Christmas Floral DIY – Tabletop Centerpiece

Skill level: Easy to Intermediate. This depends on your creativity and your preparation level. While this is an easy project for an amateur floral arranger, this should not be the first flower arrangement you try.

Supplies: Wet Floral foam bricks (about 3), 12″ diameter platter or flat shallow bowl (to hold the arrangement), 2 individual silk poinsettias (white), 2 – 3 blue bead sprays (found in the silk floral section of any craft store), bunches of real Christmas tree branches, dried bare sticks, silver spray paint, spray snow (the flocking kind is best, but any kind will do), pinecones, floral wire or floral pins, one 10″ tall cylindrical glass vase, wired ribbon of choice (pictured: burlap 3″ wide ribbon).

Before Arranging

I started out determining how big I wanted the arrangement and found a platter (from Dollar Tree) that would hold the foam to hold the arrangement. To determine how tall you want the arrangement, prearrange your piece. To prearrange: cut and arrange your foam on the plate/bowl while dry, then put the vase in the center on top of the foam, then put your bare sticks in your vase. At this point, you may want to cut them or break them apart to get them to the height you want them to be. Then take it apart and start preparing the foam.

My wet foam has been used, but because these are woody branches complete with sticky sap, I felt okay reusing some of the better looking older pieces. If this were a delicate floral display,  I would have gone for new floral foam. If you don’t know how to use floral foam this article can help. Make sure you soak your foam before doing this arrangement–I soaked mine overnight.

Something else you can do beforehand is spray your bare sticks.  After getting your sticks to the height you want them, spray paint them (I’ve picked a silver spray paint from my local craft store) on all sides of the sticks, making sure to let them dry between coats. Follow instructions on the paint can. You can also spray your canned snow on branches when the paint is completely dry. I also take this time to spray my pinecones with spray snow. I let everything sit in a dry area overnight.

Arranging Centerpiece

The Christmas tree branches are the base of this arrangement, so I use them to cover up the foam and  to make the bulk of the arrangement.  Because I know I am going to have a vase in the center and ribbon going through the center, I’m not putting branch pieces there. Instead, I loop my burlap ribbon in a way I find pleasing that moves through the arrangement. I cut the amount of ribbon I need, design my loops, then use floral pins or floral wire to hold the ribbon in place: first I stick the pins wire through the ribbon, then  I stick my loop creation into the foam. If I don’t like the way it looks, I can twist and fluff the ribbon (because the ribbon itself is wired) to the shape I want it.

After my ribbon is in place, I loop a wire through my pine cones and stick my wired pinecones around the arrangement, covering bare spots. I even put one in the bottom of the glass vase to “cover” that see through area. Then, I cut my bead sprays and stick them and my poinsettias into the floral foam. I’ve wired a few mini snowmen as well and put them into the arrangement.

Before the arrangement gets too heavy, I put it on my decorated table. I place the vase in the middle and add my sprayed sticks. Finally, I add small pieces of Christmas tree branch in any bare spots for a full natural arrangement.

Lessons Learned:

• My Deal of the Day Spray Snow (see it here) gave me just enough to create the frosty pinecones  for my centerpiece. If I had a bigger project or needed this for multiple projects, I would have gone with a better brand.
• Make sure to spray your arrangement’s greenery every few days to keep it from drying out. If you use a shallow bowl or a platter that has a high edge (like mine), you can also put water in the dish to keep the foam wet and the greenery alive. Do not put water in your vase,  or spray your pinecones. Spray snow tends to run when wet.