| Go out for a walk, maybe with your dog or a | | | | flower arrangement. |
| friend. Go to a park, field or overgrown | | | | |
| area, these are the places that you will find | | | | When you get home stand all your stems in a |
| lots of dried vegetation. I say vegetation | | | | vase. Seeds will probably drop out along it |
| because weed means unwanted plant, and | | | | the odd bug. You may want to return these |
| although you are collecting what other people | | | | later. |
| deem as weeds, you in fact want them. | | | | |
| | | | Give some of your findings that frosty |
| Take a bag with you and a pair of scissors. | | | | Christmas feel by spray painting them silver. |
| Some stalks may be too tough to break with | | | | Read the back of the tin before you begin and |
| just your fingers. You may need gloves too in | | | | follow the directions for using spray paints. |
| case some plants have thorns or spikes. Under | | | | Don't paint all of your stems remember less |
| no circumstances should you pick plants from | | | | is more. |
| other peoples gardens, unless you have asked | | | | |
| for permission to do so. | | | | Add a splash of colour to the bouquet by |
| | | | introducing Christmas baubles or ribbons. |
| You may find grasses of different types. Some | | | | Glue or wire a bauble to a kebab skewer and |
| with heads like mini fox's tails others may | | | | add to the display. |
| look more like trees. | | | | |
| | | | To make a bow, take a length of wide ribbon |
| Look out for unusual seedpods on the plants, | | | | and fold it back and forth a couple of times. |
| you may be lucky enough to find a poppy seed | | | | Scrunch up one end and secure it with wire. |
| head or a thistle. Pinecones are treasures, | | | | Stick the ribbon onto a kabab stick. |
| use craft wire or glue to attach the cone to | | | | |
| a wood kabab skewer and then use as another | | | | To present this gift of nature as a gift, |
| specimen to add to your collection. | | | | arrange the dried and painted flowers in a |
| | | | vase or form a bouquet secured in place with |
| Sometimes flowering plants dry out and leave | | | | an elastic band and tie a large ribbon in a |
| a structure which, once supported, flowers. | | | | bow around the stems covering the elastic |
| These stems can look very dramatic in a dried | | | | band. |