My mother is extremely creative, especially when it comes to flower arrangements and setting up dining tables and making them look simple yet pretty. She figures unusual things out too - like the secret to lasting hydrangea arrangements. She's like a Martha Stewart. I'm lucky she has taught me how to do many of the creative things she's good at. I'm not sure how she figured this one out but the way you make hydrangea arrangements last longer is by filling your vase with ice rather than water. I'm going to show you in a series of pictures how I made two arrangements with hydrangeas & ivy taken from the yard with bouquets of Alstroemerias and baby roses from Trader Joes. I also used some rocks for extra appeal and to cover the stems. Step 1: Unpackage your flowers and lay them out. Gather greens from the yard. They are great to use as filler. Get your vases together. I used 2 square vases from Target. You also need good clippers for cutting the stems and leaves. Step 2: Cut down the stems and remove all the leaves from the stems otherwise it looks messy. Removing the leaves, gives the arrangement a much cleaner look. Step 3: Answer to the secret to lasting … [Read more...]