Inspiration Calls

Today I had a little too much fun making a flower arrangement for my mother.


But, since I traded blogging time for flower time (and because I am ashamed of how little I've blogged during my time off . . . let's face it, I have too many hobbies these days and even without working there just isn't enough time in the day), I figure . . . why not kill two hobbies with one stone:



Materials:
1. 1 block of floral foam (make sure it's the kind for real flowers)
2. Rectangular container
3. 6 Green Hydrangeas
4. 2 Green Mums (instead of using the mums, you can use 8 hydrangea stems or you can use 8 mums and forgo the hydrangeas)



4. 1 dozen pink, orange or other bright hue of roses (I used pink roses with an orange hue, pictured below)

Directions:

1. Prep the Foam. Soak the floral foam block in water for about 30 minutes (until there are no longer bubbles in the water). If you don't have a floral bucket (or any kind of bucket for that matter), you can close the drain in a bathroom sink, and use the sink to soak the floral foam. Note that floral foam has a tendency to want to float on top of the water, so I usually place something heavy on top of it to keep it under the water (when I'm being lazy about it, I use the actual container that I will but the flowers in to hold the foam down). When the floral foam is properly soaked through, place it securely in the rectangle container

2. Prep the Flowers. Cut the hydrangeas and mums, leaving about 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches of stem. Cut and prep the roses, leaving only 2 inches of stem (make sure to remove all the leaves from the rose stems).

3. Arrange the Frame. In starting with the outer layer, place the hydrangeas around the edges of the container, on a 30 degree angle (as pictured below, the stems should be inserted into the sides of the floral foam towards the bottom of the foam). peel off the leaves that will be on the "top" side of the hydrangeas (leaves should only be at the bottom of the arrangement)

The shorter side of the rectangle should each have one hydrangea, and the longer, is arranged in the following order: hydrangeas, mum, hydrangea (of course, if you choose to use the same type of flower around the edges, any order will do).

4. Add Rows of Roses. Once the frame is complete, start arranging the roses in three rows (each row should have 4 roses). Try to keep the smaller roses in the center and the larger ones on end. Since the roses will not likely all be the same size, you may want to do some adjusting and trading places until it looks right.

5. Present. Find the perfect place for your arrangement, and if you are like me, take tons of pictures of the arrangement when the flowers are fresh...this way the flowers last forever:)