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.