Faux Much Fun!

It is an on going battle...to faux, or not to faux.

I say, why not? As realistic as some of the faux flowers, or permanent botanical, as I like to say, are these days, it's worth it. It's worth the zero to low maintenance alone!

Creating a realistic arrangement is easy when you select the right components. The trick is to look with a designers eye, use things that are natural to help pull off the parts that are not....

I love using grasses, twiggy twigs, rocks, shells, bamboo, moss....and that's what I selected, along with some nice looking white orchids. I decided to use a beautiful clam shell for a container

Also, I found this fantastic pear shaped terrarium and had to have it! (Tuesday Morning) I decided to create a realistic looking terrarium

Hot glue {slightly used} Styrofoam into your container of choice :)

Cover with moss. This is actually faux too.

Now I can't begin to teach floral design from a computer screen, but , begin with your orchids in the middle, I just used two, and work out from that.
Using rocks, lotus pod, etc...helps give it a natural, realistic look. The reindeer moss is preserved and dyed, I love the bold green!
I used the same elements in the pear too. Rocks, moss twigs, lotus pod, and a sprig of maiden hair fern. It looks pretty convincing!

So sweet!

I am happy with how they turned out! I have been doing this for many years...but if you're a beginner, or just want to create your own arrangement, study how the flowers naturally grow. I used 2 bamboo stick to 'hold up' the orchids, just as if they were real...


Faux is not so bad!

It's faux much fun!

Sorry, that was cheesy!

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, leave it for me in the comments and I will respond to you there. Also, if you want to see even more photos of Faux Much Fun {and more}, visit my Flickr photostream. Check it out on my side bar!

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful response about the Etsy article! It has been so exciting! I am hoping to get together a giveaway, since reaching 500 followers...I was hoping to have it together before I reached this wonderful milestone, but it snuck up on me! Stay tuned!
I hope you are inspired!





Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life

Breathing Space

(Photo of my niece at Cape Lookout National Seashore)

I had such a wonderful time in North Carolina...visiting with family and friends, a much needed break from everyday life.
As Summer winds down,

I hope to share some of the places I went.

Thanks for visiting me and come back soon! Thank you for sticking with me while I've been gone!

Painting Ceramics

Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday!! Yeah!! Thanks to Susan @ the porch for hosting a fun party! Make sure you visit everyone and get inspired!!

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming to see me! :) It never fails that I have TINY metamorphosis'! I do do room re-do's but these tiny projects are so fun! I hope you are inspired!

I frequent the GW a lot and often find old, ugly, done-wrong containers...like this:

#1 Before

This is not too bad, kind of a coppery color..the paint job...ok. It was a funny paint too, very slick, I had to prime it first and I'm not really a primer-kind-of-gal! It was really slick!
It's just a terra cotta urn shape, with an egg and dart motif around the mouth and some simple fluting underneath, I always like this shape...

#2 Before

After a good coat (2) of primer, it was ready to go! I painted it white and it was better already...

#3 Paint white

Next, I used some watered down acrylic paint to age the pot. I love how aging looks in the detail...I used the paint-on/wipe-off method...I really have no good dish towels left! :)

#4 Age The egg and dart looks great and really stands out now!
#5 Age
This process took no time at all...I let it cure overnight and the next day I sealed it with a coat of poly.

#6 Seal #7 Finished project

Using seashells and angel root, I put together just something simple....and easily changed

(See my bottles I got @ Nell Hill's?:)

I hope you have enjoyed my mini Met! I hope your inspired to look at poor ugly pots in a different way !

Thanks again Susan for hosting!