Last Years Christmas Arrangements

I am slow with my posts but I think this beats the rest. These were done last winter but I think they are still nice to see again.


I wanted to take this one home with me because this arrangement would have looked very different. The forsythia, mini roses and acacia were all in bud form. In a few days, the roses would have opened and the acacia would turn into tiny yellow fluff balls that have to aromatic scent hard to forget. I guess only people without allergies to pollen apply here.


With the winter flower rush, lots of time pincushion proteas have one side crushed. But I found this perfectly formed protea that takes centre stage. I have to admit but I forgot what the name of the silver balls are called. Will get back to you on that one.


I think this one would make a lovely piece on a side hall table or by itself on a large empty dining table. The branches seems to command your attention to come give it a closer look. And you would find delicate green cymbidiums buried in with green leucadendrons within the magnoila leaves and red berries.


Last but not least, yellow mokaras with yellow roses and green cymbidiums. White star of bethlehem, silver bells and winter greens finish the rest.

Winter is a busy time for flowers but I have to admit that I can do without all the sap. At the end of the day my hands is all black. You can forget about nice nails, let alone clean nails. Guess it's a good thing that it is only once a year.

Enjoy!

Centrepiece for a Winter Wedding

I had another wedding flower request last month for a wedding in December. However, this was not your typical wedding flower request. I was only asked to make a table arrangement. No small posy or body flowers were required. Oh well..happy to do any floral arrangement.

Never did talk directly to the bride to be, only through forwarded emails. She was not particular about color or flowers except no roses. I have to admit, she has to be the first girl who does not like roses. She also didn't want any winter greens. So this is what I came up with.

Since bride to be was not particular of colors or flowers, I chose one of my favorite color combos. Purple, red, white and light green. Purple mokara orchids are always the perfect intensity of purple without it being over powering. I would have gone for a more "fire engine" red asiatic lilies but i think it has enough pink hues to blend well with the mokaras. If I could have used roses, I would have put mini white roses instead of alstromerias. But alstromerias will never disappoint. The picture doesn't show the red stripes in the alstromerias but it ties into the red tulips and the reddish hues in the lilies.

That top lily bud had a weird curve to one of the petals. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.





Back view

I had planned this elaborate weaving of the tulips in the back but the boxwood covered it all. I didn't plan to use boxwood to cover up the foam but there were no ming fern at the store. And this boxwood variety was not very nice to work with. It was not as full and very thin stems.

Top view

You can see the bells of Ireland more clearly in this picture. I pulled some of the blooms off the stem to show more of the stem. I really want to do this arrangement again but with the flowers I want. However, I might try a different color scheme. Maybe purple, blue, red and white and minus magnolia leaves.

Enjoy!

What Did You Do This Weekend?

What did I do this weekend? Arts & crafts. So much fun and never gets tiresome.


The final product. A homemade book to surprise mom and dad on Christmas. Don't worry, mom and dad are computer/internet illiterate so I'm safe. It started off as just a card but this was much more fun and filled my Sunday night.






So be patient little ones, there will be posts of our adventure to the Olympics in the new year.

Mme. Chorizo

More Christmas Flowers

This was a very simple winter greens wreath but classic. I used all the left over greens I had from the hat boxes arrangements expect boxwood. Boxwood is not as hardy as winter greens. I was going to add gold or red round ornaments but I wasn't sure if it would suit the recipient's taste/decor. I gave this to a dear friend E. I hope E. and his family enjoy it. I told E. that he can make the wreath more versetile by removing the bow and place it on the dinner table. Prop the center of the wreath with a small container and place the prized turkey on top of it. Instant centerpiece!

Christmas Party Flowers

The weekend of the work Christmas party has come and gone. The clean-up (all the sap and pine needles) is finally done. Here are the pictures I took hastily before they were loaded into the car. Thanks so much B. for helping me move them. I know I would have gotten stuck in the snow and wouldn't have been able to get all the flowers to the party on time.

Here is a close up of the hat box. There would have been more purple alstromerias but they did not open as fast as the red ones.


Friday was a long day as all 30 arrangements had to be finished. I covered our basement floor with the flowers that Agent Chorizo wasn't able to get to his computer desk.


All that work was all worth it. I enjoy creating them for people who truly appreciates them. I wish I remembered to take a picture of them on the dinner tables. But I was in such a hurry to get home that I forgot. Oh well, hopefully next time.

Christmas Party Centrepieces Preparations

It's that time of the year again. Christmas is just around the corner and I have an up coming project as requested by work. I am so excited! Who am I kidding, I am excited for every project I get to do.

My vision for this year is mostly purple and green. Some people are giving me funny looks when I say purple but just look around the stores. Shades of purple is sprouting here and there. I am sure every girls got a orchid colored t-shirt or a lavender dress shirt for the guys. It's the new "pink" if you will for the guys.

The party is not till another week but I am not going to pull an all nighter like my last big project. I guess it doesn't really count if you sleep till noon the next morning. So I am getting a head start and getting all the containers ready. Each table will have 3 hat boxes that will have the lid tilted to one side and all the Christmas greens and flowers spewing out the other side. Much like the one I did for a co-worker that had hot pink gerbers and pink roses.

Before


If you are wondering if I got the containers from Ikea, you guessed right. They are perfect size and price. Maybe I was a designer for Ikea in my past life because that is the only way I can explain my obsession..i mean fascination with Ikea.

After (minus the flowers of course)


So far I got the go ahead for 9 tables (up to 15 tables). The red and gold berry like ornaments will be added to the arrangements later. I will have the 2 smaller hat boxes elevated higher so it will give it more depth. I hope the venue will have enough tea lights to brighten the tables. As you can see, I got one table done, which means 8 more sets to do.

