Pretty Upcycled Vases: Keep Your Eye Out for Trims

Yes, the flowers are fabulous (Paul McCartney Rose, lilac-colored stock, yellow lantana and a pale pink gerbera daisy - all from the garden and pots on my patio) but it is the easy vase that I think makes a bouquet like this happen.  Flower arranging for the home shouldn't be stuffy or formal.  All you need is a few pretty blooms (notice how none of these flowers "match" or echo each other in color or shape, yet they still look beautiful together) and an appropriately size vase to display them in.

This little beauty is a Smuckers jam jar trimmed with a piece of Martha Stewart cardstock "border sticker."  The craft and scrapbook stores are loaded with long strips of paper that are often scalloped, gilded or embossed.  Why not choose one and wrap it around a jam jar (fasten with tape) for your own little touch?

I keep my sanity all Winter long by keeping my eye out for pretty touches to add to a jam jar vases - paper trim, ribbon, gems. The flowers I love so much will be blooming again before I know it.

If you have a collection of "ready-to-give" vases on hand, the more likely you will be to cut a little bouquet and bring it to a friend.  And you know they'll reuse the vase again and again.  Win-win!