It's a rare project in life that is simple, inexpensive AND impressive. I mean, you can hit one or two of those things every once in a while, but all 3?? That's as rare as an unmodified Real Housewife. None of whom are simple, easy, inexpensive or impressive by the way.
I ditch the bows in summer and tie a little posie on presents. It's fast, easy, & automatically makes everyone looking at the gift table think you are the best gift giver. Make sure your name is prominently visible on the tag obviously if you plan to revel in their admiration.
This is the type of wrapping that allows you to give gifts like toenail clippers or used batteries for weddings, because they're only going to remember the flowers.
All you need is ribbon or twine, a few flowers and sometimes a flower vial.
These are vials that I've hoarded over the years and I realize it sounds odd but I think everyone should have a stash of floral vials for floral vial emergencies. I use them all the time for different things. Stuff like these floral bows, for keeping my Monarch milkweed alive and .... O.K. well that's all I can think of at the moment but I'm pretty sure I use them for more than that.
You should be able to buy a few from your local florist, or they might just give you a couple. If you can't manage that you can buy them in different sizes from Amazon.
O.K., let's kick off our shoes and get to this.
We'll start with the easiest version of a floral bow. Just use whatever you have growing or can pinch from somewhere else.
1. Sweet Pea Posie tied with a bow.
Sweet peas with satin bow.
Just tie a ribbon around the flowers and then around the wrapped gift. That's it. No floral vial, no nothing. Because there is going to come a time when you need to wrap a present but you don't have a floral vial.
Some flowers will do just fine making it from your house to the event without wilting to the point that they look pathetic. Others? Not so much.
Any flower that's lacy or airy with thin stems doesn't do well at holding water on their own. So they wilt very quickly.
To Wrap or Not to Wrap - the naked vial question.
Whether or not you wrap your vial with twine or ribbon is up to you. Depending on the wrapping, I don't mind if the vial shows. Like on this present that's minimal and earthy.
3. Perennial Sweet Peas with Tendrils
Just a little bundle of flowers is fine, but with any floral arrangement, even a floral bow, the greenery is what makes it.
What to use for greenery:
Leaves from whatever flower you're using make the best greenery, but if that isn't an option then these common garden leaves work great.
- Hosta
- Peony
- Geranium
- Coral Bells
- Raspberry canes
- Herbs (parsley, oregano, dill)
- Ivy
- Dusty Miller
- Fern
- Lily of the Valley (just the leaves)
- Sweet Pea tendrils
One BIG flower
O.K., the thing about this one is you have to cut a circular hole in the box, and push the vial of water into the hole. A hydrangea will wilt without water.
4. Going All Out
With 2 floral vials, and a few more flowers you can go all out.
This isn't the kind of present you want the vial showing, so make sure they're hidden with ribbon.
Before you lay the vials down on the paper double check to make sure they aren't leaking. Old vials can get tears in the rubber that make them leak and stuffing too many stems into the vials can make them leak as well.
If you can't help but see the vials, then wrap them in ribbon so they're at least dressed for the occasion.
In This Floral Bow
Spencer Giant Mix Sweet Peas, Chantilly Lace Snapdragons, Bupleurum, English Lavender, Cupcake Blush Cosmos, Mignonette.
I should like for you to prepare yourself for the adulation, cheers and mass fainting that will result after gifting someone with a floral bouquet bow.
I’ve been doing a similar simple version with greenery ripped from any nearby plants and twine or raffia. This one was a christening gift for a great niece named “Fern”. Inside was a teeny silver pendant with a teeny fern impression.
I was very proud of that lol.
I never would have thought to pluck some fern - it looks great. ~ karen!
Lucky folks who receive gifts from you, Karen. They're truly lovely!
Such a great idea - no other wrapping compares. A close second is the little red truck carrying a cut Christmas tree and leaving tracks in the snow so I never forget how much I loved it. I did add yellow stain under the tree that I planted on the surface with a cute plastic pup nearby. No one wanted to open their presents on Christmas morning and ruin the wrapping. So fun!
I do like wrapping! ~ karen
1) I love this! 2) I have no idea how to replicate this because all of the flowers in my garden are full of bugs. Which I am fine with. That is their ecological relationship. But I think the effect would be spoiled if I gave my loved one a present covered with ants and earwigs.
Thank you, Karen. This is just what we Americans needed this morning! You are the best ❤️
Just say the bugs must have crawled over from your sister's present. (or whomever) ~ karen!
I love this. They are super clever and beautiful. Also though - and I am not a hoarder who plans to die alone with cats - I but I hate throwaway plastic things and what they do to This Planet That Does Not Belong To Us. And so I cannot seem to make myself throw out those vials. They’re not big enough to hold a mixed drink and I haven’t been able to find small enough goldfish, so my best idea so far was that as they look a little bit like the little vials pathologists use to collect your blood samples, when I am attacked by wild animals*, I could run into the house, get a ladder, find the box with these in it, and use them to harvest my lost blood for re-insertion. It is possible that your vial use solution may be a better plan. *We all know Australia to be a dangerous place, so of course this is quite likely. PS I love all your posts, so since you’re obviously really good at this doing stuff thing, any suggestions you have for protecting myself from wild animal attacks will be welcome.
Can't top this comment, lol. 😁
Haha, thank you Kat. This is probably because a) my thought processes make you feel rightly my intellectual and practical superior, or b) because in this feed, at least how it appears on my screen, your comment indeed falls physically directly below mine. Proving that, the powers of the internet are as boundless as we had all feared. Thirdly, it could be because this is a comment from a Karen to a Karen, and that could be some kind of vortex of Can I Speak to the Manager, and you got scared. hugs to you xoxo.
I would actually encourage you to wear belt with offal hanging off of it and then ask you to send me photos. ~ karen!
ohh. I feel like I might upcycle Wonder Woman’s old shovel handle. One end for selfies, the other for self defence. Thank you for your lovely blog, Artful Karen. It’s really pretty, useful, and fun. x
You are definitely the 'Martha Stewart' of real people. Your artistic talent is quite sublime. Kudos.
That's it. I'm changing the name of this blog to the much better, Martha for the Masses. Thank you for the inspiration. ~ karen!
It was my compliment that you have well deserved and earned.