Kitty playing with eucalyptus leaves and hydrangea leaves

I have had four great big branches of eucalyptus hanging in my utility room (laundry room/bathroom/cat room/where coats, boots, shoes live room) for the past month.  I know, that is really shameful.  Truthfully, there wasn’t even enough room for it there.  My husband is quite the patient man when it comes to some of my projects!  I think the kids were starting to get annoyed with the branches and having to maneuver around them.  Kitty, on the other hand, rather enjoyed them.  It was great fun to jump on them and see how many leaves could fall to the floor during the night!  I knew that I wanted to use those lovely smelling leaves, I just wasn’t sure exactly what to do with them.

Finally, inspiration struck.  I stepped away from my inclination to make a wreath, and I went for using quite a large vase to create an arrangement.

Starting out

Hmm, I wonder if I should comment on the state of my kitchen? 🙂   Nah.  It was a busy day…  I started out with red tissue paper because Valentine’s Day is coming up.  My friend Louise mentioned that it was also a good color to help celebrate Chinese New Year!  Perfect timing!  After filling the bottom with the tissue paper, I then cut the branches to fit the vase and fill it out. It should be noted that I’m one to save just about everything. So I still had some dried Annabelle hydrangea, and three dried artichoke plants left from this past summer, as well as two branches of contorted hazel.  I was going to find a way to put it all in!

Close up of artichoke plant inside the vase

close up of artichoke

close up of two artichokes with their purple color

I didn’t want just eucalyptus. I wanted another element to the arrangement, that is why I put the flowers down inside the vase.  The poor Annabelles didn’t fare well while being squished and squashed into the vase… after the eucalyptus was in of course!  But I think it wasn’t too detrimental to their beauty.

Kitty. Posing.

You would seriously think my cat loves the camera.  He doesn’t. He just really wanted to play with all of the “stuff” I was working with!  He is a lovely cat, though.

A lovely blue-ish color!

I tried the vase in a couple of different places.  My hallways are bright and airy and I just wanted to fill that space.

Kitty not leaving the arrangement alone…

I’ve finally decided on where to leave it, and the hallway really does smell lovely now.

I think I just might work best under pressure:  I made this in 20 minutes.  Because that is how much time I had before I had to go and collect my daughter from school.  Done. Finished. Everything cleaned up and put away.

Boy is there a lot of extra room in our utility room now!  Time to set up my seeds 🙂

This arrangement was brought to you by the generosity of my neighbors Margaret & James who gave me all of the lovely eucalyptus and contorted hazel, and by my friend Susan who’s  hydrangea gave the finishing touches.  Thank you my friends!

Happy Chinese New Year!
Dana