Floral Friday 3.

In this weeks installment of Floral Friday I will be showing you how to use florists foam.
Readily available from florist suppliers and craft shops, this soft, crumbly foam comes in blocks you can cut easily with a knife.
To begin, cut a piece of foam to size and sit in a container of water to soak. the foam will act as a wick and keep your stems moist. Pop it into your container and top up with water.

 

I cut the flowers to short lengths using scissors and, beginning in the center of the foam, pushed the stem of the flower into the foam.

Working downwards in a circle I continued to push the flowers into the foam building a dome shape.

 

This type off arrangement looks great in multiples or I pushed a cute birthday candle into the foam to make a sweet table centerpiece for a birthday. 

I hope you have enjoyed this little series as much as I have, I'm now hooked on flowers and plan to have them on my desk in the shop all winter long.
X Steph

Floral Friday 2.

Ok, so I know it's no longer Friday but I haven't quite got the hang of scheduling posts yet!
 Following on from last weeks Floral Friday I will be showing you how to use readily available blooms to produce on-trend floral displays giving you some hints and tips along the way.

This weeks design trend is SUCCULENTS.
Succulents are popping up everywhere in garden and floral design, from informal centerpieces to bridal bouquets.

Alongside the blooms and foliage I used last week I also cut some succulents from my little garden to make this cute, textural display

A handy little trick to keeping strong forms within small arrangements is to make little posies, tying them in place them with string or ribbon. By allowing these little bows to show you can also add interest and texture to your arrangements.

  

 I used jute twine to secure the succulents, and using short stems of flowers I made a 'dome' shape which I also tied. Pop these little arrangements into your vase or jar ( I used a sweet little milk jug) and make sure there are no spaces. A snugly packed arrangement will draw attention to the forms you have created rather than the spaces between them, in the same manner keeping to a simple mono-chromatic palette (in this case shades of green) will highlight shape over colour.

 Finish the arrangement with a little bow of ornamental grass around the vessel.
With smaller arrangements you will need to top the water up more frequently, so keep an eye on your display and you can enjoy it for at least a week. Once the other blooms fade you can pop the succulents in well drained soil and they will grow for future arrangements!
X Steph

Floral Friday 1

Welcome to Floral Friday!

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some hints and tips in floral design and arrangement. I adore having fresh flowers around my home as well as in the gallery and shop. In this series of 3 tutorials I will show you how to use three bunches of store-bought blooms to create three different looks, demonstrating three different floral design trends. I will also be sharing some simple hints and tricks to make the whole task a little easier!

TREND 1 : Colour clusters.

For want of a better word I'm describing this trend as 'colour clustering'. In researching this project I had a lot of fun making a very inspiring pinboard on my Pinterest and I think these images I pinned demonstrates this trend beautifully.

(See Pinterest board for image sources)

Traditional arrangements often spread colours and blooms throughout an arrangement, interspersing them with other blooms and colours. This trend sees blooms of the same type and colour clustered together, often graduating in tones (purples spreading into pinks, morphing into whites, growing into greens).

This type of arrangement is high-impact and really allows the colour and texture of each bloom to shine.

Gather your supplies:

You will need....

Some cute vessels, mason jars are all the rage and make excellent vases, raid the china hutch and select vessels with pattern, colour and texture for an on-trend display.

You will also need some secateurs or sharp and strong scissors.

Jute twine or string is handy and adds texture, while stickytape is my top tip for larger displays.

Flowers - I chose chrysanthemums in magenta and vibrant green as well as some velvety sliver foliage (I think it's silverbeet!) to mix it up a little.

 Prepare your vessel.

I wrapped my huge jar in jute twine using a bit of stickytape to secure it. This adds interest to the vase as well as hiding any unsightly bits that might fall into the water through its lifespan. A variation on this might be to use ribbon or ricrac.

Next, using your sticky tape, create a grid over the top of the vessel. (Thin tape is better but I was all out.) Inserting your blooms into the grid will hold them exactly where you want them and stop them flopping all over the place.

Adding a bit of sugar, or bleach to the water will help your blooms last longer, as will keeping them in a cool spot. Strip off any leaves that might sit in the water as this will make it yucky and cut your blooms to length at an angle, this will help them soak up water and removes any stem with air bubbles inside it.

Add your stems in layers with flowers that will sit lower in the arrangement first adding each type of flower at a time.

 After tweaking, turning leaves and adjusting blooms I added some structural loops of an ornamental grass that grows in my garden and sat back with a cup of tea to enjoy my new floral display. It's now 3 days later and they still look as great as when I first made them!

X Steph

Fresh Faced Online Space!

You may have noticed that we have been featuring heaps more DIY's lately. That's because we have been super-inspired lately to make more of this online space... to not only share our own passions, hobbies and creativity's but to inspire others to do the same.
You may also have noticed our new lay-out, although our posts will still be listed chronologically, the aim is to make past-posts more accessible and to allow you to brows the blog more like a magazine. So, that's what we are calling it... the Red Brick Magazine!

We will be featuring content on art, craft, fun projects to try at home, our take on fashion and beauty as well as content from local creative people we know and love. I can't wait to share with you all the exciting articles we have coming up and we are working hard to get it to you fresh off the virtual press!
Here is a sneak peek at what we have coming up!

Who doesn't love flowers? Tomorrow is Floral Friday when we will be beginning our series on floral design. We will be sharing with you hints and tips for successful arrangements as well as looking at contemporary trends. Over the next 3 weeks you can expect 3 ways to arrange the same 3 flowers.
I will also be doing more work on our pizza oven so stay tuned for the next step towards yummy wood-fired pizza!
It's a brisk 8 degrees in Ballarat today so stay warm!
Love Steph.