When my grandmother died I inherited a large glass fishbowl, which I have since used to make seasonal centerpieces.  Here are instructions for an early fall decoration for a coffee table or dining room.

Cat not included.

Materials:

• 1 Large Glass Bowl (Fishbowl or Otherwise)
• 1 Pair of Wire Cutters
• 1 Fall Leaf Garland
• 1 Bunch of Fall Flowers
• 1 Bunch of Apples (On a Florist Stem)
• 1 Bag of Shiny Fall-Colored Vase Filler

Instructions:

1. First, coil your leaf garland in the bowl.
2. Next, cut the fall flowers and apples off of their group stems, still leaving enough of a stem for them to be able to stand upright in your bowl to give your arrangement depth without being taller than the bowl rim.
3. Note that working with cats will make this step more difficult.
4. Arrange the flowers in a pleasing way. I used the large sunflower as the center, and arranged the other flowers and apples around it.
5. Make sure your arrangement is attractive from all sides, and not just the top. If there are any bare spots, rearrange the flowers, leaves, and apples to fill out the space.  Your centerpiece should look interesting and colorful from all angles.
6. Dump the bag of shiny vase filler on top of the arrangement. If you have one especially showy piece (such as a clear plastic squirrel or other animal in your filler), reserve this.
7. Use your fingers to work the vase filler below the flowers. Ideally, it should sparkle from the darker, emptier places at the bottom of the centerpiece.  While you do this, also bring some of the leaf garland up between the flowers so that you can see bits of it from the top of the arrangement.  This will prevent your arrangement from looking too segmented.and will help to cover the plastic floral stems.
8. If you have one, place a final decoration (such as a plastic squirrel) in the center of your main flower. You’re done!
   

   At this point, I realized that a filter had been on my phone the whole time I was taking pictures. Here it is in full color.

Happy Fall!