Add Life to a Garland or Tree with Fresh Flowers

I like to add a little life to my artificial stairway garland with fresh flowers.

In the past, I've done this by putting individual stems into water tubes and tucking them among the branches. This year I found some clear plastic balls at the craft store

and decided to use them to hold the flowers.

The balls hold much more water than a water tube (less maintenance)

and I love the way they glow when the garland is lit.

I was worried that the water would make the ornaments too heavy to just wire them as is to the branches (the metal caps tend to pull off very easily).

So I adapted them to be more secure.

I cut off the metal prongs.

I removed the cap, flattened some of the tongs so that I could slide it

into a hole punch and then punched a hole in the center.

 

I used E6000 to glue the cap back onto the ball and let it dry overnight.

I wrapped a wire around the neck of the ball.

I wired the ball to the stairway garland.

I used a turkey injector (without the needle) to fill the ball with water.

I inserted a couple of flower stems and then

surrounded it with some red glass balls for more color.

You could also use these fresh floral ball ornaments to liven up a Christmas tree!

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Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Funky Junk Interiors: Saturday Nite Special, Marvelously Messy: A Marvelous Mess, Fireflies and Jellybeans: Christmas Challenge

Glass Ornament Vases

Everyone loves decorating with glass Christmas balls. They're fairly inexpensive, come in several colors and patterns, and have the perfect amount of Christmas bling!

Of course, they look great on the tree, but did you ever imagine

they could also make a pretty amazing vase!

Just remove the silver cap, fill with water and add your favorite flower. You will need to add some tiny pebbles or sand to weight the bottoms if you want them to stand alone.

They look pretty cool when grouped together to form a super easy centerpiece.

I filled several glass pieces - that I've picked up from thrift stores - with amber glass rocks. I added LED candles among the rocks of some of them. (Tip - put the candle in upside down so it will be easier to turn it on and off.) Add a flower adorned ornament vase

to each glass piece and your done! SUPER EASY!!

Sharing with:

Homemaker On A Dime: Creative Blogger's Party Hop, Craft-O-Maniac: Craft-O-Maniac Monday, The Shady Porch: Rock & Share, Ginger Snap Crafts: Wow Me Wednesday, Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesday, Under the Table and Dreaming: Sunday Showcase Party, Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff, I Gotta Create: Winter Wonderland, Funky Junk Interiors: Saturday Nite Special, Marvelously Mess: A Marvelous Mess