BrittanyMakes

I’m ridiculously excited about today’s post.  I’m not one for going overboard on Valentine’s day.  I could care less about a red rose, and much less over boxes of chocolate (although in my pregnant state I’ll eat anything with the ingredient: sugar).  I’m most excited about today’s post because, 1) the main ingredient is my favorite flower of all time, and 2) it’s the second installment of a fun new series we started called Flower Workshop!

A couple weeks ago I introduced you to my super talented florist friend of mine, Amanda Luu.  We’ve collaborated on a flower workshop series (her brill idea, let’s be honest), with the goal to make floral education reachable, fun, and exciting! Today marks the first holiday-esque arrangement of the series.  I’ll let Amanda take it away from here….

… You’re walking up the final dozen steps to your loft. You smell something delicious. Ooh yeah, that’s definitely butter.

You open the door, and your guy trades your coat and bag for a chilled glass of rosé. He dashes back to the stove, stirring something luxurious.

A graceful arrangement adorns the table, and a soft light flickers from within the milky votives. The table is set, and we’re using real napkins tonight.

After an incredible meal (watercress & pistachio salad, mushroom risotto, meyer lemon tart), he slides you a scroll. It’s a love letter, calligraphed. In Italian. He recites his admissions of love (this part is also in Italian) and then presents you with a small box. How did he know you’ve been eyeing the rose gold lace ring by Grace Lee? Does this mean he actually looks at your Strong Hints board? He motions to the tart and sweetly asks, “Would you like another slice?”

Why yes, yes I would.

A girl can dream, right? To the women out there who have this whole doting partner thing figured out — please teach me your ways? For all the others, treat yourself and treat the amazing women in your life to something pretty — like this little arrangement. The best part? You could probably make this with ingredients from your backyard! I would love to see what you put together!

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Before we get started, you need to know: flowers get crazy expensive around Valentine’s Day. These are my tips for feeling less of that hurt this holiday.

Skip the roses.

Farmers will “save up” roses for Valentine’s Day to meet the huge demand for these flowers, so not only will they be pricier than usual, they may also be of lower quality.

Age your flowers.

This seems counter-intuitive (wouldn’t you want to rush flowers out the door asap?), but many flowers need a day or two to open up. You’ll find that your ranunculus will almost double in size, which means you won’t need so many stems. As a bonus, you also get different tones and shapes to play with once the buds open up.

Clip from your garden.

Or do a bit of side-of-the-freeway foraging. Anything that catches your eye can go into an arrangement! With some experimenting, you’ll figure out what lasts as a cut flower or green (hint: not bougainvillea, and probably not camellia). I keep tabs on what’s growing around me during our afternoon walks, and I play nice with our neighbor in case he decides to prune his magnolia tree…

What You’ll Need:

•  a small round vase with a narrow mouth
• strong shears or clippers
• floral frog or floral foam (optional)
• 1 branch flowering almond, cherry, or plum
• 7 stems of golden rod / solidago
• 2 stems of jasmine vine
• 4 stems of deeper ranunculus, aged
• 6 stems of peachy pink ranunculus, aged
• 2 stems of white ranunculus, aged
• a few wiggly stems of ranunculus buds

STEP ONE: Build an asymmetric but balanced-feeling shape with the flowering branch and jasmine vine. Let the curve of the ingredients dictate where you place them.

STEP TWO: Fan the solidago stems, keeping the bottoms of the leaves close to the mouth of the vase. This helps to create a fullness around the center of the arrangement, and it also hides some of the stem mechanic.

STEP THREE: Add your richer colored ranunculus stems first, to the high left side of the arrangement.  Angle them so you get interesting views of each flower.

STEP FOUR: Move the color down and around with the peachy-pink stems of ranunculus, and then add the white ranunculus. Voila! Ombre magic.

STEP FIVE: Add those last few wispy stems of ranunculus. Because the buds aren’t fully open, they add just the right serving size of color. Since they tend to look best growing up and out of an arrangement, here’s a great chance to showcase their sculptural stems!

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Gorgeous right?! I love ranunculus so much I almost planned my wedding around their bloom season.  Now, want to see something fun? Here’s a GIF of the entire arrangement!

Thoughts? Do you think floral arranging is in your near future? How cool would it be to make a simple arrangement like this and give it to your BFF? Or your favorite coworker? Or your neighbor? Or your mom? Or…?