Sun 07 Dec 2014

How to use flowers to make a snowman

Some people might enjoy decorating their homes with more conventional and traditional items and others enjoy trying something new each year.  You could purchase a new decoration to place on your dining room table, mantel piece or beside the tree.  Of course, within a few years your home could become quite cluttered with ornaments that leave little room for anything else.  Instead, why not decorate your home with a clever and creative flower arrangement?  You could order a festive bouquet from your local or online florist if you like or, you could get creative and make your own special design!  Most likely due to commercial reasons, snow and snowmen are associated with Christmas even if you celebrate the festive season in the south where it’s summer and the sun is shining!  As fun as it can be to build a real snowman, you can also use this to inspire you for your festive flower arrangement!  Instead of heading out to brave the cold and build a snowman, you can stay nice and snug indoors and make a snowman from fresh flowers!  This kind of arrangement is so easy to make that you can even get the kids involved as well!  If you like, when you send flowers for Christmas, you can send the lucky recipient a floral snowman!

What you need:

  • 3 floral foam balls. They all need to be different sizes (small, medium and large)
  • White flowers (like carnations). Use two kinds of flowers – a larger and a smaller variety.
  • A long, strong stick (to secure the three foam balls in place)
  • Floral wire
  • A shallow base like a cake stand on which to display your snowman arrangement
  • Decorative items like a little carrot, sticks for arms, buttons to use as eyes, a small scarf, hat and so on.

Instructions:

  • The biggest foam ball will be the base of the snowman and the smallest one will be the head. The medium sized one will be used for the body.
  • Slice a small area of the large ball off so that your snowman stands on a flat base and won’t roll around.
  • Let your foam balls soak up some water before you start arranging your flowers. It’s helpful to add floral preserve to the water before submerging your foam balls.
  • Position the bottom ball on the shallow base.
  • Use the larger flowers (like chrysanthemums) to cover the bottom ball. Trim each stem to a length of about 3 to 4cm.  Cover the entire ball with flowers except for the base.
  • Insert the long stick in the centre of the bottom ball and pointing straight up. It needs to be securely positioned so that it can properly support the other two balls and hold them in place.
  • Place the medium sized ball and cover it completely with smaller flowers (like carnations).
  • After covering it completely, you can slide it onto the stick and down very slowly until the flowers from that ball meet the flowers on the large ball. Don’t force them together or you will crush the flowers and lose that fluffy effect.
  • Do exactly the same with the smallest foam ball. If you have a hat read to be placed on your snowman’s head, then you don’t need to cover the top of his head.
  • Once all the flowers are in place, it’s time to get creative! Use the floral wire to secure accessories like a carrot nose and button eyes in place.  You can use the floral wire or some pins to secure your hat and scarf in place.  Dry sticks from your garden can be inserted on their own without anything to hold it in place.

This is a fantastic craft to keep everyone happy and busy indoors if the weather is unpleasant.  Another great thing about floral snowman arrangements is that you can still build a snowman even if the snow has not yet fallen outside!