Captivating Winter Floral Inspiration: Channeling the Sugar Plum Fairy

For us, it’s not the winter holiday season until we’ve seen The Nutcracker. This is our personal favorite piece of winter entertainment, and we highly recommend you go see a local production if you have the time!

With that in mind, we wanted to share a bit about how we find inspiration and share a recent build that drew on how we would interpret the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Dealing with visual arts, such as floristry, a lot of the aesthetic comes from the color choices and textures. So when we picture the Sugar Plum Fairy, we immediately think of classical flower choices, elegant and soft textures, and lots of movement. We started with choosing the flowers that speak to these elements.

Our statement flowers are roses, ranunculus, and tulips. The roses and ranunculus lend to the soft, layered textures and bring that elevated and classical look right away. We then had to

complement with dianthus, or carnations, to give the ballerina in a ruffled tutu look - they look just like little ballerinas dancing

around the arrangement! Lastly we chose fillers that added a bit of pizzazz and variation of size and shape to create that movement we were looking to achieve. Scabiosa, alstroemeria, limonium, and wax flower are what we chose.

Then we moved to the colors we wanted. We knew white would dominate the base, so we picked colors in the pale pinks to soft burgundy range to add some drama to the texture.

Take note how the variegation in the purple and white dianthus really added to the drama - variegation is a great way to achieve a multi-colored palette without needing to add additional stems!

Finally, we visualized the composition we were going for and began to build. We find that it is helpful to let your subconscious lead here. Try not to confine yourself to a set outcome that you visualize during the whole process. Rather, frame your approach around this and then let your mind’s eye adjust as the piece comes together. You may realize as you place stems that a new direction is forming that you like better than your original idea!

You can find inspiration from anywhere. That’s the fun in being creative. Don’t just think in terms of visual inspiration, either. Music, feelings, seasons, people, events, animals, the list is endless. Once you find your inspiration, the fun is in creating a piece that shows your intention through your creative lens!

View the full gallery in the 'Past Works' section of our website.