Thanksgiving Sharing From My Family to Yours

After the bulbs have been dug and the outdoor furniture has been put away we look forward to our family gatherings.

For many years I have worked with children in the local schools. My interest is in helping children learn their “gifts” at an early age as this is a great time to be creative. During the week or so before Thanksgiving I enter several classrooms and help the students create a special centerpiece to share with their families. Each child has the opportunity to use fresh flowers and make a centerpiece to put on the table for the season.

I thought it would be fun to share this concept with all of my fans at this time of year. I usually use fresh pumpkins to make the arrangements with the children but have started to look at using the “carve-able” foam pumpkins that are sold everywhere now. Find a smaller pumpkin to use as you don’t want the centerpiece to obscure your view as you sit at your table. (Lesson number one of centerpiece design.) You need to open the top of the pumpkin in an oval shape, just like you would to carve a jack-o-lantern. Save the top for later use.

After this is done, you are going to find a container that will sit snuggly inside the pumpkin. I use plastic containers like sour cream, yogurt, ricotta cheese or such come in. You will need to have a piece of oasis foam (soak in warm water for 30 minutes before use) for fresh flowers or Sarah foam (does not need to be wet) for silk flowers to place snuggly in the container. This will be what you use to arrange your choice of flowers in in a minute. After you have secured your container and foam in the pumpkin you will need to have covering for the oasis which will be the base for your arrangement. I use leather leaf fern for fresh arrangements at this time of year. I use Spanish moss (dry moss) for silk arrangements.  You do not need to completely cover the entire oasis but sparsely form a “bush” with the fern just to hide the oasis a bit. With the Spanish moss you will cover the Sarah oasis completely.

Now, you will need several types of flowers, grasses, pods, leaves in fall colors. By type I mean different sizes, shapes and colors.  The more textures you use the more pleasing the arrangement will be. Pick the flower, grass or pod that you would like to be the focus of your arrangement and place several (odd numbers, lesson number two in centerpiece design) in spaces throughout the arrangement. An arrangement does not need or want to be symmetrical so put your organized mind at rest!

 Now you can fill in around these special focus items with your other choices. The more natural your arrangement looks the more pleasing it is to the eye. This is particularly true with the fall season arrangements. Don’t be too fussy or feel that it is not right because design is open to interpretation. The more you let your mind be free the better your efforts will turn out.

When you feel that your arrangement is complete, walk away and come back a little later and take a look at it. Sometimes you will see something that you didn’t see before. One more caution is to make sure that you sit down and look at the arrangement at that height. Sometimes when we stand at a counter to make the arrangement we forget that there are sides and it will show when we are at eye level with it.

The last step is to take a stem or something like a Popsicle stick and push it in to the bottom of the pumpkin top that we took off. Place this top in your arrangement on one side. It will finish your project very nicely.

If you have any questions just call and ask. This is a great way to help you and your children learn creativity and will give you arrangements that are homemade without a lot of time or money. Enjoy!