Check
My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

How to stack a heap of little by little

  • 18 June 2025
  • and more

You learn a little something… and that goes on your creative skill heap

You discover something… and that goes on your creative skill heap

You try a little something, and it works (or not)…and that goes on your creative skill heap

You are inspired by something… and that goes on your creative skill heap

You remember how you used to add a little something and that can become your unique way… and that goes on your creative skill heap

You let go and make little space for a meaningful something… and that goes on your creative skill heap

You take a little no pressure moment and remember the pure joy that comes with working with flowers… and that goes on your creative skill heap

And little by little it adds up to a whole heap of somethings- that truly matters to you!

Sign up for my weekly newsletter

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

Sign Up Now
Tutorials
Heap tufts of quaking grass bracts to dance in the slightest summer breeze
18 June 2025
Heap tufts of quaking grass bracts to dance in the slightest summer breeze

A delicate stack of light and airy grass around gorgeous lilies.
Radiating rainbow vine armature
2 May 2018
Radiating rainbow vine armature

Design an armature that is light enough to be carried by two flower stems to create a radiating frame.
Using a pin to place tiny dew drop crystals
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.
Lightly sprinkled foliage frog
12 February 2014
Lightly sprinkled foliage frog

Light as air ripped foliage flower frog
Standing a water tube at an angle in lumber
30 August 2017
Standing a water tube at an angle in lumber

Create a minimal design by placing a single flower on a platform
No Mow May Scattered Grass and Erigeron Meadow design
31 May 2023
No Mow May Scattered Grass and Erigeron Meadow design

Tape a grid to create a barely there scattered grass display for a cooling summer display.
Scattered grass armature
30 April 2014
Scattered grass armature

An grass armature that looks scattered but is actually very secure
Scattered dried grass with raindrop crystals
4 August 2021
Scattered dried grass with raindrop crystals

Craft a light and airy grass halo to suspend tiny drop crystals around gorgeous roses.
Hovering golden wheat Ghost Ship armature
27 October 2021
Hovering golden wheat Ghost Ship armature

Using dry and fresh floral material in one design without the dry becoming soggy and the fresh drying out.
Tap in support for horizontal placement of your top heavy flowers
9 August 2023
Tap in support for horizontal placement of your top heavy flowers

Placing gladiolus stems horizontally so that the stems... disappear.
Peg Sunflowers and Quaking Grass in a Kenzan
6 September 2023
Peg Sunflowers and Quaking Grass in a Kenzan

An old trick... but still a great one to support thin stems in the needles of a Kenzan.
Loop-over grass veil for a cool summer design
12 June 2019
Loop-over grass veil for a cool summer design

A cool and minimal floral design for summer.
Off-center hole-wreath armature
12 September 2018
Off-center hole-wreath armature

Craft a slightly off center wreath from dried vines and grasses for Phalaenopsis orchids.
Keep your fresh plant material hydrated... and your dried plant material from falling into the water with a dried vine armature
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!
Bark squares, wire and water tubes dangling dangler
11 June 2025
Bark squares, wire and water tubes dangling dangler

A mobile design that is crafted around your plant material.
Basket weave bunny tail grid to catch your floral details
23 August 2023
Basket weave bunny tail grid to catch your floral details

A no waste... but still decorative way to keep your flower in place and hydrated in the warm days of summer.
Delicate Twig Hammock Armature to keep tulips upright in a shallow container
16 January 2019
Delicate Twig Hammock Armature to keep tulips upright in a shallow container

Craft a suspended armature to create a clear winter design.
An eggshell stack and grass snippet arch with a hidden water source for a Spring or Easter design
27 March 2019
An eggshell stack and grass snippet arch with a hidden water source for a Spring or Easter design

An almost nest like design with a hidden water source.
Impossibly delicate Dancing Lady orchid wreath
11 March 2020
Impossibly delicate Dancing Lady orchid wreath

