Instructions for a Beautiful Floral Centerpiece for the Holidays

I do not consider myself to be a floral designer, so, imagine my surprise when I was asked to do a floral centerpiece on my last trip to Bentonville with the Walmart Moms!  While I was a bit frustrated at first, I got the hang of it, and my creation came out beautifully!

My floral centerpiece: the one on the left!

 I am so confident that the technique can be done by anyone, I tried it again when I got home with flowers and final touches that were perfect for the holidays.

First, you'll need to gather all the supplies for this project.  They include:

• A large pitcher, vase, or other large, clear container
• Several bouquets of flowers and additional green filler
• Beautiful fruits, pebbles, or other eye-catching items to place in the bottom of your container
• A block of  "wet" floral foam -(must say "wet" on package)
• A smaller container that will nest in the top of the large container (and hold the foam)
• Scissors
• Patience!

1. To begin, fill your large vase or container with your eye-catching items.  I used two bags of cranberries to fill my clear amber glass pitcher.  (If you have a very large container, consider putting a small glass in the center and just fill around it.)

2.  Next, you'll want to cut the wet floral foam down to a size that will fit into your smaller container.  The foam will go inside the small container, and the small container will set in the top of your larger container.  In Bentonville, we used small, clear storage containers, but I needed a larger one for this particular pitcher.  I used a whipped topping container, then wrapped it in holiday wrapping paper so that it wasn't obvious I was recycling!  (You may want to use dental floss or fishing wire to cut your foam -- less messy!)  You will also want to be sure the floral foam is wet or has had a chance to soak some additional time in water before you use it!

3.  Now that your large container is full, and the smaller container is nested inside, you can put flowers in your floral foam!  Make sure that your stems are stripped of leaves, except for the very ends, and that you cut them about 6" in length with a diagonal cut (scissors work well).

4.  Start placing the stems into the floral foam, starting with one center point and placing each stem carefully. (If you mess up, it's best to leave the flower where it's at.  The foam will start to crumble if you make too many holes in one spot.)  You will want to keep turning the container, placing stems in the barest spots.

5.  Now, you can add green "filler."  Since my area of the country didn't have any large roses at my local Walmart, I used small, thinner flowers.  This required me to use lots more green filler, and most everything in my yard was dead for the year!  (Normally, I would have used leaves from around the farm.)  My husband found two bushes that were still green, and we "pruned" them for their leaves.  We then used these and some cattails as the filler to cover the bare spots and help give the arrangement more body!

You're done!  We considered adding a bow to help tie the covered whipped topping container into the pitcher, but we were able to position the flowers in such a way as to cover it up almost entirely.  (Even if you use the clear plastic storage container, you'll want to hide it as much as possible.)

Isn't it beautiful?

While we used our favorite amber pitcher and bought more affordable flowers to save money, you most certainly can buy every item you need at your local Walmart.  Work with what you find for an even more creative design!  (And thanks to my husband who used his time in the floral industry to help his wife "even out" her design....)

*I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation for my time on this post. Participation in this program is voluntary. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.