As tendrils tend to do

Tendril vine Wreath Pumpkin

Reshape a vine wreath into smaller wreaths to combine as a pumpkin

Weaving a twig wreath

For my design I wanted the wreath to look wind blown so I added a few loosely woven twigs into the weave. I also wanted to emphasize the autumn colours so I added a twirling copper wire into the weave

Stripping foliage from weaving stems

Remove foliage from stems to weave with

Cut a vine wreath into sections to create a cup shaped armature

Cut a coiled vine wreath into sections to create an delicate armature to frame a few perfect chocolate cosmos flowers

Loosened Wreath Armature

Snip a dried twig wreath to undo the spirals to hang around a glass container

Chain link wreath weaving

Weave a few small wreaths to connect

Cinderella Spiral Pumpkin from Midelino Cane Coils

Tie Midelino Cane coils to make a spiral armature

Willow Spring

Set willow tips into a spiral to create a spring design

Taco-shaped twig armature

Make a half-moon shaped armature to fill with flowers

Drying Physalis sepals

Every Autumn we see the beautiful Physalis pods everywhere but they are easy to dry and preserve to use year round.

Turning a pumpkin to hover for a sway in the lightest autumn breeze display

A pretty pumpkin deserves some fancy mechanics to create an impossibly ethereal display.

Hug winding wreaths over a glass container for a jaunty gerbera, caladium and chilly almost autumn display

Using handmade wreaths as mechanics that gives that cozy early autumn vibrance.

A wreath bridge to hint at the transition between the wildness of late summer and the autumn haze to come

Arrange a selection of freshly cut cosmos flowers to hint at the autumn to come.

Late summer’s crispy twig curls as a mechanic and accessory

Humble and even unwanted heat shriveled stems become precious design elements because they add a unique quality to your design.

Canna seed “pumpkins" nestled on a bed of cafe au lait dahlias

Lovely canna seedpods that blush just slightly darker than the dusty pink in the dahlias... a perfect match!

Thread your wreaths in a row to show off your "it could (almost) be mistaken for Spring sprouts"

Late winter flowering irises in a wreath armature

Booo-tunias

A fun design trick for a Halloween display treat.

Booo-tunias levitating in a scary twig armature

Craft a stable dried autumn armature to keep petunia stems suspended in water at the top of a container.

Four wreath harvest basket that looks like it grew that way… because now some of it still is!

Harvest some cuttings to root in a wild and overgrown floral design.

Making light of a heavy, heavy pumpkin in double low containers for a zero waste kitchen pumpkin display… a few days before Thanksgiving

A great way to show off your Thanksgiving pumpkin before cooking it… keeping the pumpkin well above and out of the water so that it will not rot and you can easily remove it from the design when you are ready.

Light as air puffy grass and elegantly curved gladiolus summer display that hints at all things pumpkin

Create two separate containers to minimize clutter in a light and airy floral display.

Curve fountain grass... a bit... or a lot... and how to choose grass that is straight for more height

Curving long and elegantly sweeping purple fountain grass

Figure eight willow spacer for a water tube in a double vase display

Create a bit of a buffer to keep a water tube upright in a light and airy suspended display.

Bind Autumn design details and Christmas evergreens around an upturned vase to keep the stem ends hydrated... from Fall to Christmas!

A wrap-around-vase to show off new bits of Christmas and the last bits of our autumn treasures.

Keep your fresh plant material hydrated... and your dried plant material from falling into the water with a dried vine armature

Use dried floral details to keep fresh floral details suspended in water and fresh floral details to keep dried floral details from falling into the water… easy!

Turn some gladiolus leaves into a pumpkin vase collar

A collar for a vase that you can use throughout the season... simply replace the water and the flowers inside the vase.

Knot a vine wreath and ripped grass bug net

Simply easy design... with tiny design details to make your summer display unique.

Glue an early Spring basket from leftover cherry blossom twigs

After the last petal drops cut the blossom twigs into snippets to craft a basket with.

A fluffy faded leaf "tail" to display delicate autumn treasures

Threading leaves to craft a long garland armature for an autumn display

Three drop Lantern

Attach three Physalis pods to drop down in a long lasting Fall design.

