Catalog Floral Swag Knock Off

I just made this great DIY floral swag.  I am sure you get all of those same home decor catalogs I do.  I am sometimes taken aback at the prices!  I spotted this gorgeous floral swag in one of my catalogs and then I saw the price!!!  $429!!  I know these are high quality flowers and greenery, and this is a really good size swag, but over $400 for my front door?!  I knew it was time to go shopping and make my own floral swag knock off!  Gather up your coupons and follow along, and you can save money too!

My Inspiration:

This is a lovely swag, isn’t it?  They called this their “Celie Swag” and says it “welcomes Spring”.  I feel like this is an ‘anytime’ of year swag, but would be particularly beautiful on the doors of a church to welcome guests to a wedding, wouldn’t it?

I began with a piece of styrofoam.  I wanted the florals to be secure in their base, and I knew this would work better than floral foam.

Floral Swag Knock Off

I began pushing wire through the piece of styrofoam to make my hook to hang my swag from.  If you don’t put something beneath the wire, it will pull all the way through and cut the styrofoam.  I chose to use a piece of tape wrapped floral wire and made it into an “M” shape to keep it from cutting through the foam.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

Here is another photo to show you how I pulled the wire through and down over the wrapped wire.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

 On the backside of the styrofoam I used the same technique and twisted the two ends of the wire into a circle to be able to hang my swag on a hook.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

With my base hung on the door from a Command hook, I am ready to begin making my swag.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

The inspiration swag is primarily greenery with a cluster of roses at the heart of it.  I cut apart some high quality vines and bushes and pushed the the individual stems securely into the styrofoam.  If you have trouble getting your stems to stay in the foam, you can attach the stems to a wood wired stick and push the stick securely into the base.

Floral Swag Knock Off

I continued to build up the greenery on the base of my swag.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

One of the thing I tired to do was match the greenery.  The artificial lamb’s ears and dusty miller added the gray as seen in my inspiration piece.  

Floral Swag Knock Off

Even though I used the same number of roses that I could count in my inspiration swag, I felt my piece needed a little more of the pale pink color and added some pale pink ranunculus tucked in behind the roses.

Floral Swag Knock Off

Is mine EXACTLY the same, no.  I spotted this gorgeous swag in a catalog and had to try my hand at recreating it.  I am so happy I did, it looks stunning on my front door.  You can be inspired and create your own beautiful decor, too!

Supplies:

  • Styrofoam
  • Wire
  • Faux Greenery
  • Silk Flowers
  • YOU!!

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48 Comments

  1. Super nice job, Chloe! Yes, every time I look at arrangements online – even on lower end websites – my mouth just drops at the prices. And unless shoppers are savvy, the individual prices of good faux flowers are just as ridiculous, so making your own has to come with coupons, lol.

    1. Thank you Rita! I was shocked at the price of this one! I also used some less expensive greens to fill in the back, but even $81 wasn’t cheap, but then I didn’t want it to look cheap! Yep, you can’t beat the coupons!

  2. Chloe – While the price of $81 is definitely appealing, you forgot to factor in one important item into that price –
    your TALENT!!! Gosh, even with a step-by-step tutorial, I worry my swag wouldn’t have as much “swag” as yours, LOL! You are a genius – GREAT job, as always!

    1. Oh Tim, you are too, too kind. I am sure you could create a lovely swag! It is so easy with faux flowers, if you don’t like how it turns out, you simply pull them out and start over!

  3. It is really beautiful Chloe…it looks amazing and I , too like it better than the original!
    Enjoyed meeting you at Haven!

    1. Oh, Kari you are so sweet and such a dear! I am so glad to have met you at Haven, I promise to stay in touch! You must join us for future tablescape blog hops and show off some of those beautiful dishes of yours!

  4. Beautiful! You are so talented! Could you give me an idea of many pieces of greenery you used and what type of leaf they are? Cannot imagine being able to duplicate this myself!

