Flower arranging

I was noticing the other day that I have several fake plants throughout my house. For some reason, I never realized before that they all...well...have something in common. For example, I had a plant on my T.V. armoire-ivy. I have a plant on top of my fabulous new black cabinet aka "Command Central"-ivy. I have a large topiary by my front door-ivy. I have a smaller topiary in my bathroom-ivy. I have a plant on top of the bookshelves in the living room-ivy. See what I mean??? I mean, I like ivy and all, but come on?! How come I never noticed that before? Funny. Anyway, I decided I wanted some variety and chose the top of the T.V. to start with. I had a little extra money from some side jobs (like 20 bucks, maybe less) and it just so happened that all flowers were on sale 50% off at Michael's a couple weeks ago.
I was inspired by my friend Karli's flowers. She did a great job and made a lovely arrangement for her entry table. Anyway, I love fallish colors and even though Spring is upon us that is what I wanted. I got a container at Goodwill on their half-price day that needed some work but it was the shape I wanted. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was white and had a shabby-chic look to it. Not bad at all, just not what I was going for. So I painted it brown and then dry brushed black over it to highlight the raised areas. It looks great! And only cost $1! In real life the white doesn't show through like in the picture. Weird.


Then I got some floral foam at the dollar store, again only paid $1 for that.
I then picked out some flowers that I liked and hoped for the best. The total for the flowers was $17.46, and OK--I added some ivy. I needed a little more filler and as previously mentioned, had an abundance of ivy at my disposal.
I think it came out pretty good! Not like I'd go pay $50 for it somewhere, but I really do like it and LOVE the variety it offers. I've broken out of my ivy rut! Huzzah! :) Just wanted to share.