Flowers


A Sweet Valentine’s Brunch 1 comment

Coconut Cream Filled Strawberries

February 7, 2017– posted by Gina – Recently, I had the opportunity to treat a few of my close friends to a simple Valentine’s brunch. I set everything up buffet style for this cozy, casual gathering.

Valentine Brunch

I purchased these Gerbera daisies at the grocery store on one of my many recent trips. When I snapped them up I did not have this spread in mind but they worked well with this grouping. I placed them in a rustic galvanized vase with green patina which blended in perfectly with the serving dishes. It was a very simple detail but often it’s the little touches that can have the biggest impact. What is Valentine’s Day without a little candy? I can never pass up the grocery aisle with the seasonal goodies. As I was strolling through the selection of endless sweets, these oversized M&M’s caught my eye and somehow a few bags ended up in my cart.

Gerbera Daisies and M&M's

I set the coffee up right across from the food. Having seen antique tart pans used as decorative items in kitchens lately, I figured I might as well use my current one for something other than baking. It held the white coffee mugs. What is Valentine’s without these little Sweethearts? I sprinkled a few in the bottom of the mason jar and used it as a silver caddy.

Valentine Brunch Coffee Station

It’s great when you can pull things you already have together to create a theme. I didn’t have to run out to buy anything for this set up since I already had the hugs and kisses plaque, the carafes and the  plaid napkins on hand. When you start to think of different ways to use what’s on hand, you’ll find you have an infinite variety of possibilities.

Valentine Brunch Buffet

I served banana bread, chicken salad and coconut cream filled strawberries. For the strawberries and the banana bread I used recipes I had been wanting to try. Both were delicious and easy to make so if you’d like to see the recipes visit our Recipe Page.

Valentine Brunch Banana Bread, Strawberries and Chicken Salad


Autumn Arrangement 1 comment

September 22, 2016, posted by Gina – On this first day of Fall, we are delving back into decorating and thinking about the upcoming holiday season. I am not sure why I love Fall decorations so much. Maybe it’s the reemergence of deep, warm colors or the thought of comfort food that comes along with cooler weather.  Whatever the reason, there’s something so fun about seeing the first pumpkin at the farmers market or the smell of chili cooking in my home.

pumpkins-cotton-artichoke-wm

I wanted to create a fall arrangement for my kitchen island and decided on an Annie Glass bowl for the base. I had some Angel Vine which I placed in the bottom of the bowl that served to secure all my other goodies. Included in this arrangement are pumpkins, artichokes, cotton, antlers, and a bit of fall greenery.

I plan on placing a few other items around the house to make it festive and fun.  Join me… and let us know about your fall projects and decorations. To leave a comment, click on the title of this post and the comment form will appear at the bottom of the page.


Flower Town

multicolor wm

August 1, 2016, posted by Michelle – Le Monsieur and I have been traveling around Europe for the past couple of weeks. We drove through Switzerland last week and stopped to have dinner in a small medieval town called Murten. After dinner we walked around the arcaded main street admiring all of the beautiful flowers and vines spilling out of window boxes and planters. I wanted to share some of the photos with you so you can see for yourself why I call it Flower Town!

Flower Town, Murten, Switerzland

every window wm


Fishin’ & Flowers

July 26, 2016, posted by Gina – My friend over at Pink Peppermint Paper was asked to help put together a creative event for a company dinner at a local restaurant. The restaurant is casