Day Three Hundred Thirty Four: Conversation Starter

I found Martha's Conversation Piece Flower Arrangement a few weeks ago and decided to make it on Sunday.  Take two containers that fit inside one another, and fill the inner container with water and flowers.  Fill the gap in between the two containers with those adorable conversation hearts.  I've tried to capture the gap in this photo.

The finished arrangement is super cute, and quite a...Conversation Piece.

Hardy-har-har.  Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-Nine: Evergreen Centerpiece

It's a truth universally acknowledged that a lady in possession of a table must be in want of a centerpiece.

(Or something like that.  Jane Austen said.)

I was in need of a centerpiece for my party on Saturday so Friday I went to the nursery to choose some evergreen boughs to make Martha's Evergreen Centerpiece.  After I paid $4 for a bundle, I realized that these were just the boughs cut from the Christmas trees.  :sucker:

Martha says the trick is to keep the branches hidden and accentuate the needles. I had a few holes so I tucked in a couple ornaments to keep it full:

I know.  It looks terrible.

I was pretty proud of it until I saw this photo.  It really looks better in person.  :cross my heart:

Day Twenty Eight: RIP Cherry Blossom Branches...

I need a new centerpiece.

I have guests arriving tomorrow and I just can’t pretend that the cherry blossom branches are doing the job anymore. 

I’ve done my penance for the massacre that I inflicted upon those poor, innocent branches.  I’m a reformed person and I promise never to slaughter lovely cherry blossoms again (this year).   

May you rest in peace Cherry Blossom Branches. 

:moment of silence:

Now that I’m out of mourning, I’m thinking I need something happy and cheerful.....yellow! The store only had yellow lilies and tulips so that made the decision easy.

I want to make two arrangements....so they can be separated and moved to our long table at Easter.  That way each end of the table can enjoy some flower-love.

Martha suggests you use tape to support top-heavy flowers in an arrangement.  She also suggests some special care for tulips, which actually grow after they’ve been cut. (As if flower arranging wasn’t hard enough, the flowers have to go and grow after they’ve been placed.)

  

In the process:

This is the result:

As you can see, with one arrangement I sort of stuffed the flowers through the tape and the stems are somewhat...ahem...haphazard.  In the other, I took a little more care with how I inserted the flowers and the stems are nice and neat.   

I’d be pretty satisfied with the way both arrangements turned out IF they looked anything alike.  Apparently I failed simple division in grammar school.  I thought I had divided the flowers evenly, but evidently I was more generous with one group than the other.   :confused look on face:

I can’t complain, though.  These arrangements are a vast improvement from the cherry branches of death.   

May they Rest In Peace and all that.

Day Twenty Two: Window Dressing Your Window Boxes

I love Spring.  I try to enjoy the temperate weather as much as I can before the blistering, miserable heat of Summer arrives.  Spring is when I do all my gardening and planting because Summer is devoted to sitting by the pool sipping on something frosty.

We don't have a ton of space to garden, so a few years ago my hubby bought me these window boxes (Happy Mothers Day!)  Every year I have to get to re-plant them with something different.  Martha gives us lots of tips for successful window boxes and containers. These are the three steps I follow:

Step #1:  Go to the nursery and pick out the plants you think you need.  Buy twice as many.
Step #2:  Cram as many plants as you can into the pot.
Step #3:  Stand back and admire your work.

The resulting window boxes:















So to review:

Lesson #1:
Spring = gardening time
Summer = pool time + frosty beverage

Lesson #2:
Successful Container Garden = cramming twice as many plants as you think will fit into your pot.


Class dismissed.


p.s.
Update:  If you remember my flower arranging attempt, you may be pleased to see that the cherry branches are finally beginning to bloom, and my collection of dead sticks is starting to look more like a collection of dying sticks:

Up close it's not so bad:

If it starts to look anything like Martha's version, I will for sure let you know.

Day Ten: Flower Arranging for the Cowardly

When one thinks of ballsy occupations, many different groups come to mind.  Police officers?  Sure. Firefighters?  Definitely.  Florists?  Never.  But if you've ever tried to buy flowers and build an arrangement, you get a little nervous when the shears come out.

I know.  I have tried many times to buy flowers and create arrangements myself.  My flowers end up looking like I bought wrestled them from a homeless flower-vendor at the off-ramp of the freeway.  The resulting arrangement looks like I rescued it from a wedding-reception that had just been hit by a tornado.

And yet I persist.

Practice makes perfect...and I told you I was a perfectionist.

So today I bought some flowers to make two arrangements:  one for my (newly organized) entryway, and the other for my kitchen table.

Here are the gorgeous yellow flowers (tulips, ranunculus and some other stuff the name of which I can't recall) as well as some cherry branches.

The yellow flowers were for the entryway.  I had several false starts, one of which involved a mis-directed attempt with some tape...

...and after much fussing and some language my mother would not appreciate, this is the result...

Not bad, although if I tried to take off that cute raffia, the whole thing would fall apart.

The cherry branches were another story altogether.  I bought them on the fly because I just couldn't resist them and thought I would just throw them in a large vase and be finished.

Then I came home and looked to Martha for some inspiration.  This is what I found:

After I saw this picture, I had the bright idea to copy this arrangement and cut my beautiful branches (gulp!)  into a similar arrangement...



***Disclaimer***  I am not a florist. I do not work with flowers or other fauna, nor do I claim to have any talent in this area.

These are my beautiful cherry branches:

Comparing the two photos I can see where I went (terribly) wrong...I am currently sitting in front of this centerpiece and am trying to develop an appreciation for its uniqueness.  Consider this attempt #1.  Tomorrow, I will add some flowers from my garden and see if we can't improve it.  If not, I'll just have to fall back on that acting class I took in college...and pretend to like it.