Making a Floral Pumpkin Arrangement with Faux Pumpkins

 Hey, everyone!  How is it going?  I thought I would share a little fall project I did this week with you.  I had plans to meet a couple of my friends for lunch a few days ago.  Since one of them had celebrated her birthday last week and my other friend is always doing thoughtful things for people, I decided to make them each a pumpkin flower arrangement.

I had really wanted to use a real pumpkin but, I had made such an arrangement years ago for myself and the real pumpkin did a number on my old dining room table.  The water from the pumpkin leached onto the table.  I didn't want to be responsible for ruining someone else's furniture, so I decided to use faux pumpkins instead.  I found these at Michael's.  They were 50% off, which was nice.

I, then, went to Trader Joe's, which is in the same plaza as Michael's, to pick up some flowers for the project.

I purchased these beautiful, ruffled roses ↓ there at Trader Joe's.  Unfortunately, my camera did not capture the true color of the flowers.  They were a wonderful autumn orange.  Another unfortunate thing was that the bunch was supposed to contain 8 stems but, two had already broken off, something I had not noticed when purchasing, and while I was arranging, I managed to break one more right down to the quick.  Therefore, I only had 5 blossoms to work with in both arrangements, which made it difficult because I couldn't work in the traditional rule of three.

Next, I cut off the top of the faux pumpkin to create a circle cap.  I, then, put some floral oasis in a plastic cup that was just the right size to fit into the pumpkins.  Next, I affixed the pumpkin cap using bamboo skewers to the oasis.  This step is easier to do with real pumpkins because the skewer goes into the natural surface more easily than the hard foam of the faux pumpkin.    

I then set out to decorate!  I made two arrangements.  This one below was the one with three roses and the fuller of the two arrangements

Here was the other one.  It really could have used another rose but, what was I to do :)?

They were colorful enough with fall hues that I was happy with the result.

My friends were very happy and surprised when I brought the flowers to the restaurant where we met.  

I should mention that I foraged in my garden to find the greens I needed to fill in around the flowers.  

Side note:  Unbeknownst to me, one of my friends was traveling to Texas the next day.  I was disappointed because she wasn't really going to have time to enjoy the arrangement.  However, she just texted me earlier this morning that she had put the pumpkin arrangement in bubble wrap and brought it with her to her son's home in Texas.  Isn't that funny?  I was thrilled :)!

 

To give you a little guide as to how I arranged this, I started with a base of boxwood from my yard and filled in parts of the oasis in a circular movement.  I added in the flowers starting with the roses and larger mums.   

As the arrangement took shape I added in the smaller mums, hypericum berries and herb greenery from the yard.  I am not sure of the name of the one with the pod-looking greenery but, I know I also used catnip greens, as well.  You can use anything you find in your yard or simply buy greenery at the store.  I didn't like the assortment they had at Trader Joe's. That's why I chose to go foraging :).

Here is the flower recipe to help you if you would like to try making one of these arrangements yourself.  If you are going for authenticity, I would use a real pumpkin.  Just be sure to put a plate or something under it to protect your furniture.

Happy Arranging!!

****Please note that I have not been compensated for writing this post in any way.

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