McClelland

It's a miracle!!! I finally got the pictures I promised way back when of the house I helped my friend do. It was crazy. She was getting married and wanted to have the remodel of this house done in time to have her wedding reception at the house as a housewarming party and reception in one.

She had a definite vision in mind and had already selected a few pieces that had to be incorporated somehow. She had an armoire, a roll top desk, a large painting, a gorgeous, large ceramic bowl from Mexico, and a fun sissal area rug. She loves things that have an old look and feel to them, but she also wanted something fun, vibrant, young, natural, and to mix her old and new. She loves to cook and entertain but she wanted her house to really be her personality. Most of all, she wanted a cozy place to come home to at the end of the day to relax and spend time with her husband and their dogs.

The place started off as a typical Sears Catalog bungalow- it had nice bones but lacked a lot of character, and space. It was tiny! One bedroom upstairs and one bathroom downstairs. They bumped out the back and created a master suite upstairs with a larger kitchen downstairs with a great mudroom/laundry room tucked neatly behind the kitchen.

I helped with color selection, some furniture and accessory shopping, and finally furniture placement. I have to tell you, the one thing I did NOT select was the color of the exterior trim- her now ex husband selected that because he thought my selection was off. And most importantly, I had nothing to do with the lovely little landscaped garden and coy pond in her back yard- that was a wedding gift from her mother but it really added a quaint ambience to the yard and used the little space remarkably well!

Ours is a friendship that has always involved food- cooking, baking, experimenting, reading cook books, eating. With that in mind, it seems fitting that we chose colors that strongly resemble ketchup, mustard, and pickles- completely unintentionally though!

Hope you enjoy!

The End.

Permament Arrangements

I was going to open a shared retail space, but after lots of consideration and advice I decided I had to forego that opportunity at this time. Before coming to this decision, I'd purchased some silk flowers to create some permanent arrangements for display purposes and sale as well, so I decided to use them and see if there's anyone interested in purchasing them from me. I can ship them pretty much anywhere. I can make custom arrangements as well if none of these suit your fancy. Let me know what you think, and if you're interested!

Why silk flowers now? Most florists turn up a nose at them because they tend to be hideous, cheap, and well...fake. I pretty much feel the same way, but I also know that sometimes, those fake flowers last longer and can be just as beautiful as the real thing, if done well. I'm hoping that's what I did.

My sister likes to decorate for the different seasons and holidays. Fall is currently upon us and she wanted a fall arrangement that wasn't the typical orange and yellow color scheme. I came up with this for her:

And from that, she suggest I make a more traditional fall themed arrangement and some Christmas arrangements as well. Of course, she also suggested I makes something very understated, with no froof or frills that could be used anywhere, any season because not everybody decorates every room for  the seasons or holidays. I took some of those flowers I had on hand and come up with these:

Courtney and Ian's Flowers

This post is long overdue, but better late than never!

My good friend Trish called me several months back telling me she was lining me up with a job. A couple months later, I got a call from Courtney, and we set up a meeting to talk about what she wanted. I was soooooo excited that her colors were green, white, and black. I have loved anemones for nearly forever, and have been wanting someone to request flowers in her chosen color scheme.

Her requested flowers were white Gerberas, and she wanted the groom's boutonniere to coordinate with her bouquet but the other bouts to be different. And as with a couple of my other brides, she requested wrist corsages.

I started off by sketching out what I thought she wanted








Once she gave the approval, I went to work and created these for the wedding party.....

The Bridal Bouquet and Groom's Bouttoniere

The Boutonnieres for all the Men

The Bridesmaid's Wrist Corsages

The Mother's Corsages

I hope you agree with me in thinking everything turned out beautifully!

As seen in movies

Holy cats! You know how sometimes, you see something in a movie or hear your grandma talking about back when she was young.... and you think that never happens now? One of those things is getting married at the courthouse.

I have a bride that is getting married there, in a courthouse, next Friday.

When I talked to her last week, it was going to be one of three days but she wasn't sure which. Well, she's decided on both a date and a color scheme. This is my smallest budget and order yet, but will be interesting. Her colors are red, orange, and yellow, and her one flower request are roses.

I know nothing about her, other than she has a son, she wants things very small and simple, and there will be a small gathering after the ceremony at her mom's house.

Hmmmm....... So, I bought some orange ribbon. Oh, and I think I have some orange floral paint somewhere..... maybe.  Hey- it's a good start!

