Thursday, March 5, 2009

Cash for Some Flash: How to make Beautiful Flower Arrangements

By Art Barron

It's the time every girl yearns for, and the time that every guy dreads: February 14th - Valentine's Day! Every girl dreams of getting that huge, beautiful bouquet of flowers, and every guy dreads taking out his wallet to pay for it! That's why there's always a need to make extra money.

Learn tips on flower arrangement. Be a pro and use these skills to earn that extra income, or just show your loved one the special effort you put on her gift. Either way, you'll get appreciation or get paid - or both! Check out these basic points to remember, and soon, you'll be setting up beautiful arrangements:

Pick the right petals. What's Valentine's Day without that ever-present bouquet of red roses? It's the universal symbol for passion and love, and it's every girl's dream to wake up on Valentine's Day with a huge floral arrangement of red roses on their doorstep.

But mixing and matching flora is a great idea as well. When choosing which flowers to buy, there are two things that are worth considering: continuity and contrast.

Simply put, connection means that even though the flowers are different, they have something in common that will bind them together to make a "flowing" pattern. For example, the flowers should have the same shade of color, or roughly the same shape.

Contrast, on the other hand, is about opposites complementing one another. You can combine buds with blooms, large flowers with small ones, flowers and ferns. You can even pick blooms based on complimentary colors like oranges with blues or violets with yellows.

Choose your arrangement's focal point. The focal point is that spot where a viewer will first see your arrangement, or where the eyes will be attracted. If you're a first-timer, a good thing to keep in mind is to begin at the center of your arrangement, then move outward. Use the most eye-catching piece (tallest, most colorful, largest), then use the less eye-catching flowers at the periphery as complements. If you need to trim anything, use garden shears to ensure a clean cut.

When arranging flowers for your background, you can try alternating pieces that complement other flowers. Equal distribution of colors should always be checked on an arrangement, and consider the angle, whether the arrangement should be leaning on one side, or spread out evenly.

Embellish. For bouquets, thin wires covered in fancy ribbons can hold the arrangement in place. If you want yours in a vase, either pick a container that can hold all your flowers snugly, or buy floral foam to stick your stems to so that they remain in position. The foam can be covered with ferns.

Give as much thought to your vase as you do your flowers; they can certainly add accent to the whole look. Make sure that they are proportioned to the size of your display. Long-stemmed flowers need taller vases, about half of the height of your blooms. Short and bulky arrangement can do with wide-rimmed short bowls. - 16651

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