A Dried Flower Arrangement

Hello ya'll!

Over the past few years, I've been seeing these arrangements of dried stems and flowers: 

 

It may have been part of the cottagecore movement where the aesthetics include plants of all kinds, a palette of neutral and muted colors, and the goal of sustainability. 

I like its natural vibe and the promise that there will always be flowers at home that don't need to be watered or replaced.

Using this as inspiration, let's create something similar. Why buy when we can D-I-Y?

This empty hot sauce bottle will serve as the vase. I cleaned it inside and out and removed the label and lid.

I'm going to try out a faux terra-cotta technique that I learned from crafter Geneva Vanderzeil. For this, we'll need acrylic paint (any color will do as long as they are water-based), a paint brush and baking powder. 

In a small container, add one cup of paint and one teaspoon of baking powder. Mix together with your paint brush until well incorporated. The paint will fizz up and thicken like yogurt. 

Apply the mixture to the bottle with several coats and allow this to dry for a few hours.

 Once dry, the bottle will have a textured feel and matte finish.

Put in some dry stems and flowers. I got these from the park last winter but these can easily be collected from your backyard. Let it dry for a few days before positioning them in the bottle. Dried flowers are also available at craft stores and on-line.  

You can even add fragrance oil in the bottle and the stems will serve as diffuser sticks just like in this project.

Display the dried flower arrangement on a console table, shelf or desk. It's a little piece of the outdoors!

And that is how I turned a hot sauce bottle and some foraged branches from blah to TADA!

 

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