My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

What is in a basket of spectacular?

25 January 2017
and more

List of ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose dazzling

1/2 teaspoon designing dramatic

1 cup (2 sticks) memorable, room temperature

1 cup, packed oooohs and aaaahs (mixed)

1 generous pinch of ruffled pretty

2 teaspoons pure purple spectacular extract

2 large heart flutters

2 cups (about 12 ounces) semi sweet tah-dahs

Directions: Weave all the ingredients together and enjoy fresh, preferably with a cup of coffee

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Tutorials

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.

12 August 2015

Messy edged basket

Weave a loose basket to display flowers

15 April 2015

Stretching leaves and foliage into a ringlet curl

Most leaves and foliage can be slightly manipulated to curve or curl.

25 January 2017

Detailing a messy edged grass basket

Weave a basket from lily grass and then cut and curl the edges

7 December 2016

Flat wire and grass bridal basket

Wrap grass around a flat wire shape to create a delicate bridal basket design

20 December 2011

Weaving a gift box with a lid from palm leaves

A great all natural gift decorating alternative

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.

5 June 2013

Weaving a cube foliage ring box

Weave a cube with a ribbon

1 October 2012

Weaving a ball shaped Dew-drop Catcher from grass

Weave a sphere from grass

3 February 2016

Connect the dot grass Armature

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

12 March 2025

Clip a neat design strip right through 38.46 g (or a thousand!) sprouting wheatgrass for a ethereal Spring display

Mow a gap through growing wheatgrass to display Spring treasures.

24 August 2022

Balloon out grass to craft a framed armature

Carefully bubble out a tied bunch of grass to make a cavity to display gorgeous flowers.

20 July 2022

Breezy lily grass ripple

A radiating design that has the freedom of movement to add a bit of a cooling effect on the warmer days of summer.

2 February 2022

Connect bud vases with a fresh foliage open weave

Craft two woven panels to place front and back of a couple of bud vases to create a unit.

10 March 2021

A tiny pebble to keep it all in place

Keep an orchid and a blade of grass on an upturned bowl... with the weight of a tiny pebble.

8 January 2020

Leaf-puddle for a short stem in a big vase

Add a leaf to a large-ish vase to create a small puddle of water for your short flower stem to rest in.

11 September 2019

Weave a small wreath in the side twig of a willow branch to keep a flower in place in your design

This is both a decorative and functional design solution. But most importantly, I think, there is absolutely zero waste.

24 July 2019

Grass Twirling Up to Dress a Stem of Lilies

A single stem of lilies turned into a celebration just by twirling a handful of lily grass around it.

13 March 2019

Interweave an enchanted gift basket

A bit of a planned-messy woven basket that is sturdy enough to carry small items.

27 February 2019

Weave a floral trap

Keep your flowers in place with an all natural woven trap.

20 February 2019

Stacked bowl floral display

Create a foam free stacked design by slipping flowers between stacked bowls.

24 July 2018

Lemon Aid Container Stopper

Keep flowers in place by placing a lemon on the narrow rim of the container.

9 August 2017

Weave a flat top to tip at an angle with flower stems

Craft a platform to highlight small flowers

1 February 2017

Coil wire and grass to create a spring frog

Twirl and wrap wire and lily grass around a dowel stick to create a spring frog

Related Designs

7 December 2016

Oh! So clever

My article and Bridal basket design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

12 August 2015

Catch of the Day

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

7 April 2011

Weaving with Flax

Here are a few more examples of woven flax. I also use Typha, palm, iris leaves, Kyogi paper, boat orchid leaves and aspidistra to weave with.

13 July 2016

Woven

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

13 January 2016

Once Upon A Time

Stack and glue a Grass Pyramid Armature

3 June 2015

A watcha call it

Weave a sphere armature

2 March 2016

Beginning

Glue a Midelino Cane Coil Globe Cup to display beautiful Gloriosa lilies

15 April 2015

Bowled Over

Weave a sphere armature to complement delicate oncidium orchiods

12 March 2025

Spoiler alert: It is one thousand… that’s how many!

Growing 1000 wheatgrass seeds to celebrate adding my 1000th Tutorials to my website... Yay!!!

24 August 2022

Hot air balloon

A grass bubble to frame two of the most beautiful calla lilies.

20 July 2022

The tiniest drop

A radiating summer design that waves in the slightest of breezes.

2 February 2022

Putting my feelers out

Adding just a little something to a bud vase design to connect them... and make it special.

10 March 2021

The way we curve

Tiny minimal design that explores curves.

18 March 2020

Aerial Odyssey

A closer look at my design at Canada Blooms and The Toronto Flower Show last week. The show was cancelled right after we staged the designs due to COVID-19 concerns.