The finished product! (Morgan Mitchell | SJVT/FhF)

MADAWASKA, Maine — As the old saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers.” Unfortunately, for much of Aroostook, the April showers have brought more snow and some flooding. Luckily, with a few bucks and a little bit of creativity, you can be the one to bring the flowers to May.

With the coming of spring, plans have already begun to form for entertaining family and friends for brunches, dinners, and baseball games. While flowers might not be the thing for baseball, they can certainly dress up a table and are sure to impress your guests.

If you’re new to arranging flowers, don’t fret. There is no wrong way to make your own centerpiece as long as you have fun doing it. Up until my former roommate’s wedding, I had never played around with arranging flowers. I don’t even know the names of half the flowers I used for this project. But I do know what I think looks good, and this centerpiece looks good.

For this project, I went to my favorite dollar store in Madawaska to gather the products. In their spring section, by the flower pots were flower buckets. I chose the oblong “Fleurs and Jardin” metal bucket to bring a little French to the table.

After looking through the fake flowers, I chose one type that had purple with highlights of yellow and white. I held up the small bunch of flowers to the wall of foliage and picked my main flower — purple roses. I selected a few more purple flowers of varying shades, and grabbed a bright yellow bouquet for contrast. Finally, I chose the most basic accent to add to any bouquet — baby’s breath. I chose that one because of the dainty, classic look.

Once I had my bucket and choice of flowers, I moved on to the craft aisle where I gathered a small package of green floral foam to secure the flowers inside the bucket. All in all, I spent $8 on this piece.

When I got home, I grabbed scissors and laid out all of my materials. One by one, I cut the flowers from their plastic stems and left about four inches of the covered wire from each to insert into the foam. With all the flowers cut and placed in their respective groups, my mind went to work.

I cut the foam and lined the bucket making sure that I made a taller layer in the center of the bucket for the star of my centerpiece. One-by-one, I began arranging the flowers starting with the roses and worked my way through the lineup.

As I placed the last sprig of baby’s breath, I stepped back to admire the centerpiece that would adorn my table. With the bright spring colors, I am now ready to entertain my guests. Once I plan a menu, that is.