Dried Floral Arrangement Ideas

Some Ideas of what you can do around the house with dried flowers to improve the look of that boring room.

More Dried flowers projects and ideas from Shusters

Dried Flower uses

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Today the wind is blowing everything not tied down; dust, tumbleweeds, tree limbs & leaves; whoops…there went a few butterflies, & a couple of birds are frozen in place trying to fly into the wind. A good day for catching-up on my writing, doing a web search on the computer, checking-out wikipedia for step-by-step information on dried flowers;    how to, where to, & what for.  Speaking of which, its time to place my order at my favorite family owned business wwwschustersoftexas.com.  Yep, a good day for staying inside.

My eyes turn to dates & days circled on the calendar.  June a month of many celebrations…spring begins, Fathers Day which is a perfect opportunity to make hand made gifts, using dried flowers & denim pockets.  DENIM POCKETS????????????? Since I’m a re-cycler, my husband’s old worn-out jeans are a favorite target.  Cut the rear pockets out using pinking shears, cut cardboard to fit inside the pocket, glue flowers or dried materials of choice to the inside.  I chose a small sunflower, mixed with red eucalyptus, natural broom corn (for the retired farmer in him) & some of the red chili bush, (reminding him, he’s still HOT! HOT! HOT!)  The side seams (cut to desired length) complete with copper brads glued to top edges makes a hanger.  Attach a special note for that finishing touch.

Flag Day, is a perfect reason to celebrate& showing your patriotic side.  Since we’re all capable of painting (paint Runs in my family), decorate a terra cotta pot with red, white, & blue stripes or paint it solid colored blue.  Mix red flax grass, red pencil cattails, with white ostrich wing feathers, for a unique way of expressing your Love of your country

June, being a favorite month for weddings, for a more practical, less expensive, fun way to make your wedding more personal, plan on making most of the floral pieces yourself.  Start with the Hydrangea, color of choice, adding natural lunaria leaves, for beautiful centerpieces, bride & attendants boutique.  For grooms boutonniere & his groomsmen, other corsages & pew markers, pull the hydrangea blooms apart, adding leaves & complimentary ribbon, making keepsake memories of a perfect I DO DAY.  Then you’re off for fun in the sun, romantic honeymoon on a tropical island, where orchids bloom, & seashells wait to be gathered, providing more keepsakes.

As we continue thumbing thru the calendar…..BOOM! It’s July, Independence Day, with outdoor entertainment & activities from parades to backyard Bar-B-Q’s on the patio & of course spectacular fireworks for a bang-up 4th.Then August with no special celebrations other than school starts. (YEAH!).September is here, leaves turn to orange, red & gold, giving us the beauty of autumn with cool fall weather.  Labor Day, Patriot Day, & Grandparents Day (celebrating us old timers).October….Columbus Day (glad he discovered us), National Boss Day (what to do) And Halloween, with ghosts (BOO), witches, devils, black cats & bats at your door makes for a perfect decorating opportunity, using pumpkins, gourds, sunflowers, wheat straw & scarecrows standing guard waiting to hear TRICK or TREAT.November & December are two of the best months of the year for decorating your home, hearth & yard.  Look for future articles on these cherished holidays.

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Dried-flowers-project-and-aromatherapy ideas from Shusters

Aromatherapy and Dried Flowers

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Our winter with summer type weather was spent doing creative work using dried flowers made into arrangements to enhance a vanilla corner in my home.  I even tried my hand at preserving and freeze drying fresh flowers using the silica gel/glycerin and the easiest of all using the air dry method of hanging them in the darkness of closet for three-five days.  Thumbing thru their beautiful catalog, where the family windmill, located on the family ranch is always a special feature in their books.  On the web and in their catalog they offer complete and unique dried flower selections to all their customers, with friendly, personal service, where your bulk order is shipped out-PRONTO to you.

