Basket of Daisies

Recently I was talking to my friend and mentor, Kelly, about materialism. I was telling her how I struggle to let my love of crafting, creating and decorating get out of hand and lean heavily towards the side of finding my joy in "stuff" instead of in God. She shared 2 Corinthians 9:8, 10-11 with me.

"And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others....For God is the one who gives seed to the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will give you many opportunities to do good, and he will produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched so that you can give even more generously. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will break out in thanksgiving to God."

This was really convicting because I can be a pretty selfish person, so Kelly challenged me to bless someone else with the talent and resources God has given me this week. Thus, the basket of daisies. They're for friends of ours that are going to a hard time. My friend Laura helped me put this together on Saturday. Pictures and directions for how to make one of your own are below. Now here is my challenge to each of you: How can you use a talent or resource of yours to bless someone else this week?

Materials:

1 Basket (mine was 14in. diameter)

3-4 blocks of desert foam

2 bushes of Gerber daisies (mine are assorted yellow, white and green)

2 bushes of Pink Hydrangeas

1 bush White Limonium filler flowers (or other filler)

1 bush dangling white flowers like these (Does anyone know what these are called?)

1 strand green garland baubles (sold in 6ft but I only used 3ft of it)

1 little birdie (optional)

1 small bag fake Spanish Moss (I used the tan color)

Wire cutters

(I purchased these at JoAnn's which was having a fabulous sale, but most craft stores should have the materials)

1. First cut the desert foam (I used a kitchen knife) to fit the inside of the basket. You will have to make several cuts to get the foam to fit well in the bottom of the basket, and then to fill in the gaps. I stacked 2 layers of foam on top of each other to make a solid base that filled the basket, leaving about 2 inches from the top of the foam to the top of the basket.
2. Next use wire cutters to cut the individual stems away from the bush base. Make sure to cut as low as possible to keep as much of the length of the stem as you can.
3. Arrange the Gerber daisies first, much like you would a vase of flowers, in a rotating circular pattern with 2-3 daisies as a peak point and then some lower and angled out more than up. You will need to push them in far enough to the foam that they don't droop, which is about 1-2 inches in.
4. Use the cut hydrangeas to fill in around the daisies, filling in most of the gaps at the top and the upper part of the sides. Keep most of the hydrangeas at a lower level than the daisies, so the daisies stand out the most
5. At this point use the Spanish Moss to cover the desert foam and fill in gaps around the flower stems. It's easier to do it now rather than wait until all of the filler flowers have been added, trust me.
6. Add the draping white flowers, some higher like the hydrangeas and some lower to flow over the edge of the basket.
7. Insert the White Limonium to fill in any remaining gaps, especially around the lower edge of the basket. Put one or two stems at the center to accent the daisies and hydrangeas.
8. Cut the green bauble garland into 6 inch sections and insert them in the same way to accent areas that don't "pop" or add color in any areas with too many white filler flowers.
9. Finally, find a home for the little birdie, just inside the base of the basket and enjoy!

Note: It helps to decide what will be the front of your basket when arranging the flowers. My friend Laura and I failed to do this. We tried, but we kept "losing" the front, which we decided was a good thing.

Create

Creating things has always been one of my passions. I love taking something that is ugly and making it beautiful, giving something useless a purpose and combining items to make something new. When I was young my parents always encouraged my creativity. I had colored sand, play-doh, paper beads, sewing supplies, embroidery, paints, coloring books, mosaic puzzles and probably more. If I was ever bored, my mom would remind me of a craft I could do.

This desire to create served me well while teaching. Nearly half of my time was spent creating lessons, materials and activities to engage my students. But it seemed that over the years, with the hectic pace of life, I had let large portions of my creativity slip away. Frankly, I realized in January that it had been too long since I'd allowed myself to relax by having a hobby. And no, making ESL materials or reading a book for work or school does not count as relaxing (I really had to remind myself).

This said, I'm forcing myself to re-discover my passion to create, in some old ways and some new. I plan on sharing some of the results on here.

My first projects have come from learning to use the Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 software. I purchase it during a special last year, so I can make a wedding album for my best friend. I've been pretty happy with the software so far, and was even able to use it to make a newsletter for our work with refugees. I also used it to create the header for this blog (see the top). Here are a few pictures of other things I've designed while learning to use the software.

(P.S.) If anyone ever needs photo cards, scrapbooking pages or announcements designed, let me know!