Keepsake Bouquet

This lovely arrangement bursts out from a keepsake box, and you won't believe how easy it is to make. Even the floral-challenged can look like a pro.

What you’ll need:

A keepsake box
A dozen roses
A bunch of bushy flowers (lilacs are used in this demo)
Ivy
A brick of florist foam

Keepsake box

The secret to a stunning arrangement is the container. Florists use a fancy-looking container they get for nothing and charge you a $50 premium for it. Go to a discount store like Ross Dress for Less or Marshall’s and look in the housewares section for containers. I found the damask upholstered keepsake box in this demo at Ross for $5.

Flowers

Don’t buy your flowers at the florist. Are you insane? Go to the supermarket or farmer’s market. You can get a dozen roses at the market for $9.99. In fact, I bought the roses for this demo at Home Depot for just $12.99 for 2 dozen, so I had enough for a whole other arrangement. For your other flower, choose a bushy variety that is texturally different from the rose, like hydrangeas or hyacinths. I chose lilacs because they were $4.99 at Home Depot.

Ivy

Find whatever you have in your yard. Any greenery besides ivy is fine. I actually got the ivy in this demo from the freeway overpass near my house. Yes, I just stopped the car, got out and snipped, and was on my way.

Floral foam

Available at any craft store.

Cut the floral foam so it will fit in the keepsake box. Line the box with plastic (I just cut the bottom corner of a plastic trash bag). Soak the floral foam in water. When it has completely absorbed the water, place the floral foam in the box with the plastic liner.

Stick several vines of ivy into the floral foam. You can stick in individual leaves or the entire vine. Just get good coverage all over the foam.

Start sticking the flowers into the foam. Cut the floral stems to about two inches, placing two or three roses in at a time, and then adding a sprig of the lilac. Work in between the ivy leaves so the ivy breaks up clusters of flowers.

Keep adding flowers until the arrangement is complete.