Phantom Floranista

The Mission: To create inexpensive arrangements using recycled materials from around the house that will fill your home with beauty, your heart with joy, and leave a smile on your face.

Every Saturday at 8:00 am (PST) I will be venturing to the San Francisco Flower Market where I will be purchasing between $10 -$20 worth of flowers. I will then arrange these flowers in recyclable/reused containers that accumulate from a weeks worth of grocery shopping, and will design arrangements that can be used as centerpieces for dinner parties, accent pieces for the house, or just a little gift for a friend. I'll be photographing, documenting, and blogging about every step to prove that floral arrangements don't have to be expensive to be beautiful.

Phantom Floranista Project: Once I've shared my ideas with the cyber world, i'll be dropping off the arrangements at random doorsteps in my neighborhood with the hope that the people who receive them will smile. It's kind of like the "Free Hugs" project, except with, well, flowers!

Who knows, maybe I can even inspire you to do the same in your neighborhood....

So, here we go.... Today's inspiration was France. I just got back from a killer trip in Paris, so naturally when I saw the gorgeous French Tulips at the SF Flower Mart, I just HAD to buy them!

Shopping List: French Tulips, Snowball Tree Flower, Water Lily Seed Pod

Cost: $20.00

Tools: Flowers, Scissors, Recycled Containers, Recycled Gift Wrap Paper, Recycled Ribbon:

Step 1: I used a Philadelphia Cream Cheese container, and a Trader Joe's Hummus container wrapped in some saved gift wrap paper, a few jars, and a wine bottle I had kept to create the "vases" that will hold the flowers:

Step 2: I arranged my containers to get an idea of what the centerpiece heights will be:

Step 3: Placement of the flowers is my favorite part. Let your creative juices flow freely, and place your flowers as your heart desires, and VOILA!

Tips:
1) Working in odd numbers is always best. It adds a level of interest to an arrangement that even numbers wont. for example, try to place 3 blossoms of a flower in the same vase instead of 2 or 4.
2)Remember that when you're placing flowers in containers for a centerpiece, you want to keep in mind that the centerpiece will be viewed from all angles, so keep it interesting all the way around.