Between the rain showers the other day I headed out into the garden to gather some flowers and foliage to create a festive garland for our mantle piece, a styling challenge set by BloomNation - an online floral market place. It was one of those grey days where the mist was so dense I could feel it on my face, it felt so refreshing to breath in the cold air having spent most of the day inside. Don't you just love getting wrapped up warm and stepping out on a cold winters day!
The garden is pretty bare at the moment (next year is going to be the year where we transform the space into somewhere that will be lovely to sit in the afternoon sunshine, we have been putting it off for far too long! There, I've said it now... It must happen) However, the hydrangea is still looking ever so lovely despite all the rain we have had lately. I gathered a large bunch of the fading blooms along with some ivy and some evergreen.
To create the festive garland I built up the display in layers, starting with the ivy as the base. Then I positioned the silver glass tea-light holders, candles and reindeer before adding in the hydrangea and evergreen (start in the centre and work your way out for a balanced look.) Once I was happy with the position of everything I added in the fir cones which I have painted the tips with white chalk paint to give the overall display a wintery feel.
The lovely thing about using hydrangea blooms in this way is that they tend to dry beautifully and so there is no need to use an oasis or moss to keep it moist. Once the petals have dried out and I take the display down after christmas I will keep them and use them as props in Instagram photos like this one here because they are so so pretty.
If you are an avid Pinterest user like me, pop over to BloomNations page and take a look at all their beautiful floral pins for inspiration, they are stunning.
Have a lovely weekend friends.Labels: Christmas, Gathered Style, Making Home
