Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Quick gifts of green

My husband needed some personal gifts for work, so I put together a few bowls of greenery.

The bases are wooden bowls I gathered for our authentic Thanksgiving lunch (25 cents apiece). A small square of Oasis in each holds clippings from our yard.

We didn't have any red berries this year, so I wound pieces of a berry garland around twigs for interest. I still have most of the 99-cent strand left.

I made two feminine groupings with one bunch of yellow roses from Aldi ($3).

I left two masculine with stronger notes of pinecones and yew.

They don't look perfect, but they smell great. I hope the recipients enjoy this little bit of nature on their desks or tables!

22 comments:

TJ said...

Meredith you amaze me! Those look perfect to me. What wonderful gifts!

Anonymous said...

mom was a pro at this, also containers were getting expensive, so she'd wrap a box from the pantry, and if a real arragement, slipped the oasis in a baggie...

celina in canada

Bobi Jensen said...

Wow, I would have loved a gift like that back when I was in the working world. Way to use your wonderful talents to bless your husband. I get such great ideas from you!

Tamara said...

Meredith, you're such a creative woman!

Inspired by you, I picked up a couple of 25-cent white ceramic sleigh planters at garage sales this summer for little Christmas arrangement gifts. In the end, I was out of time for a true arrangement, but our local grocery had these tiny poinsettias in dixie cup-sized pots for $2 each, which the florist let me have for free because they were the last ones! I stepped outside and saw twigs from their fresh pine wreaths blowing around the parking lot, so I stuck those into the pots too.

I ended up with 2 darling poinsettia arrangements for a total of 50 cents! I added a couple of Oreo Truffles in a tiny bag to each, so that probaly brought my total investment to about $1. Thanks for the inspiration!

Unknown said...

Those are beautiful! You do such a nice job on such things.

Melissa said...

These are fabulous Meredith!

Anonymous said...

I love the casual way you arrange your plants. I really do not like the ones the florist does. I dislike the exactness of them. Good job!

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) said...

These are beautiful! I am so impressed that you put these together so easily (and frugally.) Just gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all of your wonderfully frugal ideas! I am always inspired, even if I am only lurking!

I think I will make a couple of these for a Christmas luncheon I'm hosting this Saturday! Take home centerpieces!

Blessings,

Sherry

Katie Gregg said...

Meredith, you never cease to impress.

Anonymous said...

How beautiful. You are very talented!

Anonymous said...

Meredith, U R SO clever! :) When I grow up I want to be as artistic as you. :) (I'm old enough to be your mother. Ha.)
Vicky

Anonymous said...

I think you could learn a lot from a florist. Your things are always way too jumbled and bushy.

Anonymous said...

I think your arrangements are beautiful. The anon. poster that says they are jumbled should keep her comments to herself. She is obviously outvoted by people who like your arrangements.

Anonymous said...

These are just lovely.

Meredith said...

I will say that these are difficult to photograph well.

What looks like bushy green is actually layers of various greens, with vertical lines that extend above and below the photo.

Don't get me wrong--they're still kinda wild and definitely on the natural side. But in real life you can see the overall form in a way you can't onscreen.

Martha said...

I always love your arrangments! You have challanged me to do some too - the last several funerals we have had - I have done the flowers and really enjoyed doing it - and the finished product. Thanks for all the tips.
~Jane

martha said...

Your arrangements are always gorgeous and in vogue. My family owns THE floral shop in the priciest suburb of Chicago. We'd hire you in a heartbeat. Most people go to 2 years of school to learn these principles of design. Looks like you were born with the "knack".

Edi said...

Why should we assume that "professionals" know how to do something best?

Should we never do something on our own for fear it's not as good as the "professionals"?

I think we have all had experience in seeing that just b/c someone has a title - it does not make them an expert.

I've always been "envious" of the wonderful free form creations you have come up with - great job!

Amy said...

Wow-- you have such a gift for putting together gorgeous gifts like this!

Anonymous said...

*lol* Aldi flowers! When we got married 4 years ago a lovely lady in our church made me a wedding bouquet from aldi flowers!

And it looked pretty darn good too! ;)

Lori - Queen of Dirty Laundry said...

Gorgeous!