    1. I have confidence you could do this! Look at the video on Hometalk here: http://www.hometalk.com/30799963/catalog-floral-swag-knock-off. I held onto all of the receipts as I put the piece together so that I would have an accurate dollar amount to report, but I failed to count the pieces of greenery I used. I know I used 3 bushes of lambs ears and one of dusty miller and I used one greenery garland that I cut apart. I think I used two other pretty cheap bushes. If you watch the video and stop it as you go along, I am sure you can re-create this swag!! Send me pictures via Facebook!!

  5. Hi Chloe,
    Love your arrangement! How many different greenery bushes did you use & the types? Thinking of make this for my daughters wedding.

    Thanks,
    Kathy

    1. Oh my goodness, Kathy, I think that is the one thing I did not keep track of. I think I used 3 artificial lambs ears and I know I used one greenery garland that I cut apart. A walk through Hobby Lobby or Michaels will give you all the inspiration you need to make yours!

      1. Thank you so much for responding so quickly! Do you have suggestions of types of greenery to look for? Love, love yours it’s better than the original!
        Thanks again,
        Kathy

  6. Oh my word! I don’t usually comment on these, but I had to on this one. This is BEAUTIFUL!!! Not only that, but it’s much prettier than the “inspiration” one you got the idea from! Nice job!! I will definitely be making some of these. Thanks for sharing! Kim

    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, Kim. You are so very kind. I know it is not a bargain at $81, but certainly a bargain by comparison to my inspiration one! I LOVE hearing from my readers, so your comments mean the world to me!!

  7. Absolutely beautiful. Great job! I have been designing for over forty years, self taught. I, too, think these (professional) designs in magazines and in stores are very much over priced to the into degree.
    I shop when floral needs or wants of mine are on sale (end of season specials) pre season sales and use coupons for additional savings on already reduced prices and total bill savings.
    Again your work was and is beautiful. I do family decor and have a tremendous back up of faux flowers for every season.

    1. Thank you so much Charles! You are so very kind. I wonder who buys all of those very expensive pieces, don’t you? I, like you, buy those end of season items, too! I would love to see some of your work, you will have to send me some photos!

  8. I think that yours is much prettier then there’s. You did a fabulous job. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
    Thank you for the inspiration.

  9. Yours is much prettier!!! You gave me inspiration. I really can’t believe how expensive these are.
    I really like the colors and your arrangement of the greenery, just gorgeous.

  10. Absolutely fantastic, as usual. You are extremely talented and an inspiration to many of us. I love to check out the magazines for ideas,too.

  11. yours is so beautiful and so rewarding then the 449.00 one and the colors you chose are so relaxing , I would love to make one just like yours and just maybe I will this week , Keep posting as I love your posts and I do not like the meri mesh wreaths at all , a wreath is made with grapevine that is a wreath. you inspire me as making wreaths are so relaxing keep up with the posts Thank you.

    1. Thank you so much Verona, your compliments are so kind. I just can’t get into that deco mesh either. I made a couple for a request by Hometalk and those will be the first and last! Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere!

  12. How very beautiful, Such a difference in the cost of making it yourself. I think I will try and make it It would look lovely on my dark front door

  13. This is beautiful. Thanks for the tip on using something between the wire and the foam. Great tip! It’s a great savings making a swag yourself. I would love to have this in our home. Would look great anywhere and yes….it would be so fitting for a wedding.

  14. Love watching your fabulous creations and how you show us exactly how to duplicate them. Huge fan! This one was especially lovely!

  15. It’s beautiful Chloe and you give such great instructions. I don’t know about catalogs, but those selling on etsy or eBay are adding in shipping cost because shipping is so expensive.

  16. Oh my goodness Chloe, yours is gorgeous! $400 for that piece is ridiculous.

    You knocked it out of the park! I’m actually kind if speechless and for me that’s huge, ask my hubby, ha, ha.

    I’m Pinning! Bravo again!

    Cindy

  17. Just beautiful!!! I too am a DIYer with no formal training but I found a Christmas mantel piece you made and used your general information to make wedding swags for my daughter’s wedding back in Oct. 2018. They turned out beautiful if I say so myself! So thank you for the inspiring work you do!!!

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