What did you think of Joanna’s holiday tablescape yesterday? Personally, I love the festive simplicity of it. The holidays always come with so much bling and sparkle, sometimes it’s nice to embrace a palette cleanser and tone things down, ya know? I think there’s so much beauty in that. Today, I am sharing a foraged evergreen centerpiece tutorial that’s so simple and easy to recreate. With Joanna’s Scandinavian woodland Christmas theme in mind, I knew the primary goal was to have our centerpiece be a little reflection of the forest. After all, here in the PNW, that isn’t hard to achieve! In fact, all of the greenery we used was foraged, except for the juniper.
Working with evergreen greenery is similar to working with flowers, but with a few adaptations of my usual techniques. If you’ve seen our other DIY centerpieces, you’ll probably notice that I didn’t use floral tape to create a grid, nor did I use any other tools to hold my ingredients in place this time. I was concerned that anything I might use would take away valuable space because evergreen branches are pretty thick. Additionally, all these branches are so sturdy, I really didn’t think we’d need anything to hold them in place and it worked out!
How to Make a Foraged Evergreen Centerpiece for Your Winter Tablescape
Materials
- Evergreen foliage — I used noble fir, blue ice cypress, juniper, and ponderosa pine
- Tallow berries
- Foraged branches — I clipped a few branches from the maple tree in Joanna’s yard again for this project. They’re just so pretty!
- Preserved Reindeer Moss
Tools
- Faceted geometric vase (c/o Lamps Plus)
- Flower pruners
Directions
Start the arrangement with solid noble fir branches as a structural base. These branches are sturdy and have a really nice shape, so they can hold the remaining foliage in place really well.
Next, begin adding fuller floral elements like the blue ice cypress (which smells amazing, btw, and is a great addition to your home for the holidays), juniper (also smells great), and ponderosa pine. Feel free to add a few smaller sprigs of ponderosa pine, as needed.
The goal while adding all these evergreen elements is to maintain the negative space so that it doesn’t become a giant blob of green! I made sure there was a good variety of long and short pieces that I distributed throughout the arrangement so you can really distinguish all the different stems.
Once you’re happy with the array of greenery, begin adding the tallow berry and a few of the maple branches. The tallow berry provides an extra little holiday touch, while also providing some contrast to the green. I love that tiny pop of white and texture! And the foraged maple branches really enhance the woodland vibe and add a little bit of drama.
The final step to this centerpiece came after Joanna set the table. I spread preserved reindeer moss (that’s really what it’s called!) around the table, tucking it around the glowing houses, the base of the arrangement, and trailing it between place settings. The trick with the moss is to make it look unintentional, so don’t try to achieve the same pattern or placement around each place setting. Break the clumps into different sizes, gathering more in some areas and less in others. Also, make sure you leave room for people to set their glasses down!
What do you think of our Scandinavian inspired tablescape and evergreen centerpiece combo? I love how cozy and casual it feels, perfect for a simple holiday spent at home.
As always, be sure to tag @jojotastic and @thestemmery on Instagram so we can see how our DIYs turn out for you! Joanna will be sharing them in her Instagram Stories, too. It’s always so fun to see how our tutorials are translated.
Looking for even more holiday DIY ideas and tips? Try these:
- Modern Door Swag Tutorial
- DIY Hanging Eucalyptus Wreath
- How To Make a Modern Christmas Bough
- Luxe Holiday Centerpiece with Pomegranates
- Peace Sign Wreath with Faux Foliage
