Christmas is a wonderful time for flower arrangers.
We can really let our hair down in the festive season with glitter, sparkle, gold and silver spray.
Colourful fruit can be put on skewers and added e.
g.
mandarin oranges, red apples, and a few red carnations, holly with berries and nuts.
Holly leaves look gorgeous sprayed with gold paint.
The garden centres are full of a wonderful selection of trimmings - ribbons for bows, robins, Santas, angels, stars and all these can be added to make a professional display.
Christmas and New Year floral decorations are quite easy to do even if you have little or no experience with flower arranging.
You can buy dishes, stands, statues etc.
but this is unnecessary as you have only to look around your home and you will find suitable articles.
This keeps the cost down as some containers can be quite expensive.
I have even used margarine tubs covered in silver foil.
After a while you will recognise things which can be used, and it is said that a flower arranger never throws anything away.
You will also need oasis to put your flowers in.
There are two types - wet and dry which depends on whether you are using fresh or silk/dried flowers.
If using fresh you must soak the oasis thoroughly.
Once you have placed your oasis in your chosen container you have make sure it is secure.
Special fixing tape can be bought but once again this is unnecessary as Cellotape is just as effective.
Another idea about containers is to place oasis in a small basket - these can be found in florist shops, but once again, unnecessary as they can often be picked up at car boot sales.
Flower Arranging can be a wonderful hobby or a lovely way to make or save money.
Giving a beautiful flower arrangement as a gift at Christmas is one of the most rewarding things you can do.