Summer harvest Vine Swirl

A great way have your vines root and enjoy them too...

Balloon out grass to craft a framed armature

Carefully bubble out a tied bunch of grass to make a cavity to display gorgeous flowers.

Using European OASIS floral glue to secure floral details… yes! It makes a difference

Securing the most delicate of design details successfully has a lot to do with what glue you use. But what glue is even more complicated than just brand.

Budding winter twigs with a fluffy fairy light garland

Snowfall twigs with a light glow garland for a minimal winter display

Copper Pepper Berry Wreath

Wire pepper berries to a wreath

A quick and easy way to Craft a Twig Basket Using Wire Tendrils

The hardest part of this is actually making the tendrils. From there it's a few twists... and we are done!

Wire wrap for a shallow container to keep a twig arch armature neatly in place

Wrap a wire around both ends of a shallow container to keep the twigs in place.

Craft a wreath chain to link a few bud vases together

All you need is a few twigs to craft this design- it's a perfect floral meditation activity.

Spring breeze tangled ribbon wreath

Using branches pruned from a fruit tree... with a few dried flowers and just a few orchids to make a fresh Spring design.

Pot-scrubber copper wire curls and autumn twig twirls bud vase toppers

A quick solution for a minimal horizontal autumn display -on top of bud vases.

Vase topped with a Hollow Wreath for Halloween

Create a dimensional wreath by assembling wreath vine to hug around an oblong container.

Arachnis Gerbera-petal-legicus

The easiest Gerbara disk floret spider... ever!

Floral wreath ring stem armature for a cute pumpkin patch in a stem vase design

Use a wreath to keep flower and a heavy little ghost pumpkin in place in a small vase.

Peg a wreath to the edge of a container

Another version of a design idea I showed you last month... A vine wreath armature to balance a dramatic single stem anthurium. Only this time I take it a bit further.

Building up a wreath panel

Connect six wreaths to build up a hanging panel to display your flowers on.

Eucalyptus collar for a snow-covered Christmas candle

Not only will your home smell wonderful while crafting this design you will also have a ethereal and long lasting design to enjoy.

Wisteria Wreath Vine

Weave tiny vine wreaths on the leave stems of a stripped Wisteria vine

Wisteria Vine Wreath Armature

Create a barely there armature with sturdy end of season vines.

Clematis Vine Swing

Weave a delicate nest for a small spring design.

Craft a Spring basket from a wreath

A wide gap nearly basket for nearly spring

Phormium bubble frame

Curl and secure a few blades of flax into a bubble to frame your flowers

Long lasting flower wand

Create a long lasting wand with Kalachoe.

Display wreath that hover around a big shiny pumpkin

For this design I wanted my wreath to be light and airy so that it just whips around the solid pumpkin like a breeze.

The last Vine Wreath

Every designer knows how to stretch their supplies. We use and re-use our dried plant material until our fellow designers feel like hiding it from us. I formed such an attachment to my vine wreaths. This post features four designs using the same wreaths.

Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions

Feeling Funky

I wove vine wreaths to form a pyramid, one just slightly larger than the next. In the natural cavities between the wreaths I placed the roses and lisianthus in plastic covered Oasis

Intimate Dinner For Two- Table Setting Competition Class

Floral Sushi Dinner, for two

There are Octobers

Autumn wreath

Ring-a-round

Open a vine wreath to create a spiral twig armature around a glass container

Link

weave a few wreaths to link

Simplicity

Durbanville FlowerClub Arrangement: Chincherinchee on a wire spiral

Large Open Weave Twig Basket

Easter Basket used in the Durbanville Flower Club Easter Parade Demonstration

On The Street Where You Live

A floral design snapshot of what it looks like when walking down the streets of Vancouver this week.

Center the more adventurous design ideas on your centerpieces

Designing adventurous Contemporary Floral centerpieces Article in the Canadian Florist Magazine.

All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Loosen Up

This was the first design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

How to make an early Spring

Roll and set willow twigs into a spring

Harnessing the Wind

Nuts and Bolts of Floral Art Mechanics

My design entered for evaluation at the Floral Trends Design Group meeting in South Africa

Bright, brighter… brightest!

