My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Bite and snap a sturdy twig

This is an easy way to cut twigs that is just too thick or hard to cut with your shears or scissors.

Let the scissors bite into the twig.

Let the scissors bite into the twig.

Make small but firm pinch cuts all the way around the twig.

Scribe and break the twig.

This creates a scribe line

The twig will now easily snap in two.

The twig will now easily snap in two right on the scribe line.

Break the sturdy twig on the scribed line.

Neat and without having to saw.

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

Related Designs

22 May 2012 Lean

Place short twigs, leaning to one side to create a flower frog

7 December 2011 Forest Filigree Christmas Wreath

I wanted my Hazel twig wreath to look like forest filigree: mysteriously overgrown, tangled with age and dappled with moss and lichen. The wreath is also dressed with fresh and...

19 February 2011 Crossing Boundaries

Twig waterfall creates the boundary between the "under" and the "over" of the design. Tutorial: How to cover test tubes with Rainbow Oasis

11 April 2011 Glass

A small pane of glass connects the top and the bottom of the design

12 April 2011 Intimate Dinner For Two- Table Setting Competition Class

Floral Sushi Dinner, for two

3 July 2012 Twig-a-tude

Stack and wire twigs to create a twig mushroom with attitude for summer

7 April 2012 Spring Clean

A clean Easter design. The tiny blossoms are Kalanchoe 'Calandiva Pink'. Tucked low in the paper eggs are a few Cymbidium orchids and the twigs are contorted hazel. The...

24 July 2012 A little bit of Art and Soul

A twig structure with roses

16 October 2012 Bright, brighter… brightest!

Celebrate the bright colours of autumn with lilies and Chinese lanterns

24 December 2012 Please have snow… and presents under the tree

Wire a Tiny Twig Treasure Trunk for small Christmas gifts

30 January 2013 It's High Time for Tea: from craft to art, taking a delicious floral journey with wire techniques

This was my last two designs for my It's High Time for Tea Floral Craft and Art Demonstration at The Capilano Flower Arranging Club meeting

20 February 2013 Designing with Mother Nature

Retail florists and wholesalers are already designing, ordering and preparing their product range for Mother's Day. This is my article that I wrote for the Mother's Day Design...

14 August 2013 Something Like This

Stack and glue a large twig rectangle to hang as room divider

25 September 2013 All that glitters is gold

Phalaenopsis Orchid made from Autumn leaves

2 October 2013 Prickly

Build a twig porcupine armature for fall flowers

18 December 2013 Jingle Belling

Glue a stacked twig round-about to use as a Christmas table top wreath

1 January 2014 It's the moment you recognize the greatest source of strength in something... oh, so fragile

Fragile ice baubles, cyclamen and moss design

8 January 2014 It's stick season!

Snap and stack an glue a few twigs to create a lace like armature

22 January 2014 How do you do?

Snow and twigs winter design

21 May 2014 Square

Glue a stick cube to fit a cube vase

11 June 2014 To

Make a quick and easy twig disk armature

18 June 2014 Stuck stick

Glue a few sticks to create a hollowed out crescent armature

10 September 2014 Creativity will come

My Twig Bridal Basket design and Tutorial featured in the Extraordinary Wedding Flowers issue of the New Zealand Floral Design Magazine

26 November 2014 Late Autumn Early Christmas.

Glue a ground foundation for a late autumn design

3 December 2014 Finding Common Ground

My article and twig boutonniere design featured in the Winter issue of DIY Weddings Magazine

7 January 2015 Any Which Way

Using a traditional Ikabana Kenzan to place flowers in a shallow container

18 March 2015 Spring Dreaming

A bowl full of miniature Chrysanthemums

25 March 2015 Pulling some Strings

Braid a twig blind armature

30 April 2015 Layer

Design One from my Inspiration Video: Use the same floral ingredients, willow twigs, Lichen, Spanish Moss, Kalanchoe and Gypsophila to make three distinctly different contemporary...

24 June 2015 Staying connected

My article and a floral cell phone re-charge station design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

29 July 2015 Beautiful Things

Glue a few twigs into a disk armature

9 September 2015 Fall Treasures

A sisal mat armature for fall twigs flowers and leaves

28 October 2015 On Pumpkin Coloured Days

Create a besom broom to sweep up those Autumn leaves

9 December 2015 On a Grand Scale

My article and a floral panel design featured in DIY Weddings Magazine

10 February 2016 Be My Twig-Heart

Glue an upright twig heart for a freestanding Valentine's display

17 February 2016 Where would you put it!?!

Tie a twig armature enclosure for fresh flowers

6 April 2016 Take it for a Spin

Make a clear grid to suspend plant material on

20 April 2016 That Will Be

Freestanding willow twig armature design

27 April 2016 Sprout

A sneaky way to condition new growth to add into your Spring design

8 June 2016 When the wind whisper

Glue a fantasy forest from Popsicle sticks, grape vine tendrils and willow tips

24 August 2016 Details

Glue twigs to create a vase shaped armature

2 November 2016 Pick your poison

A Fun Halloween design with "poisonous mushrooms" tucked between the moss and petals

30 November 2016 All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate): Worth a second look

This was the fourth (and last) design I did in my "All things Autumn (by which I mean all things chocolate)" floral art demonstration

4 January 2017 New Year's Wreath

Decorate an artificial wreath with fresh flowers and frosted twigs

18 January 2017 Look at you!

Tie twigs to shape a hanging armature

8 February 2017 It could hold

A fragile looking heart made from twigs that can hold a lot of orchids

26 April 2017 In no time at all

Hana-Kubari twig armature

12 July 2017 Sparkler

A radiating twig design

6 September 2017 One of those difficult questions

Glue a bunch of twigs inside a container to create a round stack

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...