Mother's Day Give Away Winner

Thank you to those who participated in the bouquet give away. I hope to be able to do another one in the not too distant future.

I apologize for the delay in publicly posting my thanks as well as announcing who the winner was- I have had a very busy week and weekend of houseguests and babysitting 4 children for the week while my sister was out of town celebrating her anniversary.

The winner was Alicia.

I thought I'd share some pictures of the flowers I did, not only for the give away, but also for my mom who happens to be in town this month, and a lovely lady who actually had her baby on Mother's Day!

I love Parrot Tulips because of their variegated colors and frilly edges.

I knew I wanted pink, yellow, and silver. The tulips were a great starting point.

I made 5 of these bouquets- one was for the give away, and the others were purchased by friends from the Art&Soup Committee over at CNS.

Then, using the exact same number of flowers and foliage in the other arrangements, and adding some flowering evergreen sprigs, some extra leaves, and these......

exquisite carniverous plants, I made this....

C'mon now- I had to make something extra fancy-schmancy for my Mom!

And then, because I had a few flowers left over, I put together a smaller arrangement for my sister's friend that became a Mom on Mother's Day. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

And I have to give a special thanks to my friend, Brooke, for helping me out with this. You're about the best Sista from another Mista a girl could ever have!!

The Give Away - 2 days left!

OK, it's giveaway time!!!  Mother's Day is quickly approaching so if you would like the opportunity to win a lovely bouquet for Mother's Day, either for your mother, your wife, sister or even yourself you can do one or all of the following things:

a) become a follower of this blog

b) 'like' me on facebook

c) follow me on twitter

d) go to my friend's blog sew a straight line and leave a comment on which way you entered.  Be sure to have your email address either linked to your profile or in the body of the comment text.

To see my work, go here or to my facebook photo page to look at what I have created in the past.  I promise you will not be disappointed!

Attention!!! ...Mother's Day give away

Prepare yourselves kids! In an effort to spread the word about this little one woman show I'm running, I've been making some plans with two very talented and intelligent women, and we've come up with....wait for it....

A Mother's Day Bouquet Give Away!
(below are a few ideas I have sketched out for you, actual bouquet may vary)

C'mon now- this won't be your typical grocery store bouquet. No way!

Here are some of the flowers that have inspired this Mother's Day design...

Ok, so obviously, I've decided on a color scheme using pale pink somewhere but I haven't quite decided on what flowers I'll actually be using but it'll be fun and exciting and beautiful and elegant, and you will like it... a lot!

So, stay tuned and check back frequently over the next few days because we're ironing out the last details now!

Art & Soup 2011

I was out ordering flowers for Art & Soup and picking up the anemones for Courtney and Ian's wedding when I totalled my car. So, there I was without a car and two major projects coming up. Fortunately, I managed to pull off Courtney's wedding without any major glitches and my friend Trish was quite helpful in getting me and the flowers to the wedding reception.

Usually, I'm ridiculously organized for Art & Soup, in that I have sketches and diagrams and lists. The diagram is very important because it maps out the room and tells me what goes where in what. That disappeared in the accident, so once I got into the ballroom at the Sheraton with the flowers and my helpers, I had to go from memory and hope for the best. I was nervous but I had a vision!

Each year, a piece of art is selected to be the showcase artwork, and for the past few years, they've asked me to pull my colors or theme from that. I was so excited to see this neon cowboy/southwest rodeo piece with it's vibrant colors for me to work with. It worked perfectly with the vison I'd had in mind since the previous year.

**PICTURE OF THE ART TO COME SOON- I PROMISE**

So, with the help of my trusty volunteer sidekick, Mary, and my new favorite volunteer assistant, Gaylene, this is what we created, under budget, in record time, with too many arrangments made, and flowers left over! My accident made for a miracle of sorts! And I received so many compliments for these- I was quite pleased with how things turned out, as were many other people.

The simple arrangement for the Memorial

The 3 different arrangements for the cocktail tables

The arrangements on the long tables

I may have more pictures to share but they're on a different camera so it'll be a while before they get added.

On the horizon

Good news is I have a little wedding coming up March 11 as well as Art & Soup, March 23-24. I also have completed a little girl's bedroom and will get pictures posted soon.

Bad news is I have given up on SarahB actually giving me pictures of McClelland as promised. She is living in Europe right now so I forgive her but she's killing me. That house turned out fantastic, and I worked on the house and her (first) wedding simultaneously!