Crazy Easy Front Step Bouquet

Over the years, I’ve collected a few odd floral stems and have used them in various arrangements both here at home and at work to brighten up an otherwise boring workspace. I have them sorted in plastic totes by season and generally dive into them as I need to for any holiday gathering we might be having. My friends and family will tell you I LOVE a pretty table so having this stuff on hand is useful.

Now, if you don’t have this sort of thing handy, let me assure you all is not lost. For a few dollars (I’m going to say under $15) you can probably find 8-10 stems or 1 or 2 larger bunches that will work. Put that 40% off Michael’s or Joann coupon to work and hit their lower-end flower section. The Dollar store has flowers too if that’s more your preference. Either way, If you intend to set this outside like I did, you can invest in the less expensive flowers. They could get wet depending on where you set them, so don’t bankrupt yourself on really expensive ones. Heck, go with plastic if you want to! Trust me when I say from the curb, no one will know the difference! Well, I suppose if you choose something in a really wild color not seen in nature they might, but I say forge on! Let your color shine!

I also had a really cheap glass vase stashed in with my floral stuff that I picked up at Goodwill a while back so, I grabbed that as well. Here’s why. That scrappy little pine tree I use for the holidays sits in a cute little Country French pot and I needed something taller to stuff the flowers into. Everything I had was long stemmed but easily manipulated.

I should note here that while the plastic container at left looks like a lot of flowers, there were really only about 10 stems in there plus a bunch of ivy and a sprig of berries. You can see from the photo I tend to just bend the stems to the length I need rather than cut them off. Good thing since I had to straighten most of them out to make this particular arrangement.

To recap to this point, here’s what you will need for this project. Remember it DOES NOT need to look exactly like mine . Your choice of containers and flowers is entirely your own and I bet whatever you do will be fabulous!

Supply List:

• 1 or 2 containers – I used a cheap glass vase inside a 6 inch pot, but you can certainly go with a larger, sturdy vase if you have it and skip the pot.
• 8-10 floral stems of your choosing
• rocks – for weight really but they also add interest
• ribbon, raffia, etc – optional if you have it. Just remember if this is going outside, it could get wet so choose something outdoor-friendly. Also, birds LOVE ribbon and raffia, so be prepared for it to go missing…just sayin’

Alrighty then! Once I had all my supplies gathered together, I started assembly. My little white pot is just that. Little. All on its own, it doesn’t weigh all that much and since it no longer had the tree in it AND I was adding in a glass vase, I added several river rocks that I had leftover from a fountain project. That reminds me…I need to redo that too…

For this part you need to be a little careful. I initially set the vase in the pot and started adding the rocks but didn’t hold it in place. This resulted in the vase getting scooted over to one side with a definite list. Since I wasn’t going for the leaning tower, I plucked the rocks out and tried again. This time I held the vase in place. You want to add the rocks a little at a time carefully so they don’t smash into the glass and break it. I kept adding rocks until the vase was surrounded. It weighs enough I am reasonably certain it won’t tip over if it gets windy.

Add the fleurs…

Now the fun part. Just start sticking the flowers into the vase. I had even numbers of each of my flower stems, which sort of makes using the rule of threes a challenge, but trust me, once you start adding the stems one at a time. your composition will come together. Honestly, I didn’t really have anything specific in mind. I had 4 roses, 2 hydrangea-type stems, a couple of taller purple stems, the two orchids and that bunch of ivy and berries.

I added the two orchids first, then the hydrangeas, taller purple flowers and finally the roses wherever they seemed to fit. The stems were bent to shorten things up where I needed it. As you do your arrangement, you’ll see where the gaps are, and if they’re not obvious to you, take a step or two back and look at it from a couple of different angles. The gaps will be obvious then, and you can then add whatever else you want to fill in.

Once you have everything in the vase, don’t be afraid to wiggle things around to bring some buds forward and push others to the back. Bend and manipulate your stems so they look natural and give the overall arrangement a less “constructed” look. I like to let some flowers droop a little here and there where I need them to poke through the greenery.

The last thing I added in was that bunch of ivy and berries. The pot was looking a little stark so I jammed the stem of the ivy into the rocks and then tucked the berries in along one side. A little fluff of the ivy and it looked done to me! See below for the before and after.