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.

Fall flowers and weddings

I have another wedding coming up next weekend. It's very small and simple. It's a fall themed wedding on a tight budget, and again I'm only doing flowers- this time for the head party only. Shannon's colors are burgundy and yellow.

Speaking of fall, I want to do centerpieces for the holidays, and I think it'd be all kinds of crazy fun to do a Halloween party for someone. Help a sista out folks, and give me an opportunity to play, err...ummm....I mean work and make some floral and party magic happen!

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!

A Toddler's Simple Backyard Teaparty

My niece just turned 3. Despite my sister being sick, we decided that the little princess should have a tea party in the backyard with her family. She loves pink and purple, Barbies, tea parties, having her nails painted, putting on lips (lipstick, lip gloss, lip balm, butter), bouncing on the tramp, anything Dora and Diego, riding her scooter, and bossing her older brothers. She's a prissy little hellion! Instead of going all out and throwing a huge party for her like we did her brother the week before (unfortunately every picture had a child in it and I won't post pictures of kids without parental consent if I absolutely have to post a picture with them in it- so, no pictures of the huge party) we opted to keep it very small, very casual, and super simple.

I took my niece to the flower shop and let her pick out her flowers- she chose lime green button mums, purple statice, white carnations, bright pink roses, and yellow daisy poms. We found the pails on clearance and will reuse them later in Barbie pink room. In the meantime, they were great as centerpieces. My sister loves the shabby chic style for girls and so for the tea party we borrowed from that and used some great calicos I'd collected over the years and topped the large table with a lime green wool crepe scrap I had, and the small table with a napkin.

The menu was very simple- apricot thumb print cookies, lemon tea cookies, and chocolate filled wafers, egg salad finger sandwiches and cucumber finger sandwiches, strawberries and vanilla devonshire cream, and freshly made lemonade. This by far is not the fanciest party ever, but there is a very happy 3 year old still talking about her flowers and her tea party, and that is all that matters!

Carson's flowers in the making

Sometimes the work in progress and seeing the individual elements of the design is as interesting to see as the finished product.



Dahlia- large, surprisingly delicate, striking, and a definite statement piece. The buds are great for adding visual interest to arrangements


I don't really know what this is but I know it is not the Black Eyed Susan I ordered.




Almost all of the flowers used in the centerpieces laid out in a row


One of the centers in progress....but look at that dahlia off to the side!


The finished centerpiece


Look how happy those flowers are, even in awful late night flourescent lighting!

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.

Kylie's Wedding

This wedding proved a little difficult for me. Kylie is just about the
cutest thing you'll ever see. She knew exactly what flowers she wanted but she didn't know how she wanted them to look other than they couldn't look like her friend's wedding flowers. She wanted pale pink mini calla lilies and gerbera daisies with a pop of bright pink and she wanted her wedding colors of pink, light blue, and chocolate brown tied in as much as possible to all of her flowers. Light blue delphinium had to be included with everything. Based on our conversations and the pictures she sent me, I drew up some sketches of what I thought she wanted.

Her reception was a simple affair at the Garden Park Chapel in Salt Lake City. She wanted simple, casual and elegant. In the end, things turned out beautifully and she was quite happy with all the flowers.

The sketch that was the starting point for everything...


I think the fern curls added a fun elegance to her flower selection.


The Mother's corsage and other bouttonieres....


The bridesmaid bouquets were to be very small and simple- more casual than the brides, and as the bride said, "cute to go with the cute girls in their cute dresses."


The centerpieces were simple but went perfectly with the surroundings and the bride's taste. She provided the table linens, toppers, vases and the colored glass marbles in the vases.