In my work room, enjoying aromatherapy of English lavender scented potpourri, I’m ready to begin new projects and floral arrangements.  My ideas on this Monday morning are anything but blue.  Lets begin a creative project, using a large straw hat, wrap a colorful silk ribbon around the crown, glue a mixture of small & large sunflowers (# of choice), around the crown and on the brim, mix-in a few mango/chocolate buttons, along with autumn /harvest preserve oak leaves.  Add a silk bow, wear for protection from the hot summer sun or hang on the wall for a unique decoration.  Option number two using the same size straw hat (THINK SCARECROW).
Cut a smaller straw hat in half, glue & place at the top of the crown of the full straw hat.  Here your artistic talent comes into play; paint the crown of the full straw a flesh color with acrylic paint. When dry, make stitches going up and down the center of the painted crown, in the middle paint a small orange triangle for the nose, outline it with the marker, making a few stitches along the edge of it, paint the eyes, making two ovals, use white plus eye color (your choice) plus black, outline in black, make eyelashes or (easier way) glue on a pair of large wiggle eyes, add real rouge to the cheeks (optional).  Between the half hat crown (where it is attached to the larger hat) glue and cut various lengths of natural raffia, making scraggly hair.  On top of the small hat where it is attached to the larger one, glue strands of raffia with 3 pencil cattails in rust & brown, along with burnt oak & mango Chinese Protea flowers, mixing in basil flax grass.  Glue a few longer & different lengths of raffia at the base of the crown face, hanging down past the brim, top this off with a color co-ordinate silk bow.  Hang it on your front door for an August fall decoration that may just keep the OLD CROWS away from your door.

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Every day holiday ideas

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What a wonderful country we live and love in, each month the calendar provides us with reasons to celebrate & create.  We started the New Year off with a bang, now February
(looks like the ground-hog saw his shadow) Presidents Birthdays, and Valentines, a multitude of decorating ideas pop into my mind.  Let us begin by selecting a wicker basket, fill bottom with assorted moss stones, with natural raffia made to droop over the edges, add pinecones along with basil or chocolate small twist cane, cut in different lengths pushed into the moss (to hold in place).  To each twisty add a rolled-up Lincoln or Washington dollar bills in honor of their Birthdays.  Present this money gift to your favorite Valentine or give to someone special.  Speaking of Valentines, how about using the small, red celosia bundle, adding a red silk ribbon & bow, with a love note tucked inside the flowers.  Place in a wood bowl, filled with red Hershey’s kisses.  Talk about cupid’s arrow hitting its mark, HUGS and KISSES are yours to keep.

Wearing of the green (do not pinch) is March with St. Patrick Day celebrations, spring begins, the time change (ugh).  Christians all over the country honor lent.  Perfect time to create a bouquet for the church alter, using a copper pot filled with basil flax grass, basil pencil cattails, light green and natural wheat, using the cream colored Chinese Peony for the focal point.

April (hopefully bringing showers), do not be fooled.  Mark your calendar for Palm Sunday, a perfect time to use green sun palm as a hand out to each church member, as a reminder of Jesus’ love for us.  Easter Sunday, present all the children with a bell cup filled with jelly beans on a bed of springerii green, glue a ribbon on each side, stick-on a bible verse (John three-sixteen) to the outside of the cup.  Give thanks and praise to GOD.

May brings us to Armed Forces Day, Mothers’ Day and Memorial Day, circled on our calendar. Let us hold dear with honor and remembrances to our veterans who so bravely fought and died for our freedom.  Perfect time to bring out the flags and place them into a red, white, blue gypsy bloom arrangement in a terra cotta pot.  Not to forget Moms, we could do an arrangement of combined pink and white parchment hydrangeas with boxwood leaves in a matte black square ceramic vase, finishing it with a coordinating colored bow
 

For all your dried flower needs go to wwwschustersoftexas.com website, where your bulk order will be boxed-up and shipped to yours quickly as possible. This family owned operated business offers prompt friendly service to all their customers, where they are ready to help you with suggestions of flower usage and can answer most any question you may have.  Do not forget about their attractive, colorful catalog; where shopping is made easy.

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Summer projects

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The snowstorm has ended, leaving us with ten degree temperature, with the sun shinning on a glistening, beautiful blanket of winter snow.  Where was all this in December?  Oh! What a Christmas treat it would have been (except for safe traveling), with snow ball fights, making snow people, and kids lying in the snow, flapping their arms and legs, leaving snow angels.  Makes me want to go back & celebrate allover again.  Create Christmas type dried flower arrangements, hang up the mistletoe, make homemade gifts, wrapping presents and spending time in the kitchen, cooking the turkey & all the trimmings, & baking special cookies from an old family secret recipe.  Where were you Martha Stewart when I needed you?  Oops, back to reality.