Celebrate the bright colours of autumn with lilies and Chinese lanterns

And just like that, it is The Pumpkin’s Turn

An impossibly minimal autumn display that sways in the slightest breeze... as if by magic!

It even sounds like the heat is winding down all the way up to a chill!

Winding up the colour of designs to a vibrant autumn.

Like a hazy serotinal sunset

Capture a hazy late-late summer moment in an abundant floral display.

Finding the first few Wishful Thinkings under a tree

Arranging flowers that allow you to reflect in the summer's heat.

Canna cafe au lait dahlia be any more hold-your-breath magnificent?

A low and soft late summer display... with just a creative hint of autumn.

“Ha ha ha weeeeee!"

Beautiful iris wreath kebab to chase away the winter blues

Those B00OOOoootunias though!

Add something dark and suspicious to your petunias for a fun Halloween display

Haerfest

Rooting clematis cuttings in a harvest wreath basket

As light as a super thankful pumpkin

Create a almost wreath floral display that is light and airy... looking like it was just harvested.

And what are you supposed to be?

... a hint of a pumpkin late summer floral display to show off the elegant curve of a gladiolus flower stem.

Fall into Christmas

Want to make your Christmas greenery last... this is perfect!

So Into Fall

Keep you fresh plant material hydrated in water... and your dried plant material suspended to keep it from falling into the water.

this NEEDS to be at the top of my (our?) to-do list

Autumn bud vase collar made from gladiolus foliage.

Catch and Release

Ah... yes summer time designing. Anyone else seeing more insects hiding between the petals this year?

… ish

An early... ish Spring basket glued from blossom twigs

Tail End Of The Season

A display armature for a delicate autumn display.

Inside my world

Cut open a Chinese Lantern to show off that shiny berry inside.

Overgrown S-Autum-mer Swirl

Designing for somewhere not still summer not yet autumn weather...

Hot air balloon

A grass bubble to frame two of the most beautiful calla lilies.

You Say Tomato I Say Tomato

Tiny tomato vine design to celebrate Summer.

All That Potential

Softly glowing winter twigs for a minimal display

Coppepeppepepper wreath

Wire dried pepper berries to a wreath with super fancy flat wire (okay... it's the humble wire from a copper pot scrubber but it still looks fancy!)

A good measure of Autumn

A wire and twig permanent display basket with tiny water sources for a few fresh flowers that can be replaced as needed.

Blowing this way and that

Craft an arch armature to display those early autumn treasures.

Linked This Way

A fun way to elevate a few bud vases into a display.

First we learn HOW to design… and then we learn how only WE design.

Whipped up to be light in the Spring breeze wreath design.

Because that is just how I roll

A tumbling fall leaf design making use of the autumn leaves that are already falling to the ground.

Magic Spell Number 614: How to make absolutely any task you need to do fun

A hint of a wreath table top design for pre-Halloween decorating.

Let’s circle around to this one

Create a floral circlet to rest the little pumpkin on... but above the water line.

The circle of making new things:

A wreath armature design for early Autumn... this takes the split armature Tutorial I showed you last month a little bit further.

End Up

Connect small wreaths to create a pretty summer armature to arrange your flowers on.

A Very Merry eucalyptus-collar-candle Christmas!

An easy and naturally fragrant winter white candle decoration to bring nature into your house this Christmas.

Wreath Vine Season!

Weave tiny wreaths on the stems of Wisteria vines

Swing Vine

Weave a delicate vine swing to nestle a small vase with spring flowers in

Bring some Spring

Just like the weather is only hinting at spring, so is this design only hinting at being a basket

Twist of its own

... a quick an easy design. Curl a few flax leaves to frame orchids

Let some magic find you

My article and floral wand design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

Whipped up in the autumn breeze

Give a loosely woven wreath legs to stand on to hover lightly around a pumpkin

Kalanchoe

Kalanchoe 'Calandiva Pink' flowers arranged in my tiny fridge magnet for my In a nutshell design

Physalis

Spiral flowers from Chinese lantern sepals for my Thanksgiving Harvest design.