everyone deserves flowers: my valentine is pizza...

stop and smell the roses...

I love Valentine's Day! I don't know why, because with a one year old and 1000 other things happening in life, Eddie and I don't go extreme celebrating the holiday, but it just fills my little heart with warmth when I know it's coming close. Actually, I've spent pretty much the last 7 Valentine's Days too tired to do much of anything, being the night before I was up until the wee hours of the night arranging flowers so everyone else's day could be special... eating too many slices of ordered pizza. But hey, I ain't complaining! Hopefully, with promoting my home business more it will allow me to do the same this year, because I love every minute of it! (especially the pizza part)

I always laugh to myself when Eddie decides to bring me home a vase of flowers. I love him for it, don't get me wrong, but, well... It's kind of like a mechanic hiring someone to change their oil. Plus, I have a little thing I like to call OCD, haha. I normally end up ripping it apart and rearranging it. I think he's caught on because the past couple times he just brought home fresh cut bouquets... and I love them because that means I can get my hands dirty :)

Today I am going to show you a short, step-by-step tutorial on how to arrange a dozen roses in a vase like a professional, or at least how I was taught, just in case your hubby decides to bring home a loose bunch for you too. (Oh, and don't forget to send subtle hints, ya know: a poster size note on the fridge, setting his desktop to this picture (below), constant references to how great of a florist your friend is...)

Materials Needed:

Vase

Scissors/design knife

Your goods (flowers, greens, fillers)

Naturally you want to fill your vase with water.
Separate your bouquet into 3 piles: greens, fillers (babies breath, wax flower, etc) if they were included, and roses

You are going to form the shape of your arrangement with the greens first. (The greens I am working with are called Baker, and they are the most commonly provided greens in a bought bouquet) Depending on how many you have, line the vase with greens. (around sides, working towards center...) see picture below)

Now, we're moving onto the roses. (The roses I am working with are a 'Garden Rose' variety.) The design is rather simple, if you follow steps by step. Your center rose will be the tallest. Working in a straight line away from that focal rose, you will add 4 more roses (2 on each side) on a downward slope, almost like a rainbow.

Now, simply turn your vase so the 'rainbow' of flowers you just created is in line with your torso. You will be doing the same thing, working from your focal (tall, center) flower and adding 4 more roses, 2 to each side, creating another 'rainbow'.

You now have 3 roses left but 4 open areas, 2 in front of vase and 2 in back next to, and between the 2nd shortest and 3rd shortest roses you placed. Place two roses in the holes in front of you. Turn your vase around, and place a rose in one of the holes on the other side. You are now left with ZERO roses, but one more hole. Don't be nervous, that is to be filled with fillers or for a bow.

Now, we're onto the fillers. (The filler I am working with is Pink Waxflower, one of my favorites. You may have been provided with the traditional babies breath, which you will follow the same directions.) This is more freestyle. Simply trim and place your fillers into the vase where you see holes/empty spaces in your vase. *Make sure you are cutting your fillers to be shorter than the length of your roses, because your roses are the focal of the arrangement.