For our classic green and gold look, you will need the following:

Candlestick

Wet Foam cylinder

Candle holder and dinner candle

Pot tape

Bunch of foliage of your choice, we've used tree ivy

Bunch of gold double ended berries

Soak the foam cylinder in water until it is fully soaked. Slice it in half with a sharp knife to give 2 'discs' (one cylinder will do two arrangements nicely).

Pop one foam disc on top of the candlestick and secure with pot tape as shown. Note that the tape doesn't go right across the middle of the foam - you need the exact centre free for the next step, so set the tapes slightly offcentre.

Take the candle and insert firmly in the plastic holder. If the candle needs trimming a tiny amount to fit securely, shave it down carefully with a sharp knife.

Treating candle and holder as one, push the candle gently but firmly into the centre of the foam. Before plunging it all the way in, turn the arrangement through 360 degrees and sight carefully to make sure it's dead straight from all angles.

Once you've made any minor adjustments, push the candle and holder as far down into the foam as you can. Make sure it feels safe, secure and balanced.

Trim the foliage up into 'tips', about 3 - 4" long. This arrangement is likely to be viewed very close up (e.g. over a dinner table), so make sure there are no damaged leaves in the selection. You will need more than you think (!), so make sure you've prepared plenty of pieces.

Add gold berries to each tip. We're using these in place of flowers, so load them on heavily. If the piece will stand it, add 2 stamens to each piece to give plenty of glitz and a feeling of depth. The berry bunch will make at least 4 of these arrangements even when used generously.

To get a natural look, take a berry and bend the stem not quite in half so that the two berries are just at slightly different lengths. Treat the bent stem as one, place the berries where you want them to appear on the piece and wrap the double stem around the natural stem. There's no need to wrap the stems in or even disguise the wires, the piece has a natural 'massed' effect that takes care of it.

Start with a couple of pieces around the candle holder. Set them into the foam at a height that just covers the plastic holder, then use these pieces as a guide for the whole of the first layer.

Complete the first layer, covering all over the top of the foam disc and making sure the candle holder is nicely obscured

Work down the piece going round in rows to make sure the whole foam block is covered. Use the natural fall of the material to drape down over the candlestick as shown on the right.

Complete the fill, stand back and take a look from all angles. If there are any spaces where foam or the candleholder shows through, add any final foliage tips to suit.

Finished!

We hope you have enjoyed this quick make. Don't forget you can use this basic technique to make all sorts of table centres. Holly, herbs, flowers, cones, beads or crystals all look really lovely used this way.