We've had a fantastic two days at Treetops with our Festive Flowers Class.
Lovely Susanna from
Tiger Rose was here with foliage, flowers, plenty of festive goodies and brilliant decorative ideas.
Susanna started the morning talking about the different ways to decorate our homes this Christmas and what the latest trends are .... popcorn is one of them .....!
Flowers become very expensive the week before Christmas, so she gave us ideas on how to use just a few flowers but yet still create something beautiful for a table or mantlepiece.
Next, Susanna showed us how to make a beautiful Christmas Hand-Tied Posy. The colours were stunning, especially the anemones and the piano roses, that were so similar to peonies. The red was so gorgeous it looked like velvet.
Here all the "ingredients" ready to go:
(Tuesday's Group listening intently!)
And here is the finished posy - stunning.
Then it was WREATH TIME!
Susanna showed in a step by step style how to put together a wreath, from soaking the oasis, to creating a safe and sturdy wire loop to hang it from the door and the initial covering of the oasis, remembering to keep the hole in the middle.
Then in true Blue Peter style she showed us a finished filled out wreath.
Next was wiring, we were shown how to wire and attach a whole basket of items such as chillis, cinnamon sticks, walnuts, orange and apple slices and the beautiful wax covered apples from Holland (see the final wreath photo on the page).
After coffee and a look at Flower books and magazines for inspiration it was time to make the wreaths.
The joy of Flower Classes at Treetops, is the abundance and choice of foliage, flowers and goodies, sometimes it's hard to narrow it down and actually make a choice!
We were all starting to feel very Christmassy at this point, the smell of eucalyptus, pines and my mulled wine were filling the kitchen.
Following lunch, Susanna talked to us about wrapping ideas, using pretty ribbons, fruits and pretty ribbon corsages which can be made really quickly and easily. The ideas can be used to gift wrap Christmas presents and even your napkins.
Susanna's book called Seasonal Wreaths, can still be found on Amazon I am pleased to say.
There are over 30 creative, fun and stunning wreaths, it's a really pretty book.
Susanna can also be found in Hampshire Life Magazine being creative, I'm off to find it!
Below are the AMAZING wreaths made this week, bear in mind when you look at them, that everyone could choose from the same "ingredients", but yet they are all beautifully individual.
I hope they look lovely adorning your doors, remember to spray them regularly.
(PS: As a reminder to those of you on Wednesday's class, the ratio for your vase flowers is 1 teaspoon of bleach to 1 tablespoon of sugar!)
