Hello friends…I hope you had a nice weekend.
It’s the start of a new month which means it’s time for another Michaels Makers challenge. For this month our friends at Michaels asked us to go back to class.
Did you know Michaels offers free classes in their stores? You can try out a new craft skill for just the cost of supplies, or explore your creativity by trying out a craft kit. Michaels has everything from sewing kits to art kits and everything in between.
While I have made my own flower arrangements before, I decided to try one of their free flower arrangement classes to learn from the pros and see what new tips and tricks I could pick up. To make it even more fun, I brought my daughter along and it provided the perfect excuse to have a little mother/daughter date, which I just loved.
Bella wants to change her room decor again (I wonder where she gets that from?) and expressed an interest in having corals and mint, so we decided to make an arrangement using those colors. I love that the instructor walked around the flower department with us and helped us choose the various flowers. Sometimes coordinating flowers is a little tricky, so I found this very helpful.
Here are some of the tips and tricks we learned from the floral specialist at Michaels.
1. Prepare your Vessel
Cut the dry floral foam to fit snugly inside your pot, letting the foam rise about an inch above the top edge. In this case, we used a little concrete planter from Michaels and glued some foam oasis to the bottom of it. Hot gluing the foam will ensure your arrangement stays in place.
2. Trim your Flowers and Fillers
Tools are important and make your job so much easier, so ensure you have a good pair of cutting pliers.
Pre-trim all of the pieces you plan to use before beginning the arrangement by using the depth of your vessel as a guide for how short or tall to trim your flowers. Make sure to not trim them too short as it’s better to leave them a little longer and trim them as you may need to.
TIP: Cut stems at an angle, which makes it even easier to poke through the foam.
3. Choosing your flowers.
Choose flowers in various sizes and similar hues and at least two focal flowers. Choose smaller flowers to serve as ‘fillers’.
4. Fluff
‘Fluffing’ is the term given for bending and shaping the stems and separating the leaves. It is what will bring your artificial flowers to life and make the arrangement look more realistic.
5. Filler’ up
Do not discard any of your leaves, these serve as the perfect fillers and fill any gaps that need to be covered.
I love how it turned out and I can’t wait to show you how it looks in Bella’s room update.
In the meantime, I’m excited to see what classes my Michaels Makers friends took and what they learned. You can find out with me by visiting them below.
Kiersten says
Time to go find a Michael’s near me! I love the floral tips! Thank you!
Cintia - Sol de Noche {deco crochet} says
Thanks for the tips! Lovely arrangement!
http://soldenochedecocrochet.blogspot.com.ar/
Antonella | White House Crafts says
Such a pretty arrangement! I can’t wait to see your daughter’s room!
pamela says
The flowers look very real, and the arrangement is very sweet.
Be Blessed
Heather says
These are really simple tips! I haven’t tried fluffing my flowers, so I’ll have to try that and see how it affects the look. Thanks for sharing!
Michael says
My fiance and I are getting married in a couple weeks and have yet to decide on what kind of flower arrangements that we want. One thing that you said that I really liked was that you should first decide on some colors that you want to focus on and then decide on which flowers you want because they come in various sizes and hues. I think that she would want sunflowers because she loves how bright and happy they are. Thanks again for the help, and we will make sure to contact a florist once we decide on the colors and flowers we want.
Millie Hue says
I like that you suggested having various sizes and colors for the flowers and adding small ones as fillers. I will keep that in mind when I look for a floral shop next week. This is for the birthday of my mom, and I plan to give her flowers with the colors of the autumn since it is her favorite season.