How to Make Holiday Centerpieces

Suzanne Taylor: My name is Suzanne Taylor. I am from Artistic Gardens, Flower Shop and Greenhouse in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Today, we are going to be talking about holiday centerpieces.

The first one will be a holiday chimney arrangement with red carnations and holiday greens. The second one will be a candy cane basket arrangement. The third arrangement will be a formal arrangement all in white with two candles. Then, we will do a base arrangement with just greenery, holly, and a nice pretty bow. The one after that is going to be a basket of just greenery which is great for any occasion, location outside or inside. Then, the final one will be a boxwood tree.

Tools that you are going to need will include a pair of clippers for the evergreens and the holly because they have tough stems, a short pair of scissors to cut ribbon, a pair of wire cutters for wire. We will need some oasis tape and some Kresge tape, and various lengths of wire.

I want to talk about safety for a minute. The scissors are nice that you will be using and the clippers are very, very sharp. So you want to be extremely careful. I have been doing this for a long time, so I tend to go rather quickly. But I am always very cautious not to cut my fingers because it gets rather painful. The Glue Gun is also extremely hot, that you want to be very cautious of. Keep a little pan of water near by, so if you should get some glue on your skin, you can immediately dip it in to the cool water. That will be keeping you from getting a second degree burn.

I have been in this business over 35 years. I started out working for other flower shops, taking classes, and learning at seminars. I have owned my own business for over 24 years now. We are members of FTD and Teleflora Wire Services. I have six employees. They have come to me, trained, and I have also trained many of them who have actually gone on to open their own shops now. This time of the year we are very busy with holiday centerpieces, reeves, and boxwood trees. So that's what we are going to start with is a globe hurricane arrangement. So let's get started.