My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Harvest Moon

26 October 2016
and more

But there's

full moon risin'

let's

go dancin'

in the light

Neil Young – Harvest Moon

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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

4 November 2015

Bleached Gypsophila

Gypsophila dries really well and can be bleached to a stunning winter white

4 November 2015

Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath

Glue a radiating wreath from bleached Gyp

26 October 2016

Folded Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath Armature

Glued Baby's Breath Wreath, folded in half to create a moon shaped armature

4 January 2011

Drinking straw "test tubes"

When you need to keep a tiny stem hydrated this is just what you need.

25 November 2015

Winter White Gyp Wreath

A dried wreath in winter white

16 August 2011

Cut spiked flower stems and foliage into short sections

Orchids grow in long flower spikes. It is great to use the entire stem but sometimes you need shorter section. There is a trick to cutting the stems without leaving a visible blunt stem.

25 August 2011

Placing orchids in test tubes

Cut the Phalaenopsis orchid with a bit of green stem attached. This will make them last longer.

3 January 2011

Syringe with tube

Easy way to fill test tubes and easiest way to remove water from a vase

16 August 2011

Fast way to fill a lot of test tubes in awkward places

I do not believe in arranging flowers without a water source of some kind. I want my flowers to remain as beautiful for as long as possible and I often get quite creative to ensure a water source for even finer stems and blossoms.

18 January 2012

Butterfly hairclip claws to hold twigs in place while glue dries

Butterfly hair clips are the perfect little claws to help you hold tiny items in place while you wait for glue to dry

18 January 2012

Butterfly feeler hooks for swinging test tubes

I don't always want to wire my test tubes into the design. I like to create a bit of movement by simply hooking the tubes to gently swing.

26 August 2015

Sun baked Sweetpea vine wreath

A perfect way to use a Lathyrus vine after all it flowered

24 July 2012

Stacked Twig Roundabout

This is a great way to use all those bits of twigs and sticks in your design room to make a floral armature

1 October 2025

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.

30 October 2024

Booo-tunias

A fun design trick for a Halloween display treat.

30 October 2024

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.

9 October 2024

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.

27 December 2023

Christmas twig wreath, cinnamon bundles, clove garlands and roses of orange peel candle holder

Take the whole waste free design concept a whole lot further by displaying all your Christmas simmer pot ingredients... ready to be harvested as needed.

27 December 2023

Add light filled snowy fluff inside a display container

A fun way to make a winter design glow.

27 December 2023

Cinnamon Bundles

Pretty wire bundles to add fragrance to any design

27 December 2023

Clove Copper Garland

Twist and wire a gorgeously sparkly clove copper wire string.

27 December 2023

Orange peel spiral roses

A fragrant way to add an uplifting dried detail to your winter design.

13 December 2023

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer... the seed cone and twig version

Seed cone and Twig Reindeer

13 December 2023

Snowy Bead Garland Planter Bowl

Glue a beaded garland into a coiled bowl

13 December 2023

Stack and Glue Needle Trees

I am showing you a few versions of the tree. One with lights, with and without a stand, a pyramid stacked one and one on a wire.

13 December 2023

Quick and Easy way to dress up poinsettia plants for Christmas

Colour coordinate your tiny plant pots and add a bauble... or three

1 November 2023

Canary vine tangle in a double vase

Great craft for when you are tidying up the garden before the first frost but would still like to enjoy the vines for a bit longer.

1 November 2023

Bored looking Sisal ghost with dangling bell feet

Quick and so easy... I added the bells so that the ghost looks kinda bored now that Halloween is all over.

18 October 2023

U shape stems to anchor Fuchsia drops and Maple leaf Falls in a bud vase

Bend pliable stems to kick against the side to anchor design details exactly in place in a small vase.

3 October 2023

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!

13 September 2023

Traditional book folding craft technique turned into an armature… with a me twist

Fold a book into a floral armature... with tricks there to keep the floral material hydrated and suspended.

21 September 2022

Counterbalance elegantly leaning Calla lilies with dressed up Dried Autumn Details

Using those much treasured dried autumn details to bridge the gap between the bright green of summer and the brightness that is yet to come.

1 September 2021

Above and below eucalyptus curve butternut cradle

Suspend a heavy butternut over water in an early Autumn design.

7 October 2020

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.

30 October 2019

Levitating Halloween tree with roots

Cut a slit in the branches, at the root side to suspend it over the vases rather than in the vases.

30 October 2019

Bat Skeleton crafted from twigs

Eerie! Because you use what is there already in the twigs this skeleton looks rather... realistic!

23 October 2019

Floating Filigree Pumpkin Patch

String up pumpkins and glass seahorse vases to craft an autumn mobile design.

7 February 2018

Bend Wired Equisetum into a Hollow Wreath

Craft a wreath with a hollow cavity inside to use as an armature for your flowers

4 October 2017

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.

30 November 2016

Barely there Wreath armature

Glue snippets of Baby's breath and grass into a lace fine wreath shape to showcase the tiny chocolate cosmos buds

Related Designs

4 November 2015

Delicate

Bleached Gypsophila wreath with delicate autumn touches

25 November 2015

So white

A dried Baby's breath and fresh orchid wreath

26 August 2015

Bent

Weave a wreath from sweetpea stems and tendrils

26 November 2014

Late Autumn Early Christmas.

Glue a ground foundation for a late autumn design

2 October 2013

Prickly

Build a twig porcupine armature for fall flowers

12 December 2012

It's a swell time…

An exceptional moment frozen in time… 12:12:12 12/12/12

16 October 2012

Bright, brighter… brightest!

Celebrate the bright colours of autumn with lilies and Chinese lanterns

30 May 2012

The Beauty in the Sleeping Woods

As a floral artist I am inspired by the endurance of nature and my work is still re-creating the Sleeping Beauty Castle of my imagination.

1 October 2025

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!

30 October 2024

Those B00OOOoootunias though!

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

27 December 2023

A Very Merry Dried Orange and these from My Greenhouse to yours Trendy Christmas Cheer

And of course I would add the environmentally friendly-estest floral design option to top all the rest. Reusable and upcycled... and smells wonderful.

13 December 2023

A Very Merry Naked Tree and Woodland Woodsy and Oversized Flowers Trendy Christmas Cheer

From now to a bit after New Year's Eve I will show you my take on the trends for Christmas 2023. This week I am continuing with a garland bowl and a cone and twig reindeer.

1 November 2023

That day after Halloween feeling

Time to cut down vines... and enjoy them a bit longer in a Halloween display.

18 October 2023

Drops do that!

Collecting drops of autumn that makes me smile back.

4 October 2023

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.

13 September 2023

I am a fan!

Giving my book a super fan make-over.

21 September 2022

Balanced Attitude

Getting the balance just so... so that you lean into the first sights of Autumn.

1 September 2021

It’s butter… nuts!

An it's not too early to decorate for Autumn, Autumn design

7 October 2020

Let’s circle around to this one

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

30 October 2019

There once was a bat called Tequila, a Halloween story

An all plant zero waste, levitating, twig (with just a splatter of autumn leaves, a breath of spiderweb and float of roots) Halloween decoration with an eerie bat skeleton made from twigs lurking just over there.