Mother’s day is right around the corner, and a beautiful floral arrangement is one of the best ways to show the moms in your life that you appreciate them. Most of us are quick to order a premade arrangement from a florist, but this year, challenge yourself and make your arrangement more meaningful by doing a DIY project. Mom is guaranteed to love the extra effort it takes to create something yourself.

Putting together a flower arrangement from scratch might sound difficult, but with a few simple guidelines, you can easily create something beautiful.

Here are five easy steps to making a floral arrangement mom will love:

• Purchase quality flowers and take care of them

The key to a beautiful arrangement is getting healthy, fresh flowers. Most grocery stores sell bouquets that you can use to pick and choose which flowers you want. As soon as you get the flowers home, make sure you keep them in water. Most store-bought flowers also come with a flower preservative that you’ll want to use right away. This helps to extend the life of your flowers, which is critical, especially if you’re not building your arrangement right away.

• Keep in mind mom’s preferences

Mom is guaranteed to love just about anything you could put together, but to make the arrangement extra-special, keep in mind her favorite flowers or colors.  What colors pop up the most around her home? Does she like flowers to be a pop of color or keep it simple with white? Every mom has different preferences, so keep yours in mind every step of the way.

• Get inspiration online

If this is your first time making a floral arrangement, you don’t have to go into the project blind. Pinterest or just a quick Google search will bring up tons of arrangements you can gather inspiration from.

• Pick the perfect vase

Quality flowers are important, but it’s also important that the vase you choose stands out. Pick something special that mom will be able to reuse around her home long after the flowers are gone. Again, Pinterest and other sites online are a good place to start to gather some inspiration. Etsy has a great selection on handmade options that are made from ceramic, stone and more. Your mom is one of a kind, so pick out a vase to match.

• Steal tips from the professionals

Once you’ve picked your flowers, vase and gathered enough inspiration online, it’s time to start building your arrangement. To make your life easier, steal some arrangement-building tips from the professionals. First, to help your arrangement last longer, make sure you trim all of the stems and remove any leaves that fall below the water line. Next, make your life easier by using tools that the pros use, such as flower foam. These foam bricks are inexpensive, and will make it easier to keep flowers in place or hold them at various heights.