Have I mentioned that my mom is super smart?  I’m finally old enough to really appreciate how awesome and talented she is.  I mean I always knew she was, but it is hard to really appreciate it until you try to do it yourself.  For instance – arrangements.  Look at how fabulous this is!  I’m making her tell me all of her secrets so maybe one day when I have kids that are all grown up they will see how super smart I am!  (or they will read these posts and understand where they get their terrible grammer/spelling from…) Whatev’s!   

So, I have decided to break down some of the basic rules she tries to follow when she starts to arrange.

1. Pick your base.

Lay down a colored runner or piece of cloth.  This will be the key piece that will help tie your whole arrangement into place.  It needs to go down first!!

2. You need varying height. 

Use anything you have around the house to achieve this.  We used tupperware!  I have a million different sizes and heights of it.  You can use the cup side or the flat side.  The cup side is great for round and glass objects because they sit a bit better and wont fall off if your table gets bumped.

3. Layer and build.

Start out with your base objects or your focal pieces and build out and up.  Take your greenery or flowers and lay them out to create the perfect length that you want for your table or mantel.  Then begin to place the rest of your decorative greenery on top and slightly shorter than the layer before.

4. Final touches.

Place items like gourds and balls last.  They are usually very light and can be used to fill in holes in your greenery.  This can add a great pop of color as well.

5. It’s in the details.

Step back and take a look constantly.  It is important that your arrangement feels balanced.  Feel free to add on little bits of sparkle and some final sticks or fun accent stems.

This is my mother’s mantel at her house.  We tease that Fall has thrown up on her mantle!  It looks awesome.

She has these lanterns out as her normal decor but I love how she adds some pumpkins and pinecones to make them feel more like fall.

This is another mantel my mother put together.  I love the sunflowers.

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