Whether you’re cutting flowers from your garden or picking up a pretty bunch of blooms from your local florist, here are a few “vase hacks” that will take your summertime arrangements to a whole new level!
New or vintage, I think colanders make great containers for fresh, farm-to-table-looking arrangements.
First, choose a variety of colorful garden flowers with different textures.
The sunflower has been adopted as a symbol of happiness, strength, a love of the sun and sunlight. Because the sunflower always turns its face to the sun, it has also come to symbolize faith and the constant search for light, or enlightenment. Everybody loves sunflowers!
Here are a few ways to incorporate the irresistible beauty and warmth of the sunflower into your next summer get-together.
For an updated twist on a traditional centerpiece, an assortment of vintage-style green and yellow bottles, each holding a single sunflower, are lined down the center of the table creating a garden of sunflowers with their faces looking up to the sun!
Sunflowers come in many different colors and sizes—from mini to giant. Our super-size sunflower placemats make a big impact and are easy to make!
Cut one cardboard circle for each placemat. (This is a good use for old cardboard boxes!) Each circle should be about 10″. I used a dinner plate as a template to trace a circle onto the cardboard, which worked perfectly. Use the sponge to add brown paint to your circle, leaving a bit of the original cardboard color showing through to create a textured look for your sunflower center.
Cut all of the salal leaves from the stem and spray paint them yellow. Once they have dried, glue the wider end of the larger sized leaves to the edge of the cardboard circle.
Glue the smaller leaves between each of the larger leaves.
With fresh salal leaves, the sunflower placemats can be made a day or two before you plan to use them. Keep them flat and in a cool place.
Keep your floral varieties classic, such as roses and orchids, and use just one variety per arrangement and mass it out for maximum impact.
To design in a large shell simply place a piece of saturated floral foam in the opening of the shell, cut the floral stems short and insert into the floral foam until the entire opening is filled with flowers. Continue Reading…
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the “Summer of Love,” I have been bringing “Flowers to the People”! It has been so much fun sharing the joy that flowers and plants bring into people’s life. Here are a few images of a couple of the events that I was a part of!
Every year for the last few years, 1-800-Flowers.com has participated in Nurse’s Appreciation activities at Winthrop Hospital. It’s a chance to say thank you for all the hard work that these professionals do every day to take care of those in need. It takes a special person to give so much of themselves. And it takes so little to say thank you!
This year, in honor of the Summer of Love, we created a DIY Flower Crown bar. We demonstrated the various techniques used to make floral crowns from the very simple to the more complicated. Flower crowns are so popular now that everyone was thrilled to learn a little something to be able to make their own or just to get ideas and inspiration for upcoming showers, birthday parties, weddings, etc. Continue Reading…
Fourth of July celebrations (and decorations) are the best! Whether you’re celebrating America’s birthday with friends and family on the beach or in your backyard, here are some easy ways to add little patriotic touches of red, white and blue with these fun DIY floral 4th of July decoration ideas!
Seriously, is there anything you can’t do with a few mason jars? I took three small, clear mason jars and painted them in a stars and stripes tribute to Old Glory. One stem of blue hydrangea in each and you have a beautiful, fun, inexpensive centerpiece. You could paint a couple more while you’re at it and use them to hold cutlery or straws, or even tea lights, creating a festive look for evening festivities.
Are you planning a summer celebration or simple get together? Whether it’s a backyard barbecue, picnic in the park, or pool party, flowers can make it an event to remember. Here are some examples of my favorite summer styles and themes from French Country to Coastal Living and Poolside Cabana with a little American Farmer’s Market and Tropical Paradise thrown in for good measure!
The French Country style of decorating, with its warm and casual feel, will easily fool your guests into thinking that they’re dining al fresco in the fields of Provence. The easiest way to create this look is to use rustic, Old World style containers brimming with fresh cut flowers. The most iconic French flowers that I would recommend using are sunflowers and, if available, fresh lavender. French Country style incorporates the full spectrum of the color wheel: sunny yellow and soft gold, fiery red and burnt rust, bright grass green and dark hunter green, cobalt blue soft ocean tones—all of these shades are found in this wonderful decorating style.
Peonies are one of the most popular cut flowers. The only problem is that they are very seasonal and readily available for only a few weeks each spring. Do you think the limited availability adds to their charm?
Their exquisite beauty and limited availability might lead you to think that they would need special care and handling. They don’t. The basic fresh cut flower care steps are all a peony needs to thrive.
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Graduation truly is a time to sparkle and shine—and using gold in your party décor will also put you right on trend. Gold is everywhere these days and in many different ways: foil, leaf, glitter, tassel, etc. Here are a few easy ways to make your graduation the one that outshines the rest!
Duct tape, you’ve come a long way! One of the simplest ways to customize and add some pizzazz to your centerpieces is to wrap a piece of gold duct tape around the vase and write a message on the tape. This gold duct tape is actually dry-erase as well—what could be easier! Continue Reading…
Spring is here and Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Have you started to think about how you can show mom just how much you love her and how special she is? Hosting a Mother’s Day wine tasting is a fun way to spend time with mom for you to enjoy the holiday together!
The planning and preparation can be as much fun as the event itself! Getting together with a few of your and moms friends to plan a Mother Daughter Wine Tasting party, makes for a great girls day and for a guaranteed good time. In addition to the mother/daughter ideas, a Mother’s Day wine tasting for the whole family (21 and older of course!), can be equally as fun!
A rustic, natural Napa Valley-inspired wine tasting can make for the perfect setting to incorporate so many of the most popular trends: burlap, chalkboard, mason jars, monograms and Made in America.
Blooming or flowering plants are a great gift to give Mom on Mother’s Day. Creating a personalized planter in which to display the plants makes it an even better gift! Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to do just that.
I picked up this rectangular wooden planter in a national craft store (and of course used one of their weekly 40%-off-any-item coupons) and the wooden letters (that were in the clearance aisle)! Next, I chose the yellow daffodil plant to complement the lettering.
