Spring Basket

It's been a while since I have posted. For me, and maybe for you, the political and civil unrest in our country has just had my mind preoccupied. I have found that my peace is easily affected by what I allow to come in. More time in prayer and in the Word always serves me well. Too much time on social media or watching the television and I get discouraged. So the obvious answer is to spend more time with Jesus and less time with all the other stuff, right? A simple "I'll just check Fakebook" turns into a wasted hour and more stories and images and "I-can't-believe-that"s than I ever wanted in my day. I know I am not alone and just wanted to let you know that if that is how things have been for you, you are not alone.

I need to refocus! Spring is here and I decided I could use a change. For now I will concentrate on my arrangement for the front door. I thought I would show you what I had up the past two Spring seasons but apparently I only shared it on IG. 

Armed with a coupon and a small budget I went off to my local Michael's store. Their spring florals were 50% off. I found some ribbon in the discount section that went well with the sprays I picked out. Because everything was on sale I didn't even need to use the coupon and I spent about $20!           

I have a Longaberger basket that I have used for arrangements in years past and I always have some sort of floral foam hiding in my stash. Any basket would do. I just used what I have.

I put the floral foam into the basket. 

My basket is about 10" tall so I want my arrangement to extend about the 10" above the rim of the basket. (A good rule of thumb is to make your arrangements 1 1/2- 2 times the size of your container height.)

I left the main flowers, peonies, in the cluster they were purchased in and just moved the wired stems around. I shoved that whole stem right into the foam! The first time I inserted I realized my arrangement would be too tall so I moved them to the back side of the foam block and adjusted the blooms.

I used wire cutters to separate the cosmos and purple flowers from their bunches to allow for individual placement.

You can dip these in hot glue as you are placing them in. I tend to use and reuse and didn't want to make them so permanent so just stabbing them into the floral foam was enough for me. 

To keep the whole thing from blowing out of the basket on a windy day I crisscross floral wire through the flowers, securing the ends to the top of the basket rim. 

Lastly, I fashioned a bow. I started with one small center loop and two larger loops on either side, adding long tails. I tied the whole thing together with floral wire. For $3 worth of ribbon I am happy with the outcome. I attached it to the basket with the floral wire. 

For now it is hanging indoors but will be moved to the front door once St. Patrick's Day has passed and my wooden shamrock makes it's way back into storage for the year. 

Are you working on any springtime projects? I would love to see them. You can share them with me on either Instagram or Facebook.

Thanks for visiting! 

Linking up to these parties

Shabby Art Boutique, Blue Sky At Home, Our Hopeful Home, Grammy's Grid, Katherine's Corner, Common Ground