Decorate Your Home with Silk Artificial Flowers

When I started in the floral industry 30 years ago there were four floral choices, real, dried real, plastic and the newcomer a 'silk' flower that had thread strands on the petal edges. They looked 'fake' and served a purpose. They were used in instances where fresh flowers could not hold up well. I mainly used them for cemetery pieces. The silk and satin florals that the market offers today gives the chance for beautiful decorations and heirloom pieces. They are fashioned into wedding bouquets, clothing embellishments, funeral pieces and home decorative pieces. The term 'fake' flowers is very rarely used anymore. Artificial, permanent, life like and heirloom are all descriptions of today's fake flowers. I can tell you it is an excellent moment when someone has to go up to an arrangement and touch it to determine if it is real or artificial in the floral world today. These floral pieces are not just for florists and professional crafters anymore. Anyone can use these florals to make arrangements, crafted pieces and home decorations. Go into the floral aisle at a discount, craft or dollar store and you will see a wide variety of sizes, colors and kinds of flowers to chose from for your decor.

Basic tools You only need a few tools for floral decoration. A good pair of wire cutters is a must. You can find these at hardware, craft and discount stores. The average cost for a sturdy pair is $10.00 and up. A good pair will cut all sizes of wired stems, will remain sharp and last for years. Two pair of scissors, one for ribbons and cloth, the second a utility pair for cutting a variety of things. Glue gun, the best is a variant temperature but low melt will be fine. Be careful when using hot glue, some fabrics in silk florals can melt. Also have plenty of glue sticks on hand. When I'm doing projects I want at least a pound of sticks close by.

Great containers Look around your house. I guarantee you have many containers that will work as the base for your floral decorating. Old hats, trays, glass dishes, china, straw wreaths, baskets and recyclables including cans make great floral piece foundations.

10 Quick Ideas You do not need big flamboyant floral arrangements to start your home decorating touches.

1) Do you have a silk corsage from a wedding you were part of? Place it on your Bible when it is lying in it's place of honor on a shelf or night stand. You could even pin corsages to a curtain.

2) Take one stem of small to medium size blossoms and use your wire cutter to cut it into 2" to 3" segments. Place them into a tiny box that has a small square of foam that has been set with a glue gun. This tiny arrangement is cute in your china closet, on a window sill or a corner shelf.

3) Tuck floral stems in curtain tie backs in complimentary colors.

4) Buy a bush of silk flowers and place them into an unused cookie jar for an explosion of color in the kitchen.

5) Separate a stem filled with sprigs of flowers then tuck them into a cascading green houseplant that you have miraculously kept alive for a touch of bright color in the gray winter months. Use silk poinsettia blossoms at Holiday time.

6)Why keep the china your grandmother passed down to you tucked away for rare occasions. Take out one of the lovely cups and fill it with tiny rosebuds in the summer months, mini fall mums or colorful leaves in Autumn and bright colored daisies and mixed flowers for a birthday month. Tuck in a happy birthday sign too. At Christmas time put the china away and take out a cocoa mug and fill it with white pink and red silk poinsettias. These cups look sweet on a nightstand for you or a guest to enjoy. Just coil the wire stem with your hands until you can settle the flowers into the middle and top of the cup.

7) Be whimsical. Buy a single paper wrapped roll of inexpensive toilet paper and fill the center with silk flowers to set on the toilet tank in the bathroom.

8) Hot glue a ring of flowers on a straw hat. Hang it on a door, wall or set it on an antique chair that you have for decorative purposes. Place a book of poetry and a pair of gloves just under the rim for a beautiful touch

9) Buy a straw wreath and several stems of silk flowers. Add a spool of 2" to 3" wide ribbon that compliments your flowers. Simply cut wire stems at varying lengths and push them into the straw wreath at an an angle until in the position you want. You can decorate one side or the entire circle of the ring. If desired you can glue blossoms and leaves directly on to the wreath if you have trouble inserting stems into the material. After flowers are in place wrap ribbon around the wreath leaving gaps of straw showing. Hot glue ribbon ends in the back of wreath. Make a bow to add to the wreath. Hang on exterior door or wall. I like using over the door wreath holders. The straw wreath will set right onto the 'hook'. If you have a doll that is a treasure to you this is a great place to display it. Set the doll into the center of the wreath. Secure it with a ribbon tied around it's body under the clothing. I have a Lamb-chop puppet I like to set into a wreath at Christmas time. I had to put it on display where my kids could not reach it.

10)You can certainly make bigger floral bouquets now that you've done these simple things. Do you have an awesome article that would make a great conversation piece if you turn it into a floral decoration? You can make a great floral arrangement by placing foam into a variety of items and adding gorgeous silk florals to it. How about the cut glass punch bowl for your dining room table, the retired fireman's boot from your Dad's treasure trove next to the door in the family room, the ceramic picture and bowl you made for the bathroom or the tin can that once held popcorn for a large living room corner arrangement? Look around and use your imagination. Floral decor will fit in anywhere in your home.

Recyclables Clean tin cans make great arrangement containers for the kitchen. You can also recycle those glass steak sauce bottles or an old salad dressing cruet. The glass bottles with wide necks can be filled half full with colored sand or stone then floral stems can be set into the material. Tie a ribbon bow on to the neck of the bottle for a more finished look. Do the same with tin vegetable or fruit cans and make a small arrangement with silk flowers, add in plastic vegetables or fake fruit for a very cute sideboard or refrigerator centerpiece. Cookie tins, children's sand pails and jelly jars are some of the many recyclable items you can use for floral home decorations.