Flowers for my Mom

I decided to start posting the pictures of the flowers that I’ve been making for my mom.  My mom went to be with Jesus on March 11, 2010.  At first my precious Aunt Kitty started making the flowers for the headstone and the kids and I made the arrangements for the two flower vases.  She is amazing at flower arranging and makes them for my grandparents and they are always beautiful.

Recently, I’ve started making the arrangements.  At first it was emotionally hard.  But I love doing things for my mom and this is another part of that.  This is for her.  Below is the first one I did for Christmas.  The colors may have faded a bit but you can still see the basic design.

I decided to start sharing my designs because it’s so hard to find them on the internet.  Most of these flowers came from the Dollar Store or Hobby Lobby.

Supplies:

Wire saddle bracket

Styrofoam

craft wire

flowers (buy more than you think you need)

pre-made ribbon

greenery with holly berries on long stems

pine cones on long stems

hot glue and glue sticks

enough ribbon to go around your styrofoam base

wire cutters

Directions:

I started with a wire saddle bracket that is made to sit on top of the headstone.  You can get these at Hobby Lobby and a styrofoam base that is at least 12 inches long.  Styrofoam comes in white or green, using green blends in better with the flowers and greenery.  White has a tendency to show through your arrangement.

Make sure the styrofoam covers the top of the saddle bracket.  You can make it as long as you want.  Take craft wire and anchor the styrofoam to the base.  This way when you change out the arrangement, you don’t have to buy a new wire base.

I take a wide ribbon that matches that’s a tall as the styrofoam and hot glue it around the styrofoam.  This covers the raw edges of the styrofoam and gives it a different look.  You could also put in a lot of greenery instead of the ribbon.  It all depends on the look you are going for.

Next I add tons of flowers.  I work from the top center out and then the corners.  I used a mixture of extra-large poinsettias and small poinsettias.  The extra-large ones are in red and the others are a mix of red and white with silver centers.  I also used some greenery with holly berries and silvery-white pine cones that were on long stems for the corners.

I placed a glittery, red ribbon that I wired to a floral stem.  I hot glued it for added protection and then inserted it front and center.  The tails of the bow will hang down when placed on the base.  Lastly I added something personal.  On top I added sprigs of silver music notes.  My mom loved to sing. I also make two smaller matching bouquets for the side vases.  I think you should always add something to make it personal.

When you remove the arrangement and replace it with a new one, you can store them in a labeled Rubbermaid type container for the next year.  Some of the flower colors may fade, but you might can just replace those next year.  Untwist from the saddle bracket and add your new arrangement.