My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

If

If floral art design

… if it had a hole in it, in the shop, I would not have bought the lumber.

Calla lily

… if the lumber did not drop on the way up to my design room the knot would not have popped out.

Arum lily

… if the knot did not pop out I would not have thought of seeing if the water tube fits.

Zantedeschia

… if the water tube did not fit I wouldn’t have checked if the elegant calla stem would be supported in it.

Zantedeschia in lumber

… if the calla stem was not supported in the water tube I would have had to…

Lumber and water tube.

... well… if...

Minimal Arum lily design

all kinda serendipitous then, if you think

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

Tutorials

30 August 2017 Standing a water tube at an angle in lumber

Create a minimal design by placing a single flower on a platform

30 August 2011 Curving Calla Lilies

Follow the flower's natural curve but you can also curve only sections to create an elegant crescent or a curve at the tip of the stem

17 July 2012 Arum lily roll down

Open an arum lily up by rolling the funnel shaped spathe (petal) over

15 March 2017 Wedding welcome and direction sign

Hang a twig and wood mobile at your weeding as a direction board

12 December 2012 Piled Pine Needle Tabletop Wreath

Use wood glue to make a light as air table top wreath from pine needles

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

14 August 2013 Haphazard twig Rectangle

Glue a few twigs into a rectangular shape to hang as a space or room devider

28 August 2013 Barely there Mad Hatter's Top Hat

Glue sisal fibers to create a floral top hat

12 February 2014 Lightly sprinkled foliage frog

Light as air ripped foliage flower frog

30 April 2014 Scattered grass armature

An grass armature that looks scattered but is actually very secure

3 February 2016 Connect the dot grass Armature

Connect the ends of grass snippets to create a spherical grass armature

30 March 2016 Construction Lumber and Dowel Spike Armature

Drill holes in a piece of lumber and insert dowel sticks to create an armature

Favourite Flowers

Zantedeschia

Calla Lily, Arum Lily

Related Designs

3 January 2018 Happy Coincidence!

Some designs really do just make themselves. I received this tiny vase for Christmas from Marius (thank you, Marius!) and while cleaning out my design room I found this little...

24 January 2018 How to make a stack of just enough:

Stack two vases to create a small gap at the side to keep a leaf upright

31 January 2018 Rock, don't Roll

Balance the heavy Protea flower head to lean against a rock.

16 May 2018 It goes like this...

Gently curve plant material.

23 May 2018 In Summer!

A contemporary cascade of rosary vine and dried petals.

2 January 2019 One New Year’s Wish

Wire a sparkling tinsel garland to dress up a single, elegant Arum lily.

27 March 2019 Like trying to find a water tube in a eggshell stack

A fun Spring and Easter design with stacked eggshells.

24 April 2019 Put aside

Urgh… my glass cake stand broke leaving me with a still beautiful, but now mismatched and extremely inspirational lid...

8 May 2019 It takes more than one person to invent a trumpet!

Filling a trumpet flower cup... with more flowers!

31 July 2019 Jitters!

Zig-zag grass details add a bit of tension to the design

1 January 2020 How to freeze a wow moment

Create a long lasting winter inspired floral design that looks like it is frozen in time.

21 April 2021 All A-flutter

Adding a few fluttering petals to a design.

29 September 2021 Creative Direction

Hang the arum lilies from the edge of a container to support all the other floral details.

17 November 2021 Ringing in A Very Merry Traditional Christmas… Tradition

A more than just a hint of Christmas tradition design... in a pre-Christmas design.

16 February 2022 Hang on, love

A hanging heart design to celebrate love this Valentine's Day.

27 April 2022 Shine Shade

Glue snippets of grass into a double layer sphere to create a sheltered floral globe.

13 July 2022 Blue…

The tiniest flower adds some much needed coolness to a summer floral design.

31 May 2023 Notice That?/!

Light and airy... like a wonderful breeze on a hot summer day grass and erigeron display.

16 August 2023 Canned right after harvest

Pull tab support for "canned" Calla lilies and bunny-tail grass.

3 April 2011 One Singular Sensation

Three Lilies plaited to create a sensational, singular flower "growing" out of a Equisetum dome filled with Rainbow Oasis pebbles.

30 August 2011 Ichi-go, ichi-e

Freely translated it means Each Moment, Only Once. It is a saying associated with Japanese tea ceremonies.

13 October 2011 Direct Contrasts

I have always been fascinated, as a designer, by the idea that there is a point when extremes or direct contrasts flip into its opposite.

17 July 2012 So far so green

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

6 November 2012 Mr. Stalk, the Seriously Terrifying Scarecrow, on his Day Off

An easy going design of ripped grass and calla lilies. But look a bit closer. See if you can find Mr. Stalk relaxing somewhere between the blades of grass.

14 August 2013 Something Like This

Stack and glue a large twig rectangle to hang as room divider

23 October 2013 Their work well done

String Autumn leaves to fall down in a design

30 July 2014 See you around

Weave a few spheres to create a simple design

14 October 2015 What a find!

Roll autumn leaves to create a frog to keep flowers upright

4 January 2017 New Year's Wreath

Decorate an artificial wreath with fresh flowers and frosted twigs

15 March 2017 Wedding Welcome

My article and wedding direction board design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

20 February 2013 Designing with Mother Nature

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for Mother's Day. This is my article that I wrote for the Mother's Day Design...

1 November 2011 On The Street Where You Live

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

10 September 2012 Tying the knot

Gypsophilla design with Celtic love knots featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

18 September 2012 Tying the knot and loosening those curls

Romantic rose centerpiece with just a bit of an edge featured in the DIY Wedding Magazine

12 December 2012 It's a swell time…

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

30 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Worth a second look

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

28 August 2013 Losing some of that Muchness

A barely there sisal Mad Hatter's floral hat

12 February 2014 Easy does it

Rip foliage to sprinkle as a light as air flower frog

30 April 2014 Scattered

Scatter some dried grass to make a floral armature

3 February 2016 Connect the dot

Connect snippets of grass to create a shelter for your flowers

15 February 2017 Step Along

Create twig steps to display the orchids