Hi! Join me tonight at Warren Township Library for some Fresh Flower Fun.  I will be sharing four Designs for Mother’s Day,  from start to finish,  so YOU can learn to design your own bouquet!  You might be one of the four people to win a design tonight….The demonstration starts at 7pm, hope to see you there!

Have you seen the cool purple cabbages and the huge regular ones in our markets now?  I am going to a St. Patty’s party on Saturday and asked if I can bring a tablescape.  The answer was “YES!”  So I went to the fresh market and looked around for something to use and came up with these cabbages.  I hollowed out a hole – big enough to place a piece of soaked oasis into – then added fresh flowers.  Imagine these lining the center of YOUR  table.  So easy to make and not expensive to fill. I added some toothpicks in the back on the base to help stop them from rolling.  Don’t forget to peel some leaves back before carving.  I used orange spray roses, lime green and  yellow button mums, fancy mini carnations, wax flower, and some boxwood from my yard.  I can’t wait to share this fun design with my friends tomorrow! What are YOU going to make at your house?  Go ahead! DARE TO DESIGN tonight! 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!  This is one of my favorite arrangements to make for this fun holiday.  Shoe shapes for fresh flowers are VERY hot right now and the Oasis Inc. Company has even come out with a quick base shape of a hi-heel to help Designer’s out and make the design process go easier.  I was given this ceramic shoe as a gift years ago and it is always fun for me to make new arrangements in it each time I ‘play’ with it. This year is no exception.  I love the mix of flowers here.  The green spider mums, the yellow chrysanthemums, orange spray roses, orange lily, and the fancy mini carnations. Most of these blooms are long lasting flowers so I’ll be able to enjoy this design for days!  Do you have a design in mind for your St. Paddy’s Day table?  Only 2 days left : )

Join me on Saturday, December 15th, at Longhill Twp. Library, in Gillette, NJ,  at 2pm for some fun Floral Designs.  I will be creating 4 fun designs from start to finish and they will be raffled off to 4 people at the end of the Demonstration! Do you need a cool tablescape for your holiday table? Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones to win.  The BEST part is if you don’t like MY design- you get to take it home and remake it to your liking.  Remember – You too can be a Designer!  Hope to see you there .

I LOVE celebrating the fourth of July!  I missed the parade this year but I didn’t miss the chance to share the day with friends.  As I ran out to my local A&P store to pick up some last minute bbq items, I couldn’t help but notice these red white and blue roses! I personally have never seen them before and had to pick some up to give as a favor for my guests.  I used these little glass jars that were given to me, ( my mom-in-law gets fruit cocktail in them ), and just cut down each rose til only 3 1/2 inches of stem was left. I then placed the rose in the jar and added a piece of babies breath and a small USA flag.  I tied a red sheer ribbon on one and a blue sheer on another one and set them down the center of my table.  They added a spirit of fun for a special day.  Each guest was happy to take their own red-white-and blue rose arrangement home to enjoy.  It’s great sharing containers/ jars with others that were given to me!  What’s that saying that’s been SO abused?…Pay it Forward! Try Paying it forward with fresh flowers today : ) 

Take a theme of ‘Wine Country‘ and put it into a physical design. That’s what I did for a party last Saturday.  Begin with your container, add soaked oasis, and wine glass! (see pic).  Flowers chosen were Beautiful Quicksand Roses with the new Moon Series Carnations, (cool shades of purple and lavender), and purple wax flower.  An armature of the rose stems from the flowers I just used in the design was created in a ‘tee-pee’ style above the design.  Fresh moss and real grapes finished off this Themed Design, as well as Angel Hair swished all around.  OH! I forgot to mention that  there was a wine glass laying down with a rose head floating inside.       : )   Such fun…   Book me for your group’s next meeting to share more Armature Designs!

A very easy arrangement to do yourself is pictured here.  These are some of the roses from my valentine’s gift, (8 days ago!)  Start with a vase you love, cut a hydrangea stem so the head of the flower sits right on top of your vase opening.  Then place each rose through the hydrangea head into the water.  Make sure your roses are cut to a length that slightly nestles into the hydrangea bloom.  The hydrangea acts as a grid for the roses to stay where they are placed so designing is simplified!  No greens or filler needed… you could add a bow or a butterfly if you’d like,  but I kept mine crisp looking with just the beautiful flowers and the stems magnified through the clean glass. This could be used for a bridal shower tablescape, an anniversary celebration, birthday, Christmas, etc!!!  I just LOVE this design.  Dare to design it yourself!

Give a lantern arrangement to the one who lights up your life! ( Click on this actual picture to see the lantern better.) Nancy won this arrangement when she attended one of my Demonstrations! We were laughing because she said she never wins anything!  Nancy is my assistant for many of the Demonstrations I do around NJ, and she’s also the mother of the man who lights up my life!  So I was thrilled when she attended a demo for fun and won this fun arrangement. Back to the arrangement itself… remove all the glass in your lantern and place a liner in the center with a piece of oasis, then have fun choosing flowers to put into the oasis.  Sometimes you can shoot a longer stem out the top if the opening is big enough.  I chose bells of ireland, pink peonies, and pink carnations for this design.  Keep the glass aside and give that too, so they can use the base as a lantern again when the flowers fade : ) 

An easy and fun arrangement to make is this cranberry design.  I took my glass trifle bowl and filled it with fresh cranberries,(the cranberries were bought at Sams Club. It took a very large bag). Don’t fill completely to the top as they will rise when water is added, which is the next step.  Fill the bowl 3/4 of the way with water and watch how it magnifies the berries.  Then I placed my flowers directly into the cranberries.  You’ll notice the cranberries act as a grid to ‘hold’ your flowers in place.  Because it’s winter, I like babies breath as filler, as it makes me relate to snow : ).  See the seeded eucalyptus cluster off the left side of the picture here?  Remember to cluster filler, greens etc for interest in your designs.  I chose all long lasting flowers for this arrangement because I knew it was a busy time of year for me and I wanted to have a ‘stress-free arrangement on my table – one I didn’t have to monitor for fading blooms every two days.   I LOVE the mini carnations in the lime color.  This was my Christmas tablescape for TWO WEEKS !!! You gotta love carnations for their longevity at busy times in life. Carnations come in such different colors and combos of colors now that they have made a big comeback in fancier floral designs today.  Be your own Valentine and try this design for your Valentine’s table !

P.S. I DID add pieces of fresh white pine to finish off my design but forgot to take a pic…you can add any greens you like all around the edge of that trifle bowl to give it a more full look. If you do, you’ll be ‘collaring’ your arrangement with greens.  ENJOY!

The other night I was at Franklin Township Library in Somerset NJ where Erin Blatt runs the programming there. Many thanks to Erin who invited me back to speak on Celebration Designs this time. We figured that I’ve been there for every season now so we can start theming it in a different way!  I suggested Armature designs in fresh flowers, or topiary designs in fresh flowers…what’s new in Bridal Designs…Western Wear in Flowers!…Children’s Flower Art!, etc.  This woman won one of the 5 designs I made and  was so thrilled I had to take her picture with my phone : )  This design was in a decorative box with white and red alstomieria lily, white pine, faux packages in silver, and silver ting – ting.  Come this Tuesday night at 6:30pm to Jefferson Twp. Library and see if YOU will win a fresh floral design. Hope to see you there!