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A gorgeous centerpiece full of flowers is the easiest way to add a dramatic statement to your table setting. With Easter brunch and Spring get-togethers coming up, I have been gathering inspiration from the gorgeous floral arrangements filling my Pinterest feed. I have no formal training in floral design, but it has become a hobby of mine. I can’t resist fresh flowers. I am constantly picking them up and adding them to vases around our house. I just love what their color and smell can do to a room. Nothing compares to it. Right now, I am totally in love with the fresh-from-the-garden feel that has taken over the world of floral design and wanted to figure out how to do that myself. And during my experimentation I have been able to find my own floral style and process along the way.

Tips before you start

1. Have a plan. If you’re like me, you have a Pinterest board dedicated to all things floral. This doesn’t have to be something you purely swoon over. Put that board to use. Let those inspirational pins help you decide color palette, the different types of flowers you might need, what kind of filler to include, how many stems you should buy, what different textures to look for. All of this should be decided before heading out to buy your flowers to help save time and money. It also helps to print your favorite pin, or to create a sketch of your own to reference while you are putting the centerpiece together. The last item that should be included in your plan is your centerpiece’s vessel. Is it a vase? A bowl? A tray?
2. Stay organized. After putting a few of these together I have realized that the key to my success isorganization. When you get your flowers home, keep the stems separated by type and lay everything out in front of you on a large work space. That way, as you are adding flowers to your centerpiece, you have a visual of how much you have left of the flowers, greenery and fillers.
3. Maintain a clean work space. As I start putting the centerpiece together, stems and leaves are trimmed and a mess is created quickly. It helps me to have a garbage next to my work space where I can easily dispose of the trimmings so that the rest of the work space remains organized.

Steps to create your floral centerpiece

1. Prep your flowers by removing any unnecessary leaves and bruised petals. Cutting the stems on an angle.
2. Cut the foam to the appropriate size for your vessel. I used a flat tray for this centerpiece and cut the foam to sit inside. You can easily form or cut the foam to fit the size of your vessel.
3. Prep the foam by filling a bucket or your sink with room temperature water. Place the foam on the water and let it slowly soak up the water.
4. If you need to adhere the foam to your vessel, you can use waterproof tape.
5. Start with your largest green or flower. I started with the tulips. Because I wanted to create a cascading, garland-like centerpiece, I started placing the tulips at each end of the foam, to help me decide how wide to make the centerpiece. I then added tulips at each side working towards the middle of the foam. Add the stems evenly around the foam to create symmetry and make sure you look at your arrangement from all sides.
6. Do the same with the next largest flower or green, working from the outside of the foam towards the middle. For this centerpiece I used carnations and lamb’s ear.
7. Next, move onto your filler (baby’s breath) to fill in the gaps.
8. Move your centerpiece around to determine where to add more flowers or greenery. If you want to re-position a flower in the foam, re-cut the stem and don’t not reuse a hole you already made in the foam.
9. Enjoy!!!