Tuesday, January 4, 2011

my fave way to arrange flowers. cheap, inexpensive, recycled arrangement.


The weather in toronto last week was strangely warm.  
All of the snow melted, and it felt like spring was here.  
It's still the first week of January, and we have new snow now, but mentally i have moved on.  

So i treated myself to a $4 bouquet of white chrysanthemums. (mums for short)
 I rummaged around my apartment for all of the glass containers I could find.  They include a wine carafe, pop bottle, homemade pickle jar, spice jars and vintage vases & perfume bottles.

 After filling all the jars with water, I began by placing flowers into the smaller jars first.  I wasn't sure if I would use all of the vases, so I started with my favourites. 
 After making sure all the vases had flowers, I set them on the table - beginning with the largest ones, then fanning out with the smaller ones.
 Play with the arrangement of vases until you are pleased with it. 
 And voila! your table looks pretty and ready for spring.
Random tips:
Mums like to be broken with a tear, rather than slicing the bottom like you would a rose.
If your florist doesn't give you any "flower food" you can add a little sugar to the water in the vase.
Remove any leaves that would be below the surface of the water - they will rot very quickly.
Bunch flowers together with an elastic near the bottom - they will spread more evenly.

Variations:
Different sizes of tin cans
Wrapping coloured ribbon on the vases
Mixing different types of flowers would be really pretty
Add food colouring to the water - the jars will have more colour, and eventually the white flowers will drink the coloured water and change the flower heads.  Beautiful and fun for kids to learn about plants.

Have fun!

12 comments:

  1. This looks so pretty, really simple and chic, I love these photos!
    From Carys of La Ville Inconnue

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  2. That is really nice looking! :)

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  3. That turned out just lovely. I hope I get a chance to do this once the spring time sun comes streaming in.

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  4. Love, love, love, love , love it!!

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  5. so so pretty!

    yeah wasn't the weather crazy warm last week? strange.

    it would be sooo fun to be a model for even a minute, hehe. i just might take you up on the offer. your photography is great!

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  6. I sure do love this arrangement! Mums are some of my favorite!

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  7. Makes me want to sit at a small rounded table outside a cafe eating a panini sandwich.

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  8. Oh I love this! Super pretty. So much inspiration here. :)

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  9. Cute idea Mel. I would love to see this with the food coloring as well.
    Good tips.

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  10. Great idea. This does make me think of spring and I can't wait til then. Here in Michigan it is cold, so I am ready for Spring and flowers. thank you for sharing.

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  11. Hi im in need of some of these glass bottles etc for my wedding in August, I live in the uk.. any thoughts would be great im looking high and low and just cant seem to find any.. i can always buy and ship

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  12. anonymous -
    most of these were already in my house - maybe you could just ask friends and family to save their recycling for you?
    jam jars, sauces, spices, etc...
    otherwise i found the vintage perfume bottles at a flea market.
    hope that helps :)

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thank you for leaving a comment! i love to know what you think :)

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