DIY Slice of Summer

tinatobias.com

Materials

Suggested purchase links are on the full project page.

Steps to Follow

Large vase and smaller cylinderLayering faux lemon slicesLemon slices stopped at cylinder top

(1) You will need to center a smaller cylinder vase into the larger vase to hold your flowers and branches. I wrapped the bottom of the cylinder in some flexible foam sheeting and this tightened up the inside so the lemon slices could be arranged better. I also added some cross sections of tape at the top of cylinder for flower and branch support.

(2) I then started dropping in my lemons. After the bottom layer it was clear I was going to have some gaps. So I dropped in clear marbles to fill some of those gaps between the lemon slices and they kind of looked like ice cubes.

(3) I continued working around the vase and up to the top of the center cylinder, making adjustments along the way until it felt right. There was no need to extend beyond the center vase since flowers and greenery will fill the space.

Large-faced faux daisies in center vaseBent daisies circling topView of daisies from above

(4) Then came the daisies. I ordered ones that were large-faced and had the yellowish centers. I did cut and push florist foam down into the center vase to help support the stems where I wanted them.

(5) I bent the stems so the daisies would circle around the entire top of the vase.

(6) This is a shot from above once all the daisies were in. You can see there is still enough room for the branches in the center.

Adding lemon tree branches hot gluing the lemonsBright, sunny centerpiece

(7) Next came the branches. When searching for greenery to use I thought these really looked like lemon tree branches. Which is what led to my idea of adding whole lemons to the branches. You will need to straighten them as you need and fluff out the leaves. I did put two taller branches in the center and cut the other surrounding four shorter.

(8) Now for the fun part - hot gluing the lemons onto the branches. Since lemons grow on trees, make sure the stem side is facing inward, close to a branch or stem, to give that realistic appearance.

(9) All done! This took me just a little over an hour to do and it will be a gorgeous summer table centerpiece for months.