leftovers

I had some gypsophilia and salal left over from last week's wedding.  Lucky for me, those are both excellent for drying.  So I made a few wreaths to hang around my mother's house.  Waste not, want not!

Amy and Roy Wedding

{ETA: This wedding was featured on Magnifique Photography (hooray!)  See the feature here.}
There was lots of praying for cooperative weather this weekend.  While it didn't exactly deliver, I'm glad my bride stuck to her outdoor venue.  It was beautiful.  And the flowers loved the snow, even if the guests didn't!

Easter

I had enough flowers left over from the funeral piece this week that I wanted to do something egg-shaped for Easter.  I picked up some pink spray roses and tulips at the supermarket, and the rest is what I still had on hand.  This does not make for the freshest arrangement, but I still think there's a loveliness to it.



And after I finished this piece I had extra pinks and still had some aspidistra leaves. I threw this mini together for my mother's vanity.

Up for bid

I created these arrangements for a charity auction last week.   When I'm left to my own devices I always seem to gravitate toward the Hogarth curve and the Phoenix design.  They're just such statement shapes, and make it so easy to showcase gorgeous flowers.





I could have done without wiring all those bells of ireland though.  Being phototropic they will bend toward the light, even after they are cut.  So if I want them to stay put, they must be wired.

Funeral Spray

This week I made my first (and maybe last) funeral spray.  It's good to have done, now I know what to say the next time someone asks me for an estimate on one.  (I was clueless).  Definitely not an area I want to specialize in, but I'm all about trying new things!

lookie!

Check out my work featured in this wedding shoot over at Magnifique photography!
Go me!

glue glue glue

Yesterday and today are work-like-crazy days.
Lots of glue, lots of loose leaves and stems all over the place.



Some kids who are cooperating with my lunacy.



And some very, very cute boutonnieres.



More to come!

This is what I call a WIP

I had to make two trips to the wholesaler today (30 minutes away) because they forgot most of the greens in my order the first time.  This did not do much to increase my overall happiness and creativity.

BUT

we are forging ahead.

Tomorrow I intend to be monstrously productive.

Work in progress

Getting my feet of the ground is slow.
But trust me, I've been working my tail off.
There should be more photos soon, but here's what today has been full of, much to my children's dismay.



I always try to get everything done that I can before I have the live flowers on hand.  If I'm to deliver the freshest product, I need to be able to work fast and not spend any time on projects that could have been completed in advance.

Feeling Official

My happy mail for the day:



business cards!

Now let's see if I can keep this boat afloat.

impending

This little happy place is shortly getting a new life as part of my business blog.  I just can't be maintaining an infinite number of happy places on the web.  Watch for  it at: bloomstreetfloral.com
Once everything is working properly, I'll set up this url to just forward you there.

I know, so exciting....
not unless you are me.

Quote(s) of the Week: becoming

image - flickr

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

                          -Anais Nin, "Winter of Artifice"

"And eventually being perfect became like carrying a backpack filled with bricks every single day.... What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." 

                                             — Anna Quindlen (Being Perfect)

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.  It will not be broken, it will become unbreakable, inpenetrable, irredeemable.  To love is to be vulnerable.

-                                                   C.S. Lewis