29 Oct How I Made A Spooky Sunflower Arrangement!
It's an EYE-opening floral DIY
...that you didn't SEE coming!
So this was a fun one…not gonna L-EYE 😉 I’ve done many a sunflower centerpiece in my floral career. I love sunflowers! But, I’m also super into making different, funny, and creative arrangements with this fantastically simple, common flower. Let’s face it, there’s only so much one can do with a sunflower to make it unique looking. For years, I have been plucking the yellow petals off to create what I think is an interesting transformation. It may be scary, or ridiculous to some. However, I THRIVE off thinking outside the box, and to me, it’s fun and totally unconventional in a spooky good way! Here’s my DIY! Hope you are inspired!
I got my flowers for this festive arrangement from my local Trader Joe’s. You should be able to find sunflowers from your local flower shops, grocery stores etc. They are prob one of the top 5 most common flowers to buy and because of this, prob one of the cheapest as well! As with any of the DIY flower arrangements I post on my blog or show on my YouTube channel if you can’t find the exact flowers I use near you, feel free to substitute them for something similar. The sunflowers are the feature flower for this particular arrangement. Everything else is flexible so have fun mixing it up!
I found this old wood box years ago at the LA Flower Mart. I thought it would be fitting for this spooky arrangement with all its imperfections and character markings. I have used this box for many arrangements. I especially love pairing old rustic with elegant flowers. It’s a good box to have on hand for sure.
Since this box container did not come with a liner, I had to line it myself. I chose to use a plastic baggie to line it this time as I did not have any cellophane on hand. The good thing is I can wash the baggie after I’m done and reuse it in another arrangement! I simply folded down the top a couple of times to make it shorter. This way it fit into the box better.
Next I cut a square of wet floral foam to the size of the container. I soaked the foam in a bucket of water for about 20 minutes prior. There’s no rocket science way of cutting the foam to fit the container…just make sure it takes up as much space as possible so there’s plenty of surface area to stick your stems into. I cut this particular square in on an angle at the bottom as the bottom of the wood box is smaller at the bottom. I placed the foam into the plastic and I’m ready to go!
The flowers I used for this arrangement were:
~two cool bunches of sunflowers
~one bunch of fern-type greens
~one bunch of leucadendron.
Again, if these exact flowers and greens are not available to you it’s totally OK to use something similar.
I started with the ferns to “green up” the arrangement first. I decided how tall I wanted it to be. Since I didn’t have an extra abundance of flowers, I didn’t want to make the arrangement too tall. Keep in mind- the taller/bigger the arrangement, the more flowers you need.
I cut the ferns halfway down their branches so I could actually use the top and bottom of each branch. This is a great trick to be able to use the maximum amount of your flowers as possible. As my arrangement was not tall, the branches went twice as far. Big bang for my buck! 😉
As with all the stems, before sticking them into the foam about an inch and a half, I “cleaned” the bottom of the stem of all leaves and petals.
Spread out evenly, the greens covered a lot of the floral foam and provided a lovely base for the arrangement. This is when the shape really starts to take place.
Next, I decided to place in the sunflowers. Typically after the greens are in I start with the largest head flower. I measured up to my container to see how tall I wanted the stem.
This is the part that many people are going to find crazy. But it’s totally fitting for this spooky arrangement…hear me out! To create the “eyeball” effect, you have to pull off half the yellow petals. to do this, simply gently pull at the base of the petals until they pop out.
It may seem ridiculous at first, but it actually transforms the sunflower into an eyeball with luscious lashes… SEE?! 😉
I placed all the sunflowers somewhat evenly throughout the arrangement so it looked nice and balanced. The funny thing about sunflowers is that some of them face straight up, some face to the side, and some face down. So, their placement in your arrangement can be kind of tricky. The good thing is this is a fun, creepy theme so anything goes! Imperfect=BOOTIFUL!!
You want to stick the stems about 1 1/2 to 2 inches into the foam so they don’t flop over.
So I did the same thing with the leucadendron as I did with the fern greens. I cut the long stems in half and used both stems. Twice as much to use this way! As shown in the bottom right photo above, I cut the little sticking-up stem so you can barely see the cuts in the arrangement. Remember, the more imperfect the better in this one!
I placed the leucadendron in the arrangement spaced out so the arrangement looked balanced. As with most of my arrangements, I EYEBALL a ton…hee hee! You can tell if your arrangement looks lopsided and if so, don’t worry! Just carefully pull out a stem and place it elsewhere. Trust me, I do it all the time!
Almost done!
Last but not least…time for MOSS! I love moss! MOSS IS THE BOSS is what I always say 😉 Here I used green and purple Spanish moss that you can get on Amazon right here through my website: Green Spanish Moss on Amazon
I pulled it apart and placed it all around the perimeter of the arrangement. This covers any floral foam that may be showing, and finishes off the arrangement with a fun, festive flair! There are so many different colors to choose from so you can be really creative with this part!
And that’s it! I used all the flowers I had. I think it turned out funky and fun for my spooky dining table decor!
It really is a fun arrangement to do for Halloween or any-old-time! Try it…you’ll like it! EYE promise! 🙂
Happy Halloween!
~Debora
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Eva Wetten
Posted at 09:37h, 29 OctoberCute Deb! I was wondering how you were going to make beautiful flowers be spooky! hahaha. I could have done without the spider though. – Not on my table!- I’ll take the crow and the wood word “spooky” version instead! LOL
deboraeastcott
Posted at 11:25h, 04 NovemberHaha, thanks! Agreed…real spiders are unwelcome in my home, but this giant fake one definitely helped with the spooky factor!
Catherine Pakosz
Posted at 20:56h, 01 NovemberThat was spooky, actually it wasn”t except the spider. Very efective. love ya
deboraeastcott
Posted at 11:23h, 04 NovemberHaha yes, the accessories add to the spookiness!
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