About a month ago, I went to a brunch where I learned to arrange flowers. It’s something I’ve always had an interest in, but prior to this event, I knew very little about it. I could never quite make my arrangements look “right.” After a tutorial from Emmy-Ray Floral, my skills have vastly improved. See? Much better.

Here are some of my favorite tips/tricks I learned from Emmy-Ray Floral (This lady is seriously talented.):

1. Pretty flowers don’t have to be expensive. You can start by purchasing one of those grocery store mixed bouquets and use it as a base for your arrangement. Supplement it with smaller “Euro” bouquets in a similar color family. For example, if you have a lot of red shades in your mixed bouquet, choose warm colors for the rest of your flowers. In my first attempt, I used yellows and white, and on the second try, I did white and pink.

2. In place of the mixed bouquet, I used white roses on my second attempt, because I love them. And I’m pleased to report, they worked just fine using this method.

3. When you get home, unwrap the bouquets and organize your flowers by size and color. This doesn’t have to be formal, but it helps to have a gameplan before you get started.

4. That filler greenery that comes in bouquets – keep it. It will form the base of your arrangement. You could also add herbs from your garden or fridge as well.

5. Strip off any greenery from all items that could fall below your water line. If you’ve ever had a stinky arrangement, this is most likely the cause.

6. Snip the ends of your flowers on an angle. I typically start a little taller than I need to and trim down as I go. The last thing you want is to be short on flowers, because some of them are too petite to clear the top of the vase.

7. Begin building a nest. Essentially, criss-cross your greenery so that the stems overlap and form the base of your arrangement. They should be resting at an angle, like the ones shown below.

8. Now, add your largest blooms working clockwise. These should be inserted at an angle as well. Trim as you go to achieve the desired height. I like this layer to be pretty close to the edge of the vase. It took me several tries to get this right.

9. Next, look at the arrangement and see where you have gaps. Start filling in with the smaller flowers. If you’re using flowers with multiple blooms on one stem, you don’t have to separate those out unless you want or need to. In the photo below, I considered the carnations and roses to be my base and filled in with snapdragons and baby’s breath to give it height and texture.

10. Now, step back and look. See if you need to make anything shorter. Do you have enough flowers? In my first arrangement, the answer was no, so I went to the store and got some large hydrangeas to fill it up. Move things around until you are happy with the balance. This is how it looked before I bought more flowers:

This is how it looked after:

Things I Learned

• Greenery really makes an arrangement.
• Be sure to buy some items with a little height to give your arrangement movement. I love snapdragons and baby’s breath.
• Work from the outside in.
• Keep your stems about the same length.
• Add a ribbon around a jar or sprinkle glitter in the water to add personality if you’d like.
• Emily mentioned a little arrangement in a jam jar would make a beautiful hostess gift, and I couldn’t agree more.
• Always buy more flowers than you think you need. In the past, my arrangements have typically looked a little sparse, so I really have to overshoot at the store. If you have extras, which you probably will, use them to make small bouquets for a bedside table, entryway or desk. They don’t have to be anything fancy. The little one pictured below has been in on my dresser this week.