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:

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!!

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.

Art & Soup, SLC

I mentioned previously that I have been working with a local hospice program's fundraising event called Art & Soup. I'll be the first to admit that some years have turned out better than others. My background is interior design not flowers so there's been a lot to learn in a brief amount of time. I've had to work within the confines of a tight budget every year- and a lot of areas to cover on said budget. The first year, I was the assistant but the day of the function I became the lead since the friend that got me started with A&S moved the night before. One year, I was requested to recycle as much stuff in storage as possible from previous years functions. That one was a scary hodge podge verging on disaster. It's been fun though and overall, I'm proud of what I've done and how the events have turned out.

I recommend attending this event; the art is great and the sampling of food is even better! Look for it late March- early April 2011. I'll keep you posted.

Here are some pictures from past events...

2010: Recently, Modern Display has begun working with A&S to create the Memorial area. I still do the flowers, but they created the backdrop showcasing the key artpiece of the year as well as the names of those included in the memorial. I think this year's turned out beautifully. (Last years wasn't bad either but alas I have zero pictures of it.)




2008: I am bummed about this particular year's event for a couple reasons. First, the flower supplier got my order wrong so I went over budget by quite a bit trying to make it work last minute. Second and most importantly, because it actually looked fantastic and this is pretty much the only crummy picture I got of it before my camera battery died. You can't tell that it looked great- $50 cameras just don't cut it! I had my sweet crew of helpers spray branches black and we strung chandelier bling from them until we ran out, and then we had to string up some of the faux ice from the high boy tables to finish the last few trees that we kept far from the spotlight. The color scheme for this was red, white and black with silver and crystal accents because it was an anniversary milestone year for CNS, an anniversary event for A&S, and was the last black tie dinner before changing over to an artist reception.


2007: The debacle year of recycling. The staff pulled from storage birdcages, peacock feathers, tall skinny vases, and low bowls, and asked me to please try to figure out how to keep costs down by using those items. They had selected a painting that had a lot of red, orange and yellow along with a hint of purple and turquoise in it as their key art piece- I drew my color palette from that (and have every year since.) I don't care for most of it personally, but I love how the flowers in the ice sculpture turned out! Sorry for the fuzzy birdcage picture. Maybe I should apologize for all the centerpieces but I will say this- the flowers inside the hideous birdcages were gorgeous!


Planning has already begun for next years event, and I know it'll be even better than last years. I'm telling you, each year I learn more and do a better job. Plus my little crew- Mary and Vince- are amazing at following my lead, reading my drawings, and copying me. Thanks to them for all of their help- I'd be a complete disaster without them at A&S.

I just had to add this

I like to pretend I am a skilled photographer. I'm not, but I have a vivid imagination. However, in this case I'm quite proud of thes images I captured of these flowers.

Whitney's Wedding

Ok kids- if you could have seen Whitney's dress you would be smitten just as I am! It was gorgeous! It had a very vintage, golden screen elegance to it, and looked like it could have belonged to her Grandmother but it was brand new. I wish I had a picture of it but I doubt a photo would do it justice.

Whitney has to be the most easy-going, laid-back bride ever! She had a playful design style- she wanted a country chic meets casual vintage elegance. Sounds impossible but not really. The one thing that she requested was to have feathers in the flowers because she had bird themed accessories to add to her outdoor afternoon reception. Her color palette was Burgundy, Tiffany Blue, and Chocolate Brown. I regret to say that her specific feather request could not be brought to fruition- I searched for weeks and could not find one source in Utah or the US that had bleached peacock feathers, and I couldn't bear to spend $40 on a dozen feathers and another $20 to have them shipped here. She didn't mind though and the alternative that I offered worked out well. As I said, she was incredibly easy-going!


The other boutonnieres.


The mother's corsages.


I had so much fun putting together this buffet piece.


Some of the centerpieces....


Thank you Whitney for letting me help with your flowers! The day was gorgeous, you were beautiful, and you and Brian are just too cute together! He's more smitten with you than I am with your dress, and that's pretty darn smitten. Congratulations to the two of you!

Carson's Wedding

I met with the bride and groom-Carson and Robert, at This Is the Place Park to discuss what she was looking for and to see the venue she had chosen. She had ideas for her flowers and the look she wanted- country, rustic, simple- kind of an old-fashioned country garden wedding party. Her wedding colors were sunny yellow, white, and brown. She wanted sunflowers and daisies, mason jars, and a just gathered from the garden look to the arrangements. She showed me a sample invitation she loved and I helped help customize one for her and Robert in a similar style.

She wanted wrist corsages for her bridesmaids and I suggested ribbon corsages, covered with Daisies and Black Eyed Susans, to be tied around their wrists. They turned out fabulously! What made it better? Her bridesmaids vintage dresses- the corsages complemented the classic feminine style perfectly! Carson wanted to tie in her color scheme to the mom corsages and originally wanted sunflowers for them as well but I suggested a fabulous alternative- Dahlias. I made simple corsages of a single dahlia and a small cluster of Billy Balls tied with a gorgeous chocolate brown satin ribbon.

Now for the bad news... I forgot to grab pictures of the bride's bouquet, the Mom's amazing corsages, the bridesmaid wrist corsages, and the groom's boutonniere. The mother of the bride promised to send me pictures of them and if she acutally sends them, I'll post them. In the meantime, enjoy looking at the pictures of centerpieces and the reception site. The other pictures will soon be on here too!

Most of the centerpieces were in mason jars but a few were in metal pails. We wrapped the chairbacks and newel posts on the porch with organza ribbon and tied sunflowers to them. The bride's mother provided the fabulous window with the bride and groom's name written across the glass pane.


The simple buttercream cake called for a hint of flowers.