Shabby Chic Grapevine Wreath

Sometimes an idea for an arrangement starts with a flower.  When I saw these cherry blossom branches at a local craft store, I knew I wanted to use them and I pegged who to use them for: my aunt, whose decorating style is kind of shabby chic.

After I had finished gluing on the branches, it definitely needed something more.  Ribbon was the obvious next step.  I wanted to also attach embellishments of some kind, but my journey through the crafts and fabrics store was very uninspiring, until I investigated the buttons section, where I found two little baggies of vintage-styled pink and gold buttons that suited my perception of my aunt's style.

Vintage-style lace was the finishing touch.  I only had about a foot of it, so I had to be sparing with it.  But there was just enough and I think it turned out really nice.

Arrangements from Leftovers

Since I work at the end of the week, I often get to take home flowers that were going to be thrown out. I've made several arrangements from leftovers. It kind of limits my choices, so some of them turn out cool, some don't turn out so great. Here are a couple that I made in the last few months with leftovers. I like the red/orange one the best. I wish the pictures showed the arrangements better.

Roses, mini gerbera daisies, yellow irises, misty blue

This picture is truest to the flower colors.

Delphinium, alstromeria, mini carnations, asters, stock, misty blue

Christmas Week 2011

Christmas week this year, my boss wanted me designing the entire time! It was quite an honor to be trusted with that kind of responsibility.

Above is a picture of an arrangement I made for myself at the end of the Christmas week, but the entire week was full of making arrangements like these for customers. That is primarily what I did: centerpieces.

Aside from the oblong Christmas centerpieces, I also made round centerpieces like the one below. There are two views: top view and side view. I apologize for the low quality; I took them with my cell phone.

This particular centerpiece did not call for a candle.



My favorite part about this week was learning how to make ribbon tucks, rather than full-on bows. I really, really like the simple elegance it adds to the arrangements. And they are much easier than real bows. :)

I also made a few Teleflora arrangements. Below is Peppermint Posies. I think it has too many greens and not enough flowers in it, but we were running seriously short on red and white flowers by this time of the week.

What a valuable work week this has been. I am looking forward to being trusted with more responsibilities like these and being able to improve on my abilities to design.

Rose Bouquet

A few weeks ago I got to make my first bridal-style bouquet. I used leftover crooked roses from the shop, and didn't quite have the right number of either color, so it looks a little funny, but I'm very happy with the result and the experience nonetheless. Here are some pictures. Clicking on them will bring you to the large viewing of the photos.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is tied with Valentine's Day for the craziest holiday in the floral business. The difference is, Valentine's Day is crazy for one solid day, but when Mother's Day comes around, the craziness covers Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday, if a flower shop happens to be open on Sundays.

I was given the opportunity to work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday for the week of Mother's Day. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked greening containers and making a few small arrangements in preparation for the rest of the week. Thursday, Friday, an Saturday I drove, along with several other drivers hired only for the weekend. I worked 5 hours on Thursday and 7 hours on Friday and Saturday. As a regular employee, I was assigned mostly the outskirts deliveries, while the temporary contract drivers delivered the ones nearest the shop. It was great to work almost a full week. I felt extremely useful and learned that that is one of my greatest joys about working--feeling useful! I like nothing more than to be of help to my employers and to be valued for the work that I do.

Now that that week of excitement is over, we're in the lull of the summer. None of the summer holidays give high demand for fresh flowers. I find myself honestly looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, when business will pick up again and I will be able to do greening again and get in some extra hours.

One of my major takeaways from the week of Mother's Day was the confirmation that I am definitely part of the crew now at the shop. I only work one day a week, but I can tell that through my consistency and reliability, I have built up a great deal of trust with my manager and supervisor. It is a great feeling. :)

Christmas Centerpieces

I had the opportunity to work four days at the shop greening Christmas centerpieces with cedar, noble fir, and pine. It took me about 20-30 minutes for each one. I did 16 on the first day I worked. After my first day, whenever I closed my eyes, all I could see was noble fir and cedar. It was difficult to simply forget about the work, as I am a bit of a perfectionist and kept wondering whether my arrangements were done well enough. Every artist experiences this to some extent, I think.

I'm very glad that I got to work extra days in the shop. I am excited about more opportunities like this, as my manager has already asked if I could do greening for Valentine's Day as well.

Dream Arrangement

There's an arrangement that my supervisor and manager make when a customer asks for "whatever you want." I've delivered it three times and the smell has been absolutely addicting all three times. Also, it's absolutely beautiful. So I finally got up the courage to ask my supervisor what goes into that arrangement, so I could copy it.

It turns out that the concept behind the arrangement is actually very simple. Usually the florists will ask, "Well, does he/she have a favorite flower? Or a favorite color?" of customers, but in this case the buyer of the arrangement doesn't know. So the florists put a little of every color and every flower in it (and still make it within the right price range), hoping that they'll somehow hit on the receiver's favorite flower or color.

So today I went into the shop with my list of flowers for the arrangement, took it home, and put it all into a big crystal vase I own. Here is the final outcome:

I was short a snapdragon after buying all the flowers and arranging them, so I returned to the store to show my supervisor and manager, and they were very impressed! They said it looked really nice (WOOHOO!). I'm absolutely stoked. I've never done one that big before and it turned out great. It smells just as incredible and the colors are so vibrant, it's like they're dancing. Fantastic!