FLORIDA FEDERATION OF GARDEN CLUBS

BEAUTIFUL BOUNTY
Making Autumn Designs for your table!



     
WHEAT SHEAF DESIGN
Dress up your home for autumn and for your Thanksgiving holiday tables with floral decorative accents that are a breeze to create! Using a few flowers(dried or fresh)combined with greenery from the yard and fruits or veggies from the produce market, along with small gourds, pods and cones...you can create an accent piece to delight your holiday guests! Bring the feeling of harvest time into your home and set the mood for a sumptuous, bountiful table!
 

Materials:
l Clay pot
Dry Foam, cut into a block to wedge inside the pot
l bunch wheat
l yard ribbon
Twist tie, or piece of wire wrapped with floral tape
Natural colored "Hyacinth Stake" from plant nursery
Preserved autumn leaves
Small pumpkins, pods, cones as desired
Fresh boxwood
Wood piks from craft store
Hot glue, glue gun

Follow these easy steps: 

  1. Insert the wooden stake into the center of the dry foam, which has been  wedged into the pot.
  2. Arrange the wheat around the stake, attach with the twist tie, then fan out to look like a harvest sheaf of wheat.
  3. Tie a short length of ribbon around the twist tie to conceal this mechanic  then affix the bow.
  4. At base of sheaf, insert boxwood sprigs( these will dry over time, and  will still look good dried)and insert other materials at random as  desired, attractively. Wood piks can be used, or materials can be  added by using glue gun.

To complement this table accent, a small favor can be created to send home with departing guests by hot glueing small lengths of wheat to the outside of a clean, dry clay pot.
1. Cut wheat into 3" lengths
2. Overlapping, in rows, hot glue wheat around the pot.
3. Fill with fresh fruits or veggies, tuck in sprigs of greenery or flowers.

These can become holders for taper candles to place at either end of the table, on each side of the "Wheat Sheaf" by wedging in a block of Dry Foam, and inserting the candle, Cover the foam with sheet moss, or add materials at base of candles as with the "Wheat Sheaf"...then ENJOY!

If dining table is extra long, the VINE "S" CENTERPIECE can be placed in the centerof the table, with a "WHEAT POT" CANDLEHOLDER (or Favor!) at either end.
 

 VINE "S" CENTERPIECE

Follow these easy steps: 
  1.  Cut a grapevine wreath in half with pruners or wire cutters.
  2. Arrange on a tabletop, in the shape of an "S", slightly overlapping at center. A runner of fabric made of tapestry or burlap underneath adds to the appearance of the centerpiece. The type of fabric used is based on the degree of formality of the table appointments.
  3. Candlesticks with candles can be grouped at the inner curves of the "S" - votives could also be used.
  4. Using glue gun, affix dried leaves, magnolia pods, cones, grasses, clipped dried palmetto "fans", small gourds ad pumpkins, preserved autumn leaves along the length of the "S" as desired. Let your imagination be your guide! Fresh flowers and greenery are also a wonderfuloption. Leave some grapevine showing for interest. Group materials more abundantly at center point.
If desired, add a bow of hopsacking, raffia, or autumn-themed ribbon near the center point, tucking in streamers
among other matrials.

Note: Spraying grapevine wreath first with "Glossy Wood Tone" spray paint by Design Master, which is available at most craft stores, will make the vine look rich and glossy.Palmetto "fans" look attractive when sprayed with copper-hued paint. Magnolia pods can be done with copper also. Small branches of magnolia or other branches from outdoor shrubs can be preserved by using glycerine for this project.  Freeze-dried fruits work well in this design. If using CUT fresh fruits, coat the outside of the cut half with Dri-Seal spray, available at craft stores. Or,  spray with hair spray, to create a seal.
 
 

VARIATIONS ON A GRAPEVINE WREATH

start out byusing the same underlying "set up" for harvest, then using it for Christmas.


WELCOMING WREATH

Materials:
l2" Grapevine wreath
l/2 block soaked " Oasis
4" round glass or lucite bowl, about  2" deep
3 pencil cattails
5 stems wheat
2 stems white daisy mums
3 small branches preserved autumn leaves
l apple
2 pears
l large sprig of grapes
Wood piks or bamboo skewers cut into 3-5" lengths

Follow these easy steps: 

  1. Using pruners, cut through wreath at one point, and, spreading apart carefully, insert each side into the foam, which has been placed into the bowl.
  2. Arrange the fruits attractively at the center axis at the base of the wreath, using piks or skewers to insert into the foam. Note: Fruit will last longer if the end of the piks are dipped first into a  small bottle of Oil of Cloves, then into the fruit. Oil of Cloves is available at drug stores at a minimal cost.
  3. Attach grapes by wiring first onto piks, then inserting low into the arrangement.
  4. Arrange materials attractively on both sides,in a similar fashion, as this is a all-around design to be used as a centerpiece or on a coffee table.
  5. Insert cattails into foam to rise up through the top of  the wreath. Affix wheat stems to trail out low from the foam on opposite sides of center axis.
  6. Tuck in autumn leaves here and there, and at top of wreath to add fall color.

And, for the Christmas season, the design can be similarly created using yard evergreens and other greenery, and sugared fresh fruit as the focal interest. Sugar fresh fruit by stirring up two egg whites with a fork, then brushing on with a pastry brush, then shaking granulated sugar all overthe fruit. Sugar can be placed first into a salt haker(clean, of course!)prior to coating the fruit. Then, simply place on a cake cooling rack over a layer of waxed paper for a few hours to "set"....then you're ready to create your design! Sugared fruit looks so very special at Christmas!
 
 


HAVE FUN, AND  MAKE FRIENDS WITH FLOWERS!

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