Terrific Tuesdays: The Non-Floral Decor

Happy Tuesday Lemonheads! Today I am going to share a non-floral design that is so totally easy, anyone can do it! So, let’s go!

So first, gather your supplies:

• floral foam for dry or artificial arrangements
• container
• wire snips
• 2 – 3 different artificial or dried grasses
• items to add weight to your container (I used glass stones I had on hand)
• items to add interest to your arrangement (I used some orange seed pods)

First, weight your container with some type of marbles, stones, etc. This part won’t show, so try to find something you already have laying around your house.

Next, fill the rest of your container with foam. You can make the foam come above the top of the container, if you want a little downward angle for your (non) florals. This technique helps give a spillover effect to your arrangement.  I didn’t do this because I wanted to showcase my container as well as my design, so I made the foam level with the top of my container. Don’t be scared to try new techniques…The worst that could happen would be that you would have to start your arrangement over. Be brave and fearless my lemonheads!

Make sure to tape your foam into your container for security.

I purchased bunches of artificial foliage for my arrangement. To get more bang for my buck and to make my arrangement not look clumpy, I cut each stem off of the bunch. Use good wire cutters for this task.

Now, start with the placement of your accent pieces. This is kind of the bones or skelton of your arrangment. My accent pieces are my orange pods and my wavy foliage. Place in odd numbered placements. I placed my orange pods in 5 different places in the arrangement. You could also place them in 3s or 7s. Make sure each placement packs enough umph. Don’t put just one pod in each placement. Put enough to make a statement and so that they don’t get lost in the other foliage.

Now it is time to fill in with your other foliage. Try to evenly place it to fill in any holes you may have. A good practice I was taught in my floral design classes is to step about 5 – 10 feet away from your arrangement to study it and get a big picture view of it. Most people will be viewing your finished arrangement from 5 -10 feet away so you should too.

I use this frequently as I create any arrangement. An arrangement can look so different up close than it does far away.

A term that you will probably see me use when talking about floral arrangments is mechanics. Mechanics are the foam, the tape, floral pins or anything else that makes the arrangment possible, but is not the “beauty” part of the arrangment. It is important to cover your mechanics for a finished look. So, to cover my foam and tape, I used a spanish moss. Mosses are really good to aid you in covering mechanics. I also like to use sheet moss which is green moss you see growing in shady or forest areas.

Now, my arrangment is complete! What do you think of my non-floral arrangement?

Do you think this is something you could do? I think it is. Let me know if you have questions about anything you see here. Have a great rest of your day lemonheads!