It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Are you ready for your holiday guests? I’m furiously working to decorate for the annual Thanksgiving feast. I get so many questions about my arrangements…”how did you do that!?!?” is usually the first question they ask. It made me think I should put together a post to show everyone the basic concepts of floral design and how to apply them to centerpieces.

If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably read our recent posts on How to Dry Hydrangeas for Crafting and How to Dry Sunflowers.

Today we’ll build the foundations for YOU to start making your own stunning centerpieces at home! Take a Look at what we’ll be showing you how to make today:

I’m just absolutely delighted with how this center piece turned out! This is decidedly a fall themed centerpiece but I think if you took out or replaced the dried glass corn you could use this arrangement pretty much year round. I used dried sunflowers, dried hydrangeas and dried glass corn for the floral pieces (but you can use faux flowers from your local craft store).

Again, If you are interested in learning how to dry these flowers be sure to check out two articles I have on the subject: How to Dry Hydrangeas and How to Dry Sunflowers. I’m working on a post for how to grow and dry the glass corn right now.

If you don’t think you’ll be interested in growing your own glass corn you can find dried glass corn at your local specialty food grocery store. If you live in Washington state you can look at Haggens in the fall for them. You can also find them on Ebay if you don’t have a store that sells them in your area. You can use flowers from your garden or store bought flowers and dry them using the step by step tutorials in our articles mentioned abov.

Okay, let’s get started!

{Basic Principals of Floral Arrangements}

There’s just a handful of concepts that you’ll want to grasp when making your own arrangements at home but they are simple to implement. When making your own arrangements start with at least three floral elements. In the example I am showing you here today the three elements would be hydrangeas, sunflowers & glass bead corn.

|Thrillers, Fillers, Spillers|

This is a concept best illustrated with an EXTREME container gardening example. With every arrangement you’ll want to have at least three floral elements that can fit into each of the following categories:

The “thriller” is the floral element that gives the arrangement height and grabs the viewers attention. The “fillers” are the more compact floral elements that fill in the arrangement. The “spillers” actually spill over the vessel and add visual interest lower in the arrangement.

Combined, these elements make those beautiful arrangements you see at weddings & events. When you’re starting out making your own arrangements make sure you have a floral element that can fit into each of these categories. As you become more comfortable you can add more “thrillers” & “fillers” to make your arrangement even more spectacular (like the picture above)!

|Choosing Colors|

When your choosing colors think about the season, the event & the mood you want to convey to the viewers of your arrangement. To start off use complementary colors, contrasting colors or monochromatic colors. Use the colors of the season like red/green/white/silver for Christmas or orange/yellow/brown/white for Thanksgiving.

When purchasing flowers or plants put all of your selections together and make sure that they fit into one of the categories above. When you become more versed you can branch out into bolder designs & colors.

|Adding Texture|

Texture, (in my opinion) is what separates a good arrangement from a GREAT arrangement. To incorporate some textures think of curly willow branches, cattails, dried florals & feathers. These items can usually add to your ‘thriller’ category. You can also get texture from choosing a unique vessel like a rusty galvanized bucket or a hallowed out real pumpkin.

All of the concepts we’ve spoken about above are meant to draw the eye from top to bottom and create a visual feast! Now that you have a basic understanding of what goes into selecting materials, colors & texture let’s start making this beautiful piece!

Supply List:

Sharp Pruners
Floral Foam
Flameless Candles
Sharp Knife
Dried Hydrangeas (or craft store purchased faux hydrangeas)
Dried Sunflowers in various sizes (or craft store purchased faux sunflowers)
Dried Glass Bean Corn (from EBAY or local specialty food stores like Haggens)

{1}{Gather Your Materials}

{2}{Pick Your Vessel: Round vs. Square}

Before you purchase or pick out a vessel you’ll want to think about the space where it will live. If we’re talking about a dining table you’ll want to pick something that will fit the shape of your dining table. If you have a small round table then pick a round vessel (like the round galvanized tub in the back of the photo or the pitcher/mason jars in the foreground). If you have a long oval or rectangular table then pick a longer piece to span the length of the dining table.

{3}{Place Foam and Flame-less Candles Inside Vessel}

For this center piece I chose a long wooden box I purchased from an estate sale. My dining table is a a long oval shape so this long rectangular box or a round vessel would have worked best. The box was deeper than I would have liked so I used 2X4 scrap pieces to give my flame-less candles more height. Using a sharp knife I then cut floral foam to fit inside the free spaces between the flame-less candles.

Flame-less candles are best for almost all floral applications to avoid accidentally setting your arrangement on fire. I absolutely LOVE the large set of flame-less candles I’m using for this project. They are completely adjustable and programmable….from the type of flame to the amount of time the candle is on. I love the remote control because I don’t have to lift up each individual candle and flip the switch off.

EVEN more amazing is the low price. I was completely floored when I saw them on Amazon and compared prices with the big box retailers. It’s really the best value I’ve found. I use them year round and I’d consider them a staple of my decor. If you don’t have a set already, take a moment to check them out on Amazon:

{4}{Start Arranging}

Every arrangement is different in how you will approach the assembly of the floral components but for our purposes today I’m starting with the large dried sunflowers. I started with the large sunflowers because they are the eye catching center of this center piece. I want to make sure that I give them their rightful place. I want to ensure proper spacing between each large sunflower.

Using sharp pruners I cut the flower stems to an appropriate length. When you make your cut be sure to cut the flower stem at an angle so you have a sharp point to pierce the foam with. I then place the large sunflowers in the foam and fill in the space underneath with dried hydrangeas. I then place smaller dried sunflowers on top of the hydrangeas. It’s starting to come together!

Keep filling in hydrangeas and sunflowers until the container is completely filled. Then you pepper the arrangement with glass bead corn.

{5}{Clean up & Enjoy!}

I hope that you enjoyed this DIY centerpiece & feel inspired to take on your own flower arrangements with a basic foundation to build off of! If you enjoyed what we do here then I hope you consider joining the thousands of subscribers who read our periodic emails. You can join our email list by scrolling to the bottom of this page and leaving us your email!