Weave a wreath around a cardboard circle to create an almost lace effect... perfect to capture those first signs of Spring!
All dried Autumn hemisphere design that will outlast even the falling leaves outside
23 September 2020
All dried Autumn hemisphere design that will outlast even the falling leaves outside

Preserve some floral material to design with when it is but not quite Autumn outside.
Glue soaked stems cheeky angled grid for those first autumn leaves (with a dye soak up tip)
8 September 2021
Glue soaked stems cheeky angled grid for those first autumn leaves (with a dye soak up tip)

A barely there delicate grid to keep your flowers in place.
Curve a handful of grass to twist into place
8 October 2025
Curve a handful of grass to twist into place

Use two tiny budvases to display a few blades of grass for autumn.
Canna seed “pumpkins" nestled on a bed of cafe au lait dahlias
13 August 2025
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!
Related Designs
Over the rainbow
2 May 2018
Over the rainbow

Craft a radiating design that suspends from the orchid stems
Easy does it
12 February 2014
Easy does it

Rip foliage to sprinkle as a light as air flower frog
If
30 August 2017
If

Place a water tube at an angle in lumber so that the Zantedeschia float just above the base to show off the delicate grass snippets scattered up the stem
Notice That?/!
31 May 2023
Notice That?/!

Light and airy... like a wonderful breeze on a hot summer day grass and erigeron display.
Scattered
30 April 2014
Scattered

Scatter some dried grass to make a floral armature
Counting Raindrops
4 August 2021
Counting Raindrops

Grass crisscross that makes you want to lean in closer to count the late summer raindrops around these gorgeous roses.
Ship Shape
27 October 2021
Ship Shape

The dry wheat stems are suspended from the outside of the container so that they remain dry and the flower stems can gently rest inside to remain hydrated.
Look at me… doing math!
9 August 2023
Look at me… doing math!

Adding our own "bit" to our floral design work.
Mother Nature’s little magic to let us know Autumn is near
6 September 2023
Mother Nature’s little magic to let us know Autumn is near

It's the little sun-washed coloured hints that makes you look again to see if you really saw what you thought you saw... yes! There really are signs of autumn everywhere!
Almost... all over!
12 June 2019
Almost... all over!

Loop a grass veil over a lily stem to create a minimalist summer design.
Hole-ding it’s breath
12 September 2018
Hole-ding it’s breath

Craft an almost Autumn armature from dried sweet pea vines
So Into Fall
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.
Dangling
11 June 2025
Dangling

Cut flowers arranged as an airy and breezy mobile.
Note to Self
23 August 2023
Note to Self

An easy to weave natural grid for summer floral arrangements.
Every. Single. Week.
16 January 2019
Every. Single. Week.

Stand tulips upright in a shallow container with a suspended twig armature.
Like trying to find a water tube in a eggshell stack
27 March 2019
Like trying to find a water tube in a eggshell stack

A fun Spring and Easter design with stacked eggshells.
On-Spring-dium
11 March 2020
On-Spring-dium

A almost impossibly delicate oncidium (dancing lady) orchid wreath.
Getting a head start on all that Fall-ing
23 September 2020
Getting a head start on all that Fall-ing

Floral styling using mostly dried material that will last the entire Autumn.
A good September Soaking
8 September 2021
A good September Soaking

Exploring two soaking techniques for a subtle early autumn design
Limelight
27 May 2015
Limelight

My RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Limelight Floral Art Design. My Limelight design was inspired by a slice of lime. But I wanted it to look like it was spun by a butterfly. I used Sisal, silk and loads of Lisianthus flowers and 9 grapevine plants. Each tiny stem was placed in a water filled glass seahorse or test tube to keep it hydrated.
Falls in place
8 October 2025
Falls in place

A curve to twirl Autumn floral details through.
Canna cafe au lait dahlia be any more hold-your-breath magnificent?
13 August 2025
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.