Trial Wedding Arrangement

I am so lucky to work with such a beautiful and sweet girl. She asked me to do her wedding flowers for her August nuptials. She loves colors and it is very fitting for someone who is just full of sunshine. She loves autumn colors but want to add some pinks and blues. This is what I came up with.



I convinced her that he bouquet will have more of a tear drop shape compared to her maid's because that will compliment her tall figure. It's not a perfect teardrop but remember that's it's only the trail run.


Here is the ribbon and lace detail on the stems of the bouquet. She absolutely loved it and I have to say that I love it too.

More Flowers

Roses are one of my favorites. They are so nice smelling and so easy to look at. I only wish they last longer then their average of a week. Peach maybe a color that is not as versatile as other colors but the pairing with yellow gives it a softness and elegance.





This was a present for someone's big 50 birthday. She really liked and I had lots of fun creating it. I remember she had recently bought a sofa table so this long low piece was perfect to catch your eyes every time you walked by. The peach color roses were actually orange roses. Even with the automatic button on the camera, natural light is hard to achieve at night. Hopefully I will be able to set up a little spot in my "flower room" for better portraits. Until then, bear with me and my shaky, blurry and dull colored pictures.

Can't Get Enough of Flowers

So so sorry. I know it has been ages, but I moved last month and am still painting the walls. In the mean time, I was fortunate to have a very loyal customer that wanted flowers. Enjoy the finished project as much it was to create them.






I was never a fan of Gerber daisies but I think it really worked with the other color combos in this arrangements. The flowers are still in the early stages but in the back and left side I added tuber roses. They will open to a nice off white flowers with an intoxicating scent that will hopefully draw more viewers. The purple alstromerias were a perfect shade of purple as it didn't over power all the other flowers. I probably didn't need to add the baby's breath but it does give it a light airiness.

New Spin on the Walk Down the Aisle

I was given the honour to arrange the flowers for a friend's wedding last weekend. The wedding was so beautiful. Beautiful weather, beautiful garden and beautiful people. I don't have any pics right now as I was up really late that night so I didn't feel I could take any decent pictures. So hopefully the bride will share some of her wedding pics for me.

Since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about wedding flowers. Found some blogs by other florists and they posted a really cool YouTube video. It just reminds me that in the end of all the planning, stressing and fussing over flowers, a wedding is about having fun and making the best of that day for the happy couple. Enjoy everyone. By the way, I found the video on "Hidden Garden Floral Design" blog. She does some amazing arrangements. Check the website out!

This One's for You "M"

A little late but nonetheless.....

New Addition to the Family

We've been wanting to get more fishes in our biggish freshwater tank. Somebody wanted to get one of those magnetic glass cleaners to deal with the algae problem (I won't say who). So instead of getting such an unsightly magnet, we got ourselves a live fish that would deal with the problem.

As I am watching him in the tank while I am typing, he is amusing us with his reversing abilities in the tank. Moving forward, backwards, side ways along the walls and the ground.

He is not as graceful as our other fishes but I am hoping he will start cleaning the tank. The cardinal tetras were the first to check him out as they also prefer the bottom level of the tank. I don't think he really liked that. By the way, his name is Francis.


Francis says "Hi".

Mini Vacation

Just came back from Calgary. The city and the mountains never cease to amaze me with so many new things to see and do.

One of the first things I did was go to the Calgary Farmer's Market. We bought a bag of mini potatoes that 3 different varieties; purple, white and red. We also bought a bag of bell peppers that also had the 3 varieties in it. For lunch it was all Greek to me as I tried the stuffed eggplant with potatoes and a Greek salad on the side. It was delicious. You can never go wrong with Greek food.



That night we bbq our food finds. I cut up the potatoes, seasoned them with oregano and roasted them in the oven. We got a little more adventurous with the peppers cause we skewered them with chucks of deer meat. Oh so delicious! To top off our bbq, we also bbq'ed fresh pineapples drizzled with honey. Some how we found room in our bellies and walked over the "My Favorite Ice Cream Shop" and had a scoop or 2 of ice cream each. Green Tea flavored ice cream is a tried and tested flavour that always satisfy my sweet tooth.

Now for my favorite part about visiting Calgary; the mountains. The first 2 pics were taken in Kananaskis county. This is the Elbow river at various points.





A mountain trip is never complete until you have climbed a mountain. My choice of climbing is by car. Nonetheless, the view is breath-taking.



Isn't this sign just so comforting.


On route to the top.


Town of Canmore


I can't wait to go back. Hopefully the next time will be to see the fireworks festival in Calgary.

Mystery Plant

Alright readers, can anyone tell me what this mystery plant is. There wasn't a sign around. Is this a fruit or flower?

Bridal Shower

I was really happy how nice the flowers worked out for the occasions. The weather was also on our side as it was perfectly sunny and warm for the occasion.



The food was also delicious. Spanakopita, hummus, fresh pita bread, greek salad with bulgar and cupcakes for dessert. The bulgar was a nice touch to the salad and the feta cheese was not too salty. Hate it when feta cheese is too salty and covers all the other delicious flavours. I have to admit that I did not touch the white cupcakes cause they had coconut on them. EWWWWWW! I'm sure it wasn't so bad. My favorite topping on the chocolate cupcake was the course sugar on top. MMMMMMM!

Asian Inspired Quilt

YAHHHHH!!! I am done the front part of this Asian inspired quilt. So I am off to Walmart to get the quilt batting.