My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Favourite Take-Away

1 May 2024
click to send Christine a smile
and more

Here’s what you do:

You design.

And when you are “done”

you take away … and take away … and take away

… and take away

Until you can no longer find anything else to take away…

And then you put your absolute favourite take-away back

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Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

1 May 2024

Gap basket weave for a Spring flower container

Fiasco inspired vase cover for a small Spring design

8 June 2011

Foliage Weaving

For this tutorial I focus on a simple weave pattern that does not require you to soften or prepare the leaves to be more durable or flexible. This is the starting point in weaving techniques. You can build on this technique to make floral handbags, gift boxes, and baskets, sew it into a curve or wrap it around a vase or cover a test tube.

18 February 2015

Grass Spiral Snail

Fold a foliage snail

20 December 2011

Weaving a gift box with a lid from palm leaves

A great all natural gift decorating alternative

1 October 2012

Weaving a ball shaped Dew-drop Catcher from grass

Weave a sphere from grass

3 April 2013

Twin Leaf Weave

Weave two palm leaves together to create a floral grid

19 February 2014

Weave a foliage grid for a shallow container

Keep flowers neatly in a shallow container

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.

24 September 2014

Folding a Frog

Fold and weave a frog from grass

14 January 2015

Weaving Slippers from Foliage

Weave slip on shoes from palm leaves

12 August 2015

Messy edged basket

Weave a loose basket to display flowers

1 February 2012

Weaving a diagonal green grass basket

Once you figure out how to do the corners weaving a diagonal shape is actually not that hard to do.

1 May 2013

Weaving a Straight Edged Strip

A beautiful woven strip that is quite easy to make

13 July 2016

Woven lily grass parachute armature

Weave a canopy or parachute shaped armature in a way that you can place the stems in two vases to keep it hydrated.

20 July 2016

Twisted Lily Grass sun hat

Twist and weave a sun hat from blades of lily grass

5 April 2017

Weaving a Pillbox hat from grass

Use the "over and under" weaving pattern to weave a round, upright hat with a flat top and no brim.

29 May 2019

Weaving and Interweaving for contrast

My block design is shaped around a Styrofoam block. It is bulky but lightweight and a great way to reuse packaging.

25 June 2019

Stacking grass covered pebbles

Pebbles are a great way to weigh down or keep your floral material in place. Here's a way to dress them up a bit

15 January 2020

Over and under weave floral panel armature for inside a vase

Weave a small panel that fits snugly in a container for a minimal, foam free design that is quick to make but looks spectacular.

29 January 2020

Weave a long lasting (without using floral foam) in a vase floral design basket

Give your woven grass a water source by designing the basket in a vase rather than placing the vase in a basket

22 April 2020

Weave a trendy oversized clutch purse with a hidden magnetic closure

A three in one Tutorial to show you how to weave a clutch purse, how to add a magnetic closure AND how to incorporate a ribbon into a weaved design.

23 March 2022

A Double vase, Sticky tape, Reflexed AND Woven Nestled Grass and Tulip Whirl

so many techniques rolled into one rather pretty tulip nest. Perfect to celebrate new beginnings: Spring and my book birthday... and my online workshop!

5 April 2023

Interweave a dangling Egg outline Easter Wreath Basket

An open egg shaped wreath for Easter styling

30 August 2011

Removing Oasis Floral Adhesive glue spills

The finish of every design should be flawless. Make sure there are no bits of glue visible in your design by carefully removing all traces of spills.

19 March 2025

Suspend flowers above water on two wires covered with ringlet "happy birthday streamers" made from grass

Create a wire platform to rest the fresh flowers on so that they are hydrated but not submerged in the water below the grass dome.

Related Designs

18 February 2015

Snail Away

Spiral roll a snail to add to this sunny design

20 December 2011

Our finest gifts we bring,

A small, all natural gift box woven from palm

1 October 2012

How to catch a dew drop:

Weave a sphere from grass to catch a precious and exquisite and perfect glistening early autumn dew drop

3 April 2013

April showers bring May flowers

After a long winter it is always fun to use the first spring bulb flowers!

19 February 2014

Come on Over

Weave an open foliage flower frog

16 August 2017

Making Ends Meet

Criss-cross corset style connect the gaps in a Monstera deliciosa leaf

24 September 2014

Leapfrog

Fold and weave a frog from grass

14 January 2015

Take a load off

Weave slippers from foliage

12 August 2015

Catch of the Day

Weave a loose basket to display a single flower... or three

13 July 2016

Woven

Weave a canopy or parachute shaped armature for orchids to perch on

20 July 2016

A Shade of Summer

Twist and weave a lily grass summer hat

17 May 2017

Nobody move!

Weave a small basket with a lid to keep fluffy treasures in

5 April 2017

Easter Bonnet

Weave a delicate Pillbox hat

13 March 2019

How to avoid your wedding treasures from becoming “after the event trash”

My article and grass wedding basket design.

29 May 2019

Creative Competition

This week I am so excited to share my article and design that was published in the recent issue of the Floral Art Society of New Zealand's Academy Magazine for NZ qualified teachers, judges and demonstrators. It's all about good competition.