My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Pick-Up Sticks

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.

Nursery Rhyme

Pick-up sticks twig and pumpkin design

That's pretty much the instructions for this design: Go for a walk, pick up sticks, lay them straight.

Pumpkins and twig and leaf insect

The stick insect took a bit more time to make, though!

Closer look at my Twig Stick insect

A closer look at my Twig Stick Insect

Floral art design Pick-up sticks

I wired the delicate twigs to look like they randomly fell into this upright, standing structure (just like the game Pick-Up Sticks) and then secured the sweet dumpling pumpkins into position.

Rosary vine and pumpkin floral art design

The rosary vine (Ceropegia woodii) is in a small test tube to make sure it will last as long as the other design elements. All I needed to do to finish my design was to add a few grasses and winged maple seed pods.

Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

29 September 2011 Twig and skeleton leaf Stick Insect

Made from dried cherry twigs and a skeleton leaf.

22 September 2012 Skeleton Leaves

Remove the pulp from leaves so that only the vain framework remain

Favourite Flowers

Ceropegia woodii

Rosary vine, Chain of Hearts, Collar of hearts and String of hearts

Related Designs

28 October 2015 On Pumpkin Coloured Days

Create a besom broom to sweep up those Autumn leaves

20 April 2016 That Will Be

Freestanding willow twig armature design

11 May 2016 Pour

Glue a twig vase and melt some plastic to create a tumbling design

25 May 2016 Half the Fun

Cut a cabbage to create a design platform

27 July 2016 Too Hot!

Leaning floral stems to stand on their own in a shallow container

21 September 2016 I found it this way: Spiderweb design

This was the first design I did in my "I found it this way" floral art demonstration

26 April 2017 In no time at all

Hana-Kubari twig armature

25 October 2017 When the pretty eyeballs you back!

Barely there skeleton blossoms with Eucalyptus eyes for my Halloween design... Oh! and a Willow Paddle, which probably should have been the main Tutorial... but... well...

22 November 2017 How do squirrels Cache a tree?

Hoard a few acorns in the fork of a twig to show off a single oncidium orchid.

28 February 2018 March Days

Line up a few frosted twigs to march across a shallow container

3 April 2019 Blossoming like a Caterpillar

Crafting caterpillars from blossoms

2 October 2019 Cross-hatch a Shadow Bright Autumn

A clever trick borrowed from art techniques to add dimension to a bright and colourful Autumn floral design.

30 October 2019 There once was a bat called Tequila, a Halloween story

An all plant zero waste, levitating, twig (with just a splatter of autumn leaves, a breath of spiderweb and float of roots) Halloween decoration with an eerie bat skeleton made...

28 October 2020 Magic Spell Number 614: How to make absolutely any task you need to do fun

A hint of a wreath table top design for pre-Halloween decorating.

14 April 2021 a Yay! You

A tiny Spring detail to add to a cute little floral design.

1 September 2021 It’s butter… nuts!

An it's not too early to decorate for Autumn, Autumn design

20 October 2021 Flying Lessons

An easy get ahead with Halloween decoration that will last.

12 October 2022 Ahead

Oh my... a corn leaf mummy head for autumn... looking ahead to Halloween styling.

26 October 2022 Arachnis Phobicus

A fun woven spider for Halloween decorating

8 February 2023 Snow… drops

A late winter design for minimal floral styling.

14 June 2023 Because I am beautiful!

It deserves a bowl all of it's own... right? I am (of course!) talking about these spectacular little sweet peas called King Tut. Not much else is needed. But add a cute little...

20 September 2023 Did you see that!?!

Take a handful of grass... but then add just enough design to make it interesting.