Woodland Winter Centerpiece

Celebrate the beauty of winter with this whimsical Woodland Winter Centerpiece.  Perfect for Christmas, or just to have on display throughout the cold months, this cute winter craft brings the beauty of nature indoors for all to see and admire.  This centerpiece would also be perfect for a winter wedding or a December baby shower.  Embellished with cute creatures and natural accents, this winter centerpiece is sure to delight and impress all who see it.

Materials:

• Floral Take-Apart Shears (7")
• Softgrip® PowerGear® Pruner
• The Original Orange-Handled Scissors™ (8")
• 2 – 3 Hydrangea stems
• 4 -5 stems Dusty Miller
• 12 stems Ranunculus
• 2 Birch tubes (sections of birch bark)
• Short, wide cylinder vase
• Water
• Birch twigs
• Moss
• Pinecones
• Faux votive candle
• A few match boxes and small wood cubes
• Lightweight, decorative paper
• String or thin ribbon
• Artificial snow

Instructions:

1. Begin by wrapping a section of birch bark around a shallow cylinder vase. Fill your vase with lukewarm water.
   
   
    
2. Remove the lower leaves from your hydrangea stems, leaving just the bloom on the end and a couple of leaves surrounding it. If any leaves fall below the water line, it will cause bacteria to grow, and shorten the life of your flower arrangement, so important to remove this foliage.
   
   
    
3. Trim the ends of the hydrangeas with your floral shears, and insert them into the vase at a slight angle, making sure the end of them stems go deep into the water. The hydrangeas will offer a nice support system for the flowers and foliage you’ll be adding to the arrangement. 
    
4. Next, add your foliage. Iselected Dusty Miller, but pine, cedar, or any other holiday greens will work nicely. Use your floral shears to trip the foliage into small sections, and add them to your centerpiece. Tuck them in and around your hydrangeas and distribute them evenly around the vase.   
   
   
    
5. The focal flower is added last. I chose ranunculus because they’re a hardy flower, with a long life. Roses would be lovely too.
   
   
    
6. Strip the stems clean of the lower foliage, trim the stems with your floral shears and add them to the vase, distributing them evenly around the arrangement, just like the foliage.
    
7. Take a birch tube section, turn it on its side, and place it next to your floral arrangement. Inside the tube, place a faux votive and build a small pile of “logs” around it to create your “fire”. The logs are just short sections of birch twigs trimmed from a branch, using a pair of pruners.
   
   
    
8. Tuck a little moss between the logs and sprinkle a few tiny pinecones inside the log too.
   
   
    
9. Next, add a pair woodland creatures to the scene. I found these little porcupine ornaments at an import store, and thought they worked perfectly.
    
10. Wrap a few tiny “gifts” for the critters to exchange.  I used some matchboxes and tiny wood cubes for the presents, wrapped them with a lightweight decorative paper, tied them with string, and added a punched paper bow.
    
    
     
11. To complete the scene, dust it with a little artificial snow and a few paper snowflakes.