flowers make me smile: roses

first of all.
GO CHECK OUT CAKE AND COTTON RIGHT NOW!
it is so suuuuuper cute!
it just got a make-over.

every single one of you "Reed life" followers should follow leslie and i over there too.
i am telling you,
until i get my "reed life" done up by THE AMAZING HEATHER,
that is gonna be the cuter of my blogs...
just go.

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now.
ask and you shall receive.
this is the beginning of a new series.
"flowers make me smile"
i will share the things i know(and my opinions too) about flowers.
one bouquet at a time.
it may be simple, but it is what i have to give.

ok.
so roses may seem a bit predictable.
but, look at these beauties!
i mean, i couldn't turn away from these lovelies.
and they smell divine....wish i could send a puff of amazing roses scented air through this computer for you.....
that is my first tip.
choose pretty flowers.
surprise!
they should look fresh and be firm.
and they should be the ones that are in season.
i know, i know this is obvious...but i gotta start at the beginning, right?
so:
pretty.
fresh.
in season.
and the next tip?
your water, that you are arranging in, should be mostly foliage free the whole time.
that means when you take your costco wrapping off your 24 roses ($15.99)
you need to strip the leaves off to the one or two top leaves (if you are doing a shorter arrangement, like i am)
see the picture below?

now you are going to have your container ready.

full of water and flower food, if they give you the packet.

but you are going to arrange the first part of this in your hand.

just like the sassy floral designers that make wedding bouquets do (no offense, i used to be one-a those ladies...and i was pretty sassy.)

just start adding them to your fist, adding and re placing so that they look pretty on top.

i did a little over half of them this way.

then i cut off the stems a lot.

this part you have to eye-ball since it really depends on your container.

now try it in the pot, and cut off a little more...that's right...you got it!

now fill in with the other roses(cut to size) and assess your greenery.

see below?

they are so stingy with greenery!

and that stuff is really important.

it helps things stay where you want them.

try to get a bouquet with some greenery, dude.

this one came with tall greens so i had to improvise.

see how i took that tall greenery and made a loop?

 i just bent it over and wrapped it around itself.

it smells so good.

then i just shoved it in.

if the greens are big clumps cut them into manageable pieces.

if it was spring, my ivy would be taking over in the backyard and i'd add some trailing out....

that is a good thing to do.

add your own greens (from your backyard or your associations eucalyptus tree...who's gonna care?)

that can help any arrangement.

now take a step back.

smell.

and take it upstairs to your bedside table.

just do it.

you deserve it.

don't ask questions.

doesn't that make you smile?