My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

DIY a Could Be

20 May 2026
and more

Have a fun and flower filled World Bee Day, flower buddies

Folklore has it:

If one quaking feeler bug waddles your way,

your Wednesday is sure to be a bright and flower-filled day.

And if two little quackings appear in sight,

your bright and flower filled

Wednesday might also hold a design note with creative insight.

okay, I made all that up, but hear me out… as there is now such a thing as a Quaking Feeler bug ((because I made these two… and you are making two…)) could be we also get to decide on a folklore. So why not agree that this folklore must be true because at least for today they were a sure sign that our Wednesdays are a little bit brighter (what can be brighter than this Sprekelia formosissima?) and absolutely a little bit more flower filled? And if it is true for this Wednesday… (and every single Wednesday for over a decade without missing a week) could be that we can simply choose to celebrate all Wednesdays by assuming they are simply brighter and flower filled days?

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Gather what you'll need

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Dew-Drop Crystals

I created the Tutorial for how I add these crystals to my floral designs 11 years ago! Since then I have tried, tested and searched for the perfect crystals that would go from studio‑table picture perfect to show‑day‑dependable and I always come back to these. They remain the absolute best. They’re inexpensive yet have a refined, high‑quality crystal brilliance; they don’t tarnish and their adhesive backing stays reliably tacky even after they were exposed to water.

Tutorials

20 May 2026

Craft your own Quaking Feeler bug from Quaking grass

This Sprekelia formosissima (flowering for the first time this year in my balcony garden!) needs no adornment to make it shine. But a few tiny admirers is fun to add.

7 January 2015

Securing a kenzan

Temporarily adhere a traditional Ikebana Kenzan or pincushion to a shallow container.

10 July 2012

Smooth dried hydrangea flowers in the palm of your hand

Hold a dried hydrangea flower in the palm of your hand to smooth out the folds

8 May 2024

Use a glue stick to position a Kenzan… just so… so that you can place the blackest of flowers to be framed by gaps of light

Play up contrasts to allow near black flowers to shine.

30 May 2012

Drying Hydrangeas: Fast, Flat or Natural

Use all three methods to dry hydrangeas to get three very different textures to use in design work.

26 August 2015

Skeleton Hydrangeas

Make skeleton petals from hydrangeas to create blossoms

25 October 2017

Skeleton eyeball blossoms

Hydrangea skeleton blossoms with Eucalyptus eyeballs

12 June 2013

Spiral rattan and skeleton leaf bee

Spiral curl and knot a rattan bee

14 June 2023

Fold a crab from grass

A fun coastal touch for your design... a woven crab.

8 July 2015

Using a pin to place tiny dew drop crystals

It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.

29 September 2011

Twig and skeleton leaf Stick Insect

Made from dried cherry twigs and a skeleton leaf.

6 February 2013

Fold a Foliage Fish

Fold and weave a fish from two blades of grass

31 October 2018

Spider-mum

Craft a spider from twigs and a chrysanthemum

24 September 2014

Folding a Frog

Fold and weave a frog from grass

18 February 2015

Grass Spiral Snail

Fold a foliage snail

26 October 2022

The horror of flower dye and a spider that sits beside her

Weave a spider from lily grass... and reposition it every so often for a creative Halloween twist.

5 January 2011

Palm leaf Hopper-flies (grasshoppers and butterflies)

Weave grasshoppers or butterflies (or fireflies) from palm leaves

26 August 2015

Skeleton Hydrangea Petal Blossoms

Use the skeleton petals of hydrangeas to create blossoms

20 March 2011

Butterfly Net

You will need wire, a short stick, twig, dowel or bamboo and net.

21 July 2011

Weaving a bird

I wove my bird from shaved wood but you can also use flax, coconut palm (more traditional) or paper or ribbon

1 February 2012

Love Bug

Heart shaped rosery vine and pine love bug

17 July 2012

Guacamole Green Coiled Grass Chameleon

My Chameleon is mono-botanical. Made from coiled grass

30 October 2024

Booo-tunias

A fun design trick for a Halloween display treat.

17 June 2015

Zig zag Palm Dragonfly

Fold a dragonfly from a long strand of grass or palm leaf

1 July 2020

Crafting a Hornet of Tranquility (you know… the one with the sparkle butt)

Let me explain myself: it’s got a blue sparkle stinger… or you wouldn’t have noticed the little wasp.

14 April 2021

Fuzzy Willow Caterpillar in a buttercup and jasmine vine swirl

As in… Pussy willow catkins caterpillar… that is super fuzzy.

24 May 2023

Solar Fireflies String Light

Craft fireflies to add to your summer container plants.

3 September 2014

Skeletonize Physalis Pods

Remove the pulp from the papery pod (sepal) covering the little berry of Chinese lantern plant so that only the vain framework remain

22 September 2012

Skeleton Leaves

Remove the pulp from leaves so that only the vain framework remain

26 August 2026

Knot some knots to elevate a traditional knotted butterfly to slip into a messy grass sheath frame

Combine two sheaths of grass into a wreath. The perfect habitat for the very rare... "LooksJustLikeASquiggle" species of butterfly

Related Designs

22 August 2018

FreestyleFreesia

Dutch floral designer Pim van den Akker, from Flower Factor invited me to participate in a FloraHolland initiative promoting the versatility of Freesias entitled #FreestyleFreesia Here is the extended version of my video.

12 June 2013

Watching that lazy town bee

Spiral curl tiny bees to zoom around fragrant peonies

4 February 2015

collywobbles!

Fold foliage butterflies

14 June 2023

Because I am beautiful!

It deserves a bowl all of it's own... right? I am (of course!) talking about these spectacular little sweet peas called King Tut. Not much else is needed. But add a cute little crab and you have a bowl filled with summer.

29 September 2011

Pick-Up Sticks

A twig and stick design with sweet dumpling pumpkins and rosary vine (Ceropegia woodii). I also made a cherry twig and skeleton leaf Stick Insect

6 February 2013

Swimmingly

Fold a grass fish for an easy going underwater design detail

28 October 2020

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.

31 October 2018

Scary stuff!

My Halloween design... with some scary stuff hidden if you can read between the leaves!

24 September 2014

Leapfrog

Fold and weave a frog from grass

1 May 2024

Favourite Take-Away

Basket weave container for some Spring floral treasures.

12 November 2014

The Thing Is

Use a glue mixture to shape skeleton leaves into a lacy bowl

26 March 2014

You are not done

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for prom. This is my article that I wrote for the Prom Design Issue of Canadian Florist Magazine

10 June 2015

Gotcha!

Hana Kubari lily stems

15 June 2016

One tug

Weave willow bark strips into a nest and weave a bird from flax

11 March 2026

Turn, tuck, test… and refine

Wind and weave papyrus into a disk for a nest Spring display.

17 July 2012

So far so green

The only thing I needed to make these avocado green arums perfect was a small admirer...

14 April 2021

a Yay! You

A tiny Spring detail to add to a cute little floral design.

26 October 2022

Arachnis Phobicus

A fun woven spider for Halloween decorating

25 October 2017

When the pretty eyeballs you back!

Barely there skeleton blossoms with Eucalyptus eyes for my Halloween design... Oh! and a Willow Paddle, which probably should have been the main Tutorial... but... well...