FOUR: Pour the plant food into the water of the smaller vase.

STEP FIVE: Pull off any leaves on the flowers that you don't need in the arrangement.

STEP FIVE: Cut the first and most substantial flower you will be using (in my case, the hydrangea) to the same height as the vase. Place the stem (or stems) in the smaller vase. If you are using a hydrangea, you could technically stop at this step because it already looks pretty, but we'll keep going just for fun :).

STEP SIX: Take your "filler" flowers and trim them to a height that's a little taller than the first flower.

STEP SEVEN: Began placing the filler flowers around the arrangement. I like to make a sort of jagged spiral with mine, just to make sure they are all spread evenly. Start by making a circle around the edge of the arrangement, and then keep spiraling your way to the center. Feel free to play around with it, you will know what looks best!

STEP EIGHT: You're finished! Once you have all of your flowers in place, you should have something that resembles the picture below. Make sure to trim off any overhanging flowers and stems, as well as those that are too tall and are sticking out of the arrangement.

Now comes the fun....find a place for it around your home!

I L-O-V-E this little guy. I want him to live forever.

You can even have some more fun with this arrangement and stick it in a fun basket, like this:

Lovely. This is quite possibly one of my favorite arrangements I've ever made and it only took about 10 minutes and $10. The possibilities and combinations are truly endless.

Have fun and make sure to check back next Tuesday for another chic and cheap fresh floral arrangement!

P.S. Chances are, I'm linking this post to a couple of link parties which can be found HERE. Check them out!