 Since the cross is a distinct Christian symbol I have chosen to dedicate this article to the use of dried flowers in decorating them for handmade Christmas gifts and remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for me, as he suffered & died on the cross, bringing us to another Easter season.  With Elmers’ expertise at working with metal, he cut and formed metal crosses to which  I added preserved arborvitae in the center, extending it up-down and across middle of the cross with glue.  I opted to use the New Mexico favorite- red chili’s atop the greenery.  On a second cross, I used the greenery with Austriaca pinecones on picks plus red berries cut-off of the berry branch. Another option for crosses would be to use wood, either nice smooth pieces or weathered, rough wood (my choice), using the moss vine or moss mat mounted on  wood, add basil colored mini yarrow & spring green ting ting flowers.  Compacta buds or Banksia could be used also.  Another cross base could be formed using bamboo & reeds combined, affixed in the center with raffia.  Your bamboo color choices vary from natural, olive, chocolate, to basil.  Reed bundles come in basil, natural, red or mixed, use a variety of dried flowers such as the combination of peach flower stem cut to desired length, with cream, burnt oak, or mango colored Chinese Peony, using 3 to five in the arrangement.  Another option would be to use the Chinese Protea in burnt oak/mango or natural instead of the Peony.  Either one would be very appropriate and attractive.      For dried flowers needed for the above decorations, go on line, search the internet & when you find wwwschustersoftexas.com, (family owned business) web cite, you’re at the right place for an easy way to shop, where your bulk order is shipped directly to you, leaving you plenty of time for those creative ideas to begin forming.

Our last cross will be constructed from two cinnamon sticks (no longer just for kitchen use) Tie the two sticks (one a bit shorter) together in the center with natural raffia.  Place on an upside down terra cotta pot (small size, 2 incher worked good for me).  Add to the center a few golden buttons, choosing from a selection of colors….basil, chocolate, mango or natural.  At the base of the cross & top part of pot, glue small pebbles and some of the same colored buttons, add a bible verse to the pot, giving to GOD all the praise and glory.

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Freeze-dried-flowers-the-Shusters-way

Freeze dry method

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Our winter with summer type weather was spent doing creative work using dried flowers made into arrangements to enhance a vanilla corner in my home.  I even tried my hand at preserving and freeze drying fresh flowers using the silica gel/glycerin and the easiest of all using the air dry method of hanging them in the darkness of closet for three-5 days.  But I preferred the use of dried flowers found at wwwschustersoftexas.com website a family owned business.  Thumbing thru their beautiful catalog, where the family windmill, located on the family ranch is always a special feature in their books.  On the web & in their catalog they offer complete & unique dried flower selections to all their customers, with friendly, personal service, where your bulk order is shipped out-PRONTO to you.

In my work room, enjoying aromatherapy of English lavender scented potpourri, I am ready to begin new projects & floral arrangements.  My ideas on this Mon. morning are anything but blue.  Lets begin a creative project, using a large straw hat, wrap a colorful silk ribbon around the crown, glue a mixture of small & large sunflowers (number of choice), around the crown & on the brim, mix-in a few mango/chocolate buttons, along with autumn /harvest preserve oak leaves.  Add a silk bow, wear for protection from the hot summer sun or hang on the wall for a unique decoration.  Option #2 using the same size straw hat (THINK SCARECROW).
Cut a smaller straw hat in half, glue & place at the top of the crown of the full straw hat.  Here your artistic talent comes into play; paint the crown of the full straw a flesh color with acrylic paint. When dry, make stitches going up & down the center of the painted crown, in the middle paint a small orange triangle for the nose, outline it with the marker, making a few stitches along the edge of it, paint the eyes, making two ovals, use white plus eye color (your choice) plus black, outline in black, make eyelashes or (easier way) glue on a pair of large wiggle eyes, add real rouge to the cheeks (optional).  Between the half hat crown (where it is attached to the larger hat) glue & cut various lengths of natural raffia, making scraggly hair.  On top of the small hat where it is attached to the larger one, glue strands of raffia with 3 pencil cattails in rust & brown, along with burnt oak & mango Chinese Protea flowers, mixing in basil flax grass.  Glue a few longer and different lengths of raffia at the base of the crown face, hanging down past the brim, top this off with a color co-ordinate silk bow.  Hang it on your front door for an August fall decoration that may just keep the OLD CROWS away from your door.

