Monday Morning Blooms: Lola and Gracie-Inspired Puppy Bouquet

Create a puppy bouquet flower arrangement with this easy tutorial. This DIY is dog gone fun to create and share with someone in need of some puppy love, at a fraction of the price as one from the florist!

 Welcome to Monday Morning Blooms, the first Monday and third Mondays of the month! Flowers = Happy for me, ideal to chase away the Monday morning blues! I’ll take all the flower therapy I can get these days, as we’ve been stuck in a rainy weather pattern for months. If you’re also in need of some flower therapy, you’re in luck as you’ll find my blogging friends’ links to their blooming creations at the bottom of this post.

 Our challenge for the first Monday Morning Blooms’ edition of the New Year, was to use one type of flower in our arrangement. This was especially challenging as I found the flower-pickings were slim the first week in January. . . as if all the stores had gone on a flower diet after all the holiday blooming and bingeing!

Fortunately, I was able to find white carnations and had some four-legged inspiration to work with. . .

I first saw a version of this ‘puppy bouquet’ at my vet’s office about 5 years ago. More recently, I’ve seen them popping up on Pinterest.

To create your puppy bouquet, start with a block of wet floral foam and carnations. I used a total of 13 carnations.

Tip: When using wet floral foam, use the “float soak” method and place the floral foam brick on top of the water. Let the floral foam gradually absorb the water until it’s fully saturated. Plunging the floral foam in the water traps air bubbles and will prohibit the transfer of water from the foam to the flower stems.

I also used some self-sealing floral tape and florist wire.

Place your wet foam in the container of your choice. I used a Buffalo check fabric bucket I found at the Dollar Spot at Target a few years ago. I placed the wet foam inside a plastic bowl in the bucket and lined the interior of the bucket with plastic bags in case of a spill and to keep the bowl from shifting inside the bucket.

Start with three carnations, holding them in your hand to make the shape of the puppy’s face, one in the front for the nose and two further back for the eyes.

Add two more carnations higher up on the puppy’s head for the ears. Once you have your puppy head arranged to your satisfaction, cut the ends of the stems and tape them together with floral stem wrap. I added two carnations in the middle between the ears, using 7 carnations in total for the puppy head.

If you’re not familiar with floral tape or stem wrap, it will only stick to itself. Stretch it as you wrap your floral stems, which will activate the wax adhesive on the tape. Place the wrapped stems in the wet floral foam at your desired height in your container.

To create puppy legs, place three carnations in a row in the foam to form a line for a leg.

Fill in around your puppy with additional flowers or greenery of your choice. I used some fresh juniper clipped from a tree in the yard. Because I am a hoarder, I saved the pine cone and ribbon picks from my Christmas Lynch Creek Farm tartan centerpiece and used them fill in among the greenery.

I found animal eyes and noses at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 for the puppy face. Download their mobile app so you have access to their weekly 40% off coupon when you shop.

To attach the eyes and noses, I wrapped some florist wire around the shank of each piece to attach a toothpick.

Tuck the toothpick between folds of the carnation or between two flowers. If your toothpick is too long, snap it off to the length you need to add the pick to the flower, tucking it in between the petals. Alternatively, you can use a floral adhesive used for corsages, to attach the eyes and nose, but I didn’t have any. This seemed easier than glue, as you can reposition the features until you have them where you want them to *sit* and *stay*. 🐾🐾

I added some snowflake picks from my Christmas stash that I previously used for a White Christmas arrangement.

This is a super easy and dog gone fun arrangement to create and share with someone in need of some puppy love!

Lola and Gracie said to tell you that florists’ versions of this arrangement *fetch* around $60. Eight dollars-worth of carnations from the grocery store make this arrangement super affordable by comparison and long-lasting too!

Lola says she is needing a haircut! We’re keeping her clipped in puppy cut instead the recognizable Bichon hairdo and she gets a little shaggy when it’s close to grooming time.🐾

 Gracie is a veteran when it comes to posing for photos, but Lola said it’s exhausting for a puppy to stay still for so long. .  .

Visit my talented blogging friends to see their blooming inspiration this week:

 Pam at Everyday Living

Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse

Shirley at Housepitality Designs

Thank you for your visit, sharing with:

 Between Naps on the Porch