All you need for this quick & easy deco idea are two red apples, a poinsettia, a tray, evergreens, a twisted taper candle, icing sugar, two orchid tubes, an apple corer, some string, scissors and a cookie cutter.
Here's how it's done:
Step 1: First, hollow out the centres of the apples with the corer.
Step 2: Press a heart-shaped cookie cutter into the side of the apple and remove the flesh.
Step 3: Sprinkle icing sugar in the heart-shaped holes in the apples. As the sugar starts dissolving it leaves a pretty frosted effect.
Step 4: Insert orchid tubes in the tops of the hollowed-out apples.
Step 5: Adorn one of the apples with a taper candle, evergreens and string. Fill the other glass tube with water and insert a single cut poinsettia.
Proper cutting technique
To keep cut poinsettias fresh for as long as possible, the flow of milky sap must be stopped immediately after cutting the stems. To do this, cut the stems at an angle and hold them in 60°C water for approx. five seconds, then dip them in cold water. When prepared in this way, the colourful bracts will stay dazzlingly beautiful in water-filled orchid tubes for up to two weeks. By the way: Contrary to what is often claimed, the milky sap of our local poinsettias is safe for humans.