My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

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2 October 2013
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How, oh how…

you

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porcupine?

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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

2 October 2013

Spiny Twig Porcupine Armature

Glue a few twigs to display Autumn flowers and foliage on

2 October 2013

Helping Strelitzia flowers to fan open

If you want completely unblemished petals, purchase the Bird of Paradise flowers when the petals are still hidden in the spathe, and carefully coax it open. The flowers will not open by themselves once cut.

2 October 2013

Covering test tubes with potting soil

Disguise the test tubes with a sandy veneer

2 October 2013

Twig garland

Add a dangling garland of twigs to the design

22 May 2012

Bite and snap a sturdy twig

Break the sturdy twig on the scribe line.

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.

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.

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.

30 August 2023

Radiating bunny tails

Spear bunny tail grasses into a Kenzan to create a cozy space to display apricot lemonade cosmos flowers.

29 June 2022

Take your time to craft a Bulrush Dial Armature

Slowly build up a dial armature from dried bulrush

20 October 2021

Upright standing besom for the modern witch on the go

Craft a wire tripod to fit into the bristles of a handcrafted broom so that it can stand freely in your display.

18 August 2021

Racked up dried Twig Snippets to display a few flower buds

Combining dried and fresh floral details for a easy breezy summer design.

28 October 2020

Vase topped with a Hollow Wreath for Halloween

Create a dimensional wreath by assembling wreath vine to hug around an oblong container.

28 October 2020

Arachnis Gerbera-petal-legicus

The easiest Gerbara disk floret spider... ever!

5 February 2020

Pour glue over a stick Bundle to craft a Poke Out Spring stick Armature

Fake an early Spring by crafting a long lasting stick bundle that has a blossoming branch of succulent flowers.

6 November 2019

Dancing fall leaves... on a stick

Spike fall leaves and water tubes to create a minimal radiating autumn display

6 November 2019

Drying leaves to have the exact same curve

Threat a stack of leaves to dry so that they shrivel and dry up in a similar way.

2 October 2019

Cross hatch Twig Armature

Add a bit of shadow and dimension to a flat armature by using the sketch technique of cross hatching.

7 August 2019

Where to cut Gladiolus spikes shorter

Gladiolus stems can be cut into sections so that it appears natural and well groomed.

7 August 2019

Use a drinking straw to push foliage horizontally deep into a Kenzan to leave space for stems to rest on top of them

The teeth of a Kenzan (or pin cushion) is rather sharp. Here is a pain free way of pushing down the plant material into the teeth to keep it securely in place.

7 August 2019

A Three level Kenzan skewer stack to Radiate Gladiolus spikes flat in a shallow container

Build up a design in a shallow container by stacking it by threading the plant material into the teeth of a pin cushion in three levels.

31 October 2018

Peg and glue a floating Halloween design

A hovering Halloween design that seems to float.

12 July 2017

Twig sparkler

Glue twigs to radiate out from a central point

26 October 2016

Folded Bleached Baby’s Breath Wreath Armature

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

28 October 2015

Besom Broom

The word ‘Besom’ derives from the old English ‘besma’ meaning ‘bundle of twigs’.

26 November 2014

Sticks stuck in a ground covered foundation

Glue potting soil to polystyrene to create a natural looking armature

Related Designs

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.