Since NASCAR racing is such a big sport for men and some women, many a Sunday is spent with the boys and their cars in front of the TV.  Can’t you hear all the cheering for their favorite driver/cars (Chevy of course for the hubby)?  What will you be doing during the race?  Get creative using dried flower arrangements for home, family and friends.

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Dried-flowers-project-ideas-from-Shusters

All ocasions

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If you enjoy doing crafts, you will enjoy this, try using ca in an arrangement. I have seen peppermint candies heapeds up arranged like an old fashioned ice-cream sundae served-up in a frosty mug or dish, complete with spoon and drinking straw. I have attached candy canes to an advent calendar, allowing children to Savor the Flavor each day as they count-down to Christmas, or attach colorful, favorite candies to dried wreaths, as mouth- watering treats for little ones as well as us older kids. HO! hoe! hoe MERRY CHRIST- MAS.

With the holidays approaching like a flyboy jet pilot, go to my favorite wholesale Website, www.schustersoftexas.com our complete florist supply, making GIGANTIC Strides in the floral industry, where I can STOP and SHOP for silk flowers, dyed or natural Dried flowers, preserved plants, botanicals, dried wreaths, foliage, wood, gourds, & many other items. I am selecting the Chinese roses (look like wood), Chinese peony in cream, burnt oak/mango, Heliconias in burnt oak/mango, Buri tips in spice and Grass balls in chocolate to make an arrangement for a shiny black ceramic vase. While your shopping, select several burgundy Hydrangeas, to form a topiary tree. Simple & elegant arrange- ments done in minimum amount of time bringing satisfaction and joy to those who do & see.

While searching out the website for information on FREEZE-DRIED FLOWERS a familiar name popped-up: Gayle Christie at florage.com/freeze-dried flowers, for directions on using freeze drying machines for flower preservation. freeze dried flowers go through a process in which water is removed as vapor directly from ice, without passing through the liquid state, with heated air, lowering the temp. of an object, using a vacuum to extract all the moisture from it, allowing you to pre- serve flowers from weddings, receptions, centerpieces, boutonnieres, bridal bouquets and corsages, as keepsakes and memories to last a lifetime.

How many of your remember the popularity of the kiln (50 yrs ago was a brick-lined oven, used for drying clay substances)? It was used for firing ceramics, pottery, urns, vases & dishes. some objects were handcrafted figurines,& ashtrays. Our neighbor had a kiln and gave classes in the art. Her students learned how to operate a potters wheel, work with the clay, color glazing, and the changes that took place during the firing. The highlight of this artistic process was the actual firing of the kiln, seeing their finished art work when the kiln (cooled off) was opened. Many of those kilns are gone today, replaced by electrical ones. I found information on the web, at www.kiln, where you can purchase your own kiln, along with the potters table, and learn to throw (a potters term) your own pots, vases and dinnerware.

We’ve covered a lot of territory in this article, going from freeze-dried flowers to our wholesaler, schustersoftexas.com, to candy centerpieces, and the use of kilns. So, ladies and gents what are you waiting for? Christmas?

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Using Mistletoe

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In order to bring you an informative article on mistletoe I found wikipedia on the web, where I learned about mistletoe and its many uses, such as how it grows, what trees it favors, medicinal uses, Celtic rituals, and why mistletoe is associated with Christmas, and its importance during the Christmas Holiday.

According to wikipedia information; mistletoe is being used in some areas as cancer treatment (leafy shoots & berries are made into extracts) that can be taken by mouth. European mistletoe was used for centuries to treat seizures, headaches, cancer with side effects such as poisonous, taken raw; itching and redness from injections, low-grade fever, & flue-like symptoms. In the United States mistletoe is available only in clinical trials by injection. Laboratory studies show mistletoe kills cancer cells and stimulates the immune system.

Mistletoe is an evergreen parasitic (most are hemi-parasitic plants) in the order of Santalales, growing in trees producing sugar thru photosynthesis, tapping into stems and roots for water and minerals. Birds feed off of and digest the berries, excreting seeds that stick to branches, bringing about infestation of larger older trees, causing a nuisance to the timber industry. When replacing infected trees, the ideal method is plant trees that are resistant to mistletoe. For treatment of existing trees, it is important to remove mistletoe before it produces seeds by mechanical means. Another method is thru chemical control, using ethephon spray, thoroughly wetting the mistletoe, at daytime temperature of sixty five degrees.

