This week we worked on Halloween designs. To get these fabulous designs created we started with a lot of paint. Here is how we began.

 

We took all of the elements outside that we wanted to enhance. We painted berries and mosses black. We painted twigs and branches silver.

 

I went on a back road run and got these hedge apples. They look like brains, and I love them for this holiday.  They actually are used in many different types of designs, but painted in Halloween colors, they are super fun.

 

We also painted fresh mini pumpkins and gourds black. This particular large pumpkin is plastic so that it would hold water for several days without the funky smell of wet pumpkin. We used regular 99 cent paint from the Walmart for these elements.

We started by putting our florist foam in the pumpkin. The florist foam is called Oasi;, you get this nice and wet before you start. We added the silver twigs and branches next, then we used willow and Manzanita branches. We then did a layer of the black painted moss with silver highlights to hide some of the foam or Oasis, and then we began adding the flowers. We used dark black baccara roses, deep purple black callas, and chocolate brown sunflowers that we enhanced with black Just For Flowers paint.  Guess what: that paint is just for fresh flowers. It is a lot more expensive so we used it only on the flowers. 

 

The larger designs were for buffets. We made mini designs for the food tables and coffee tables. 

 

This was a great project and we LOVED the way these pieces turned out. Happy Halloween.

Holly