The only thing I can craft

One of the things that kept me so busy this week is that I helped host a shower for my good friend Mindy that is having a destination wedding this Fall.  And when I say “helped host” this is my only contribution.

I do love doing flowers and it was really fun to do this arrangement.  I typically don’t work with foam because I am not doing large arrangements anymore, but it was really fun to get to do this one.  I actually miss being creative in this way.  I may need to help host more parties. Ha!

I did a step-by-step for you guys because it really is doable, especially for you crafty types.  All of this was done for about $45 (not including the container).

Items Needed:

- 2 bricks of Floral Foam – it needs to be wet foam specifically for fresh flowers (it looks really similar to the dry foam).  You can get this at Michael’s, Walmart or Hobby Lobby.

- Container – I got mine at Hobby Lobby while we had the flower business when they had a 1/2 off sale for about $13

- Wet floral tape – You can get this at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.  (This just keeps your foam in the container.  If you wedge it tight enough, it isn’t necessary.)

Flowers (all from Sam’s):

- One bunch of leather leaf – $4

- One bunch of seeded eucalyptus – $6

- 5 stems of white lilies $7

- 5 stems of white snapdragons – $7

- 1 large bunch of white spray roses – $15

First, soak the floral foam for about 30 minutes in warm water.  Then place into your container.  I like to tape mine in there so that it doesn’t move around.  Also, my foam was way too high, so I cut it with a knife to leave only about three inches of foam over the top of the container.

The next step is to add the leather leaf to the foam. You just stick it right in there.  It is actually pretty fun!

Men are funny.  Tommy told me I didn’t even need to add flowers. It looked pretty like this.

The next step is to add your flowers.  I started with the lilies.  I placed one in the center of the container and then put the other four facing upward around the “four corners” of the container.

Note, you do have to cut quite a bit of stem off the lilies. 

The next step was to add the snapdragons.  I just added them in between the lilies.

The arrangement is still looking pretty sad.  Don’t let that discourage you.  We still have plenty more to add!

Next, I added the spray roses to fill in throughout.  I wanted full size roses, but Sam’s was out.  I improvised and got spray roses (just tiny clumps of roses on one stem) instead and it was definitely a blessing in disguise.

Ah, much better.  But it still needs a little something else.  This is where I went back in and added the seeded eucalyptus.

I was happy with the finished arrangement. (Isn’t it amazing the difference that extra greenery made?) It took about 40 minutes to arrange total and would definitely be a significant savings over what a florist would charge. 

The one thing about flowers, too, is that they don’t photograph as beautiful as they are in person.  So imagine this a little prettier :).

That evening at the shower everyone thought they were artificial, so I took that as a compliment!