1 November 2017 A Round

Create a delicate design that rests lightly on the edge of a container

8 November 2017 Psithurism

Craft a three tiered, dried autumn leaf armature

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.

29 November 2017 Marcescent

Glue a delicate autumn room devider

13 December 2017 Just hear those sleigh bells jingling

Craft a bark sleigh that will last for weeks.

28 February 2018 March Days

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

25 April 2018 Get in line!

Line up a few pussy willow twigs for a hanging armature

14 November 2018 For just this moment… let’s take a break

Simplicity to showcase the perfection of the Lisianthus buds

5 December 2018 Personal Preference

The third design I did for my book launch demonstration looking at aspects that influences my effortless style of designing.

16 January 2019 Every. Single. Week.

Stand tulips upright in a shallow container with a suspended twig armature.

6 February 2019 Tread softly on winter

A delicate winter twig armature to show off the delicate beauty of these early spring coloured tulips.

13 February 2019 Pick Love

Craft a willow heart to display 12 red roses to celebrate Valentine's Day.

17 April 2019 Hopping with Excitement

A hoppingly-fun Spring design for Easter.

15 May 2019 Heard it through the grapevine?

Have you heard? I have wonderful news this week. Oh! and I also have this pretty grapevine armature shaped like the petals of an open rose to show you. But... Have you heard...

5 June 2019 Add up!

Stacking green stems to create an armature for short stemmed flowers.

17 July 2019 … and... a bit more... effort… to make it special

Instead of just placing a handful of twigs and two stems of sweet peas in a vase... why not...?

25 September 2019 It’s one and a half to two times... but to the side

Soft minimal... this is exactly the kind of design I place in our apartment. Use a few fall treasures picked up on a walk and add a copper leaf to up the effort and love you add...

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...

27 November 2019 The struggle is real!

Design 3 looking at How to style with artificial plants and branches using quality faux plants and stems. This week: mistletoe! And also .. give your faux a reason for being...

11 December 2019 A Very Merry eucalyptus bauble Christmas!

For this year's Christmas tree I wired and glued a wild and wintry twig armature... but... these little eucalyptus baubles are just the cutest!

1 January 2020 How to freeze a wow moment

Create a long lasting winter inspired floral design that looks like it is frozen in time.

5 February 2020 What it’s all about

A bundle of twigs armature to create a pretend Spring design for a snowy morning.

12 February 2020 Parallel Hang Ups

While waiting for the blossoms to open... why not weave in a touch of Valentine's Day love?

19 February 2020 The Upside of being Inside

A creative design that has some height to it without blocking the view. This can easily be scaled up or down to match the environment you want to display it in.

25 March 2020 How to lay a little bit low

A flat-lay to celebrate finally finding the perfect way to dry passion fruit flowers... and my book's first birthday but mostly the drying of passion fruit flowers thing.

6 May 2020 Forever… incomplete

Craft a pretty armature that can be used again and again.

5 August 2020 Spare a Moment

A tranquil design that just takes a moment to do... when you need to take a moment to... breathe.

21 October 2020 When it gets chilly

Use the heart of a sunflower as a platform to place your autumn floral details on.

9 December 2020 Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: Gyp flurry Snowman

...ok not really that fancy- it’s paper pulp. Cardboard boxes, really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard boxes being delivered. My list of...

23 December 2020 Have yourself a Merry Cellulose Fibre Christmas: wired snowball pom pom for a woven grass Christmas tree

...ok not really that fancy- it’s made from paper pulp. Some cardboard to wrap the string around… really. In the spirit of 2020- I am inspired by the endless stream of cardboard...

3 March 2021 Spring Tray-ning

A Spring basket design for catching falling blossom petals.

7 April 2021 First we learn HOW to design… and then we learn how only WE design.

Whipped up to be light in the Spring breeze wreath design.

14 April 2021 a Yay! You

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

21 April 2021 All A-flutter

Adding a few fluttering petals to a design.

28 April 2021 Here comes the sun...

A minimal design celebrating the new growth on twigs

11 August 2021 A bit Special... four dimensional designing

Using that little something that is unusual about your flower to make the design stand out.

18 August 2021 At Play

A quick-to-do-but-looks-impressive way to display a beautiful cut garden vine for an effortless summer design.

25 August 2021 Doing a loop tangle twist

oh yes, a light an airy design showing off those very first autumn leaves.

20 October 2021 Flying Lessons

An easy get ahead with Halloween decoration that will last.

10 November 2021 … any day now

Using dried floral material is so trendy right now. But the longer lasting the design elements the more effort you have to put in to stop it from looking lifeless.

16 February 2022 Hang on, love

A hanging heart design to celebrate love this Valentine's Day.

16 March 2022 Poised to Spring

An "it's only 10 days to Spring" design to display some blossom buds.

13 April 2022 Hop on… it’s Easter!

A cheery Easter basket for a new beginning

4 May 2022 Wonderful and Enough

That incredible moment when you realize that one good idea for your design really is enough...

7 December 2022 Making spirits bright

A twig sleigh... to collect your twig Christmas tree, of course!

4 January 2023 Around and about the new year

A glowing cranberry ball for frosty evening decorating.

1 March 2023 … ish

An early... ish Spring basket glued from blossom twigs

19 April 2023 Short Cut

A tiny carry basket to gather the shortest stems from your cutting garden... with a place for water and your cutters.

26 April 2023 Oh So Me

Snip and grow willow to create a Spring new growth support for your tall flower stems.