Tropical Floral Fan Arrangement!

Summer is here and I love everything about it! (Ok, maybe not the bugs but that is what citronella candles are for!)

I have been wanting to try to make a tropical arrangement for a while and decided to give it a bit of a twist! Here is how I created it 

What You'll Need:

Here is what I used for this project:

• Woven hand fan
• Tropical greenery (smilax, succulent greenery mix, fern mix)
• Wood flowers from Oh You're Lovely (I used orchids and peace lilies that I dyed into anthuriums!)

Create Your Greenery Base!

Tropical designs go against my natural instincts of packing in tons of greenery/filler and flowers and the actual flow of the piece! They tend to highlight individual flowers and give more of a modern feel so to start the greenery base, I made sure there were holes where you could see the fan peeking through and areas where the flowers would be the star of the show.

To keep everything in place, I hot glued each greenery piece/stem directly onto the fan and made sure to glue in a few connection points to keep the larger pieces in place.

Prep Your Single Stem Flowers!

Since the flower stems will be much more visible, I wanted to make sure they looked more natural. Using a stem cover (these are from our baby's breath filler bundle) is one way to achieve this effect.

Add a dab of hot glue to the back/bottom of your flower (you will be able to see where the flower is held together by string!) and insert your 18 gauge floral wire stem. Next, slide the stem cover over the stem and the glue will hold it in place! If your wire stem is longer than the cover, use your wire cutters to trim it down to size.

Prep Your Orchid Stems!

Another way to give your flowers a more realistic stem feel is to use a branch from faux greenery or filler!

Orchids are always a favorite of mine and I love turning our wood flower version into a full stem of them (that I don't have to try and keep alive!).

To create this look, I found a faux greenery that had a great flow (the top is not wired and just a thin plastic piece so it can bend and move easily) and removed all of the leaves. Where the little nubs were that held the leaves in place, I glued my flowers. For the top of the branch, I used 2-3 sola florets to act as an orchid bud, then 1-2 small orchids (2") under the buds and finally, 1-2 large orchids (2.5"-3").

Add Your Flowers!

Normally, I try to have my focal point on the left side of an arrangement but for this tropical piece and the natural shape of the fan, I wanted to draw the eye up to the top right. The red anthuriums really does the trick!

I also glued in my orchid stems in two locations as those are the only white flowers that will be in the arrangement and I wanted to be sure they were dispersed throughout.

Add Extra Filler!

The piece looked a little bare to me (can't help it - I'm a more is more kinda gal!) and I really wanted to incorporate the pinks and corals from this summer floral mix into our arrangement. In addition, there are flower and greenery stems that just end and hot glue spots that I wanted to make sure were completely covered.

I cut from this bundle as needed and hot glued them into place!

The Finished Piece!

Now you have a vibrant tropical fan that you can hang on your door or wall! Or, if you are a bride looking to create an out of the box bridal or bridesmaid "bouquet"...this might be a great idea for you!

Happy crafting!