Hello,  hope your week is off to a wonderful start. Here we are busy busy just getting in our Provence planter container and chinoiserie tole. For anyone who placed a presale order, they will shipping out tomorrow and Thursday.  To anyone else, we will hold a one day arrival sale as we always do later in the week.

So…….you know me and my flowers, I so love them and can’t imagine life without them, they just make me happy.  I recently had such fun taking a little day trip into the city to the flower district which I love and adore and have written about many times. Even have made a few connections and know people who help me out and are my
“go to’s”, makes me feel like an insider:) This time I was on a mission…..to gather flowers for my nieces baby shower as I was doing all the floral arrangements. I had such fun:)

So first a quick look at what I got and then the completed arrangements, unfortunately did not take as many pictures as I would have liked once the shower got going but you certainly get the idea. I have no formal training in floral design but love to experiment and use every floral arrangement that I make as an experiment to see what works and what doesn’t. At the bottom of this post you will see a few pointers I have learned along the way…..

 

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Few things make me happier than seeing my kitchen turned into a glorious happy mess aka my temporary florist

The fact that I happen to import blue and whites (and that she asked if we could do the arrangements in blue and white) sure came in handy

Just getting started!

Proof that things can get quite messy, I am like a mad scientist once I begin

Ta dah! My first batch of completed arrangements

A few hours later….great progress has been made:)

And these are ready for their close up!

If I didn’t adore her so. much I would have kidnapped these and kept them for myself:)

And off they go to the person who was delivering them to the venue for me…..even all packed up in the back of a car they look beautiful-

 

Just a couple of pics taken at the shower-

Well, well, well……looks like there is an upside afterall to doing the florals in heavy blue and whites, they are too heavy for anyone to lift and take home so with the exception of a few, I was lucky enough to get some back to sprinkle around the house, and I so enjoyed them for a good five or six days after-

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A FEW POINTERS-

• For hydrangeas I cut the stems immediately on a 45 degree angle then use ultra hot water (travels up the stem faster to the actual bloom so goes the logic behind doing this)
• I keep my flowers in a very cool spot (like a garage) or even a refrigerator until I want to use them
• The soonest I will start the arrangements is the night before
• I buy cases of the oasis (normally 24 blocks to a box) it is so much cheaper than a place like Michael’s or your local florist, you can source it on Amazon
• I was concerned about using the hot water for the roses but guess what? It worked…..the flowers lasted a good 8 days after the shower so I obviously did something right:)
• When doing the arrangements I start with the biggest flowers first (normally the hydrangeas) and put them as a base towards the bottom then work towards the center
• People often ask how i know how many flowers to buy…..truthfully. there is no formula or science behind this, I just kind of eyeball it for about 12 arrangments of varying sizes I used a total of about 14 bundles of flowers
• Invest in a good quality pair of shears, they will last and last and pay for themselves very quickly (good to have for picking flowers from your yard too)
• If I didn’t have my flower district I would rely on Whole Foods to get my flowers, they are surprising very reasonable and will even order for you with a day or two notice and gives a 10% discount when you are buying multiples
• Costco believe it or not has some great deals on flowers too! I have ordered from them online and they came in beautifully, you just need to think ahead as you normally need to order at least a week or so ahead of time
• I do recommend adding fresh water every day to the arrangement
• Think outside the box about containers and planters, flat to ginger jars, mint juleps, little vases all make beautiful containers for flower arranging
• Lastly, have fun! This is like a fun experiment every time, the only way you will learn (apart from taking a course) is to dive right in and start arranging away.  You Tube also has many many videos and how to’s if you are nervous it but come on, we are talking flowers here and they could never look bad!  It is not as hard as it might look…..they have a way of pulling themselves together:)

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It was fun reliving that fun day thorough this post….it was  what I would call a labor of love, as my niece is so sweet and so deserving and this baby (their first) was a long time in the making and wanting, so all good things come to those who wait! Hope all you flower lovers enjoyed this post as much as I did putting it together.

Thanks for stopping in, wishing you a wonderful day. Until next time…..

PS In case this post has you anxious to do a little flower arranging of your own, today and tomorrow, all the vases and planters on the shop are an extra 20% off! Use code PLANTER

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And our pillow sale is on the second and last day….so many stunning pillows up for grabs. Click here