Halloween is here and I am hosting a Country Bumpkin Pumpkin Party! I wanted to create a fun yet sophisticated arrangement for decoration. I had tons of pumpkins for the pumpkin carving party and recently went to the Dahlia farm, so I decided to create an arrangement using the pumpkin as the vessel. This is a simple project and would be fun to do with the kids.
To get started, you will need one small pumpkin. I think these arrangements are best as a center piece on a dinner table. Try using a gourd for a thanksgiving centerpiece. You will also need floral foam. You can buy this from any craft store. One pumpkin carving knife. Moss to cover the floral foam, also found at any craft store. And most importantly, flowers! For a small pumpkin, you could use 3 large flowers and some small filler flowers. I used Dahlias and red sunflowers.
First, you want soak one piece of floral foam in water so that it is completely submerged. Do not force the foam down, it will sink once it has absorbed all the water. This will take about 5 minutes. Next, carve around the stem of your pumpkin. Be sure to cut a large enough circle to hold your floral foam and all your flowers. Clean out the inside of your pumpkin. Grab your foam from the water and place it inside of the hole in the top of the pumpkin. If it doesn't fit, just cut it down to size. You want only about an inch of foam sticking out of the top of your pumpkin. Next, you will need to soak and squeeze out the excess water from your moss. You will only need a fist full of moss to cover the foam. Place the moss over the foam and allow it to hang down the sides of the pumpkin.
After all your foam is covered, decide where you want your flowers placed. Cut the stems of the flower at an angle leaving only about a 2 inch stem. Holding the stem at the end where it was cut, gently push the stem into the floral foam. Continue until all the moss is covered or until you have achieved your desired design. You can use any filler flower to fill in the gaps between the main flowers. In the end, it should look a little something like this...