Moving-on to lighter notes and fun facts about mistletoe takes us to Hill City, South Dakota and the famous Mistletoe Ranch, where they celebrate Christmas all year round, where you will find marvelous decorations and exquisite ornaments. They tell the legend that ancient Druids considered Mistletoe to be sacred plants, for use in curing illness, antidote for poisons (thou poisonous itself), protection from witchcraft, and source of good luck. Whenever armies met under mistletoe in the forest, they had to lay down their arms and observe a truce until the next day. From this comes the custom of hanging a sprig of mistletoe above a door frame or hang it from the ceiling of the dwelling, wander beneath a sprig of mistletoe, you became fair game for a quick kiss. While visiting the Black Hills I had the pleasure of Stopping and Shopping this ultimate Christmas store.

One of the largest Dried Flower Wholesalers in the USA got its start in the industry in 1950 with the gathering, packaging and selling of mistletoe, which soon escalated into the flourishing business it is today. I am looking forward to hanging sprigs of mistletoe, allowing lots of kissing time, while listening to my new Christmas single by smash sensation Colbie Caillat. MERRY CHRISTMAS all.

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Arts-and-crafts-with-ideas-from Shusters

Cool projects

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It is a “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”, today and tomorrow, especially here in New Mexico with 3 digit heat & hot blowing wind. Getting started doing creative and fun projects will be a big help in getting us contentedly thru this heat. I’ll be working with natural products using a wide range of native & exotic materials, making garlands, wreaths, & doing silk flower arranging, to help decorate your home & bring a sense of accomplishment to yourself. Come & join me for FUN in the SUN?

Before getting started lets go online to www.schustersoftexas.com for all of our wholesale supplies and ideas for Home Arts Crafts. With school out for the summer, let us center our attention toward creative and fun projects easy for children. I haaave this in mind, using Ghostwood sticks, pinyon cones, assorted natural pods, and Austriaca pinecones. Our step-by-step instructions begin with a cut-out corrugated base. Insert a photo into a large pinecone so that it stands up straight, set onto the base, arrange the Ghostwood sticks& natural pods around it. Fix everything in place with glue (I like Weldbond). When the arrangement is to the childs liking, trim the base as desired. Quality time spent with happy children, with a sense of pride for a job well done.

Another craft idea easy for children to make is to use two of the 12” cinnamon sticks, snipping off one stick at the end to 9”. Approximately four” from the top of the 12” stick, center the 9” stick, attach it by wrapping with natural raffia. Glue this SMELLS GREAT Cross to a small upside down 2-3/4” clay pot, inserting the bottom tip of the cross into the hole on the pot. At the base glue preserved feather flowers in mango & marmalade. Attach a stick on label with a bible verse printed on it, around the bottom rim of there pot. While you’re creating you could tell bible stories or sing songs as you work step-by-step. This would make a great Bible School project, too.

Send the children out to play; it’s adult time, a time for capturing methods for easy-to-create floral crafts, a time for creative & fun projects, with step-by-step instructions. Select a gold tone, 6”by 8” (self standing) picture frame, with an oval mat. Cover inside back part of frame with red velvet. Glue a 1-1/2” Japanese Pectin flat sea shell as the base for this mini floral, keeping the rounded part at the top. Select 3 golden button flowers in Mango, approximately 19 star flowers in yellow, natural wild oats, natural broom blooms. Begin arranging (working back to front) using the natural wild oats as the tallest part, approximately 4-1/2” at the peak, fanning out & tapering to 3” on the sides. Center the natural broom blooms (not as tall as the oats) keeping them at different lengths, next add the yellow star flowers (pulling 3 toward the top, 7 to the left, three down close to the top of the shell, pulling up (6) more & mix with the oats on the right side), finish by adding 3 golden button flowers on the very top left of the shell with one sitting above the two. You want the entire arrangement (including the shell) approximately 5” tall and 3” at the widest part. Work with the arrangement until you are pleased with yourself for a job well done. Find a special place in “Your Room” to set your free standing masterpiece.

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Shusters-of-Texas-and-using-dried flowers in spring

freeze dried flowers

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With the cold winter months behind us, we set our sites on a clean new look. We want to bring the warmth and freshness of spring into our homes. With me as your guide, I will give you a whirlwind tour into the wonderful world of dried flower and natural product use of popular choices in lasting arrangements for our homes and offices. A warm welcome to my home starts at the front door. Picture the aromatic eucalyptus wreath with all its three colored leaves, accented with the burgundy long stem parchment Hydrangea (just the flower part). Place them along the lower right side of the wreath, using glue or wire to attach them there. Scatter a few star cone flowers (just the heads) in burgundy, amid the eucalyptus wreath . Finish with gathered-up strands of natural colored raffia for a bow, leaving the ends curling & hanging down. For extra interest you could glue a few of the star cone flower heads to the raffia. Now you have a perfect, beautiful wreath that invites and welcomes guest into your home.

Stepping inside to the foyer, their stands a photo table in need of a new touch. How about placing some of the single eucalyptus stems in blue among the photos being displayed? Sprinkle a few English preserved leaves in burgundy, along with a few parchment burgundy petals among the eucalyptus leaves. Do the photos appear to take on a new and happier look? You bet.

Continuing on thru our home, we find ourselves standing at the dining room table. Have a seat and let your eyes devour a tasty treat. I am using again the eucalyptus multi-colored wreath as the base for my centerpiece. I have added some celosia heads in merlot poking out in different directions in and around the wreath. Place one or two burgundy hydrangea blooms in the center of the arrangement. Perfect height and scent for your dining pleasure. You could even add a few candles for a bit of romantic ambiance.

You say you are ready for some real food?? Let us see what is cooking in the kitchen. I see a gallon glass jar filled with burgundy peppermint leaves and stems, with some of it being extended out of the jar, adding a few long stem star cone flowers in Bordeaux , along with twisted ting ting in bordeaux. If you feel the need of more variety, add several banksias in, yes, bordeaux. Can’t you just smell the aroma? Wrap several strands of natural raffia around the lip of the jar, tie into a bow. For extra interest glue a couple of star cones to the center of the bow.

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Feather time

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I can see using dried cones and pods, such as natural mahogany pods, spiral cones, asi spears, heart shaped badam, lotus pods, palm caps: forming a centerpiece; affixed to a bed of bamboo reeds and flax grass assortment in brown/Bordeaux/mango, and peacock feathers and swords, having these go up and down. Place on the front door of your home to with a Welcome sign. Just for fun, add an artificial bird or 2 and chirp your guests.

If you are lucky enough to have a home with an upstairs, try this. Take the natural grapevine garland, entwining it along the staircase banister, placing the peacock feathers at random spots. Mix in assorted color combination of brown Bordeaux mango of flax grass, all in mango, changing to natural coco loops. Sounds good enough to eat, as well adding a point of interest in your home. Attach all of the above in a manner (sort of slinking down the thru the grapevines,) with wire. Finish it off by weaving natural raffia along and among the entire content to the end of stairway banister, make into a large bow.

OOPS, the artsy person in me opened up a new page in my crafty little mind. Seeing as how I love collecting angels, painting angels, and creating angels, and I have angels watching over me, I had to find a way to use peacock feathers in the making of them. After a search on the computer, I found all the products needed for my little cherubs. Begin first by tying together three to five feathers (you may need to trim them shorter, cutting off at the quills), curly willow to form the body dress, fanned out, keeping the longer ones in the middle. Form the angel wings from gathered –up (bow style) grapevine garland. (If the vine is too stiff, soak it in water for several hours or overnight). You need it to be flexible enough to form the wings. What do we use for the head you ask? The natural papaver pod is perfect, coming in three sizes XL-L-M. I’m thinking the medium will work best (depending on how large your angel will be. Using a few short strands of natural colored raffia. I prefer the natural. Make a small circle from the grapevine. Heat up the glue gun. Follow this procedure- glue the body skirt to the grapevine wings next glue paper head to the top of the skirt, cover-up the neck with a raffia bow. Attach a hanger to the back side of the wings.

Going for a faster simpler look; select a long picture frame ten by 20. Cover the inside back with the burlap. Select 3 perfect peacock feathers (trim to fit inside frame) , place onto the burlap, bring two more shorter ones on top of these. Mix-in a grouping of chili peppers at the bottom end of the feathers, leaving them at different lengths. Finish with a flat mushroom sponge for the base, sprinkling some of the chili’s around it. Hang on wall, step back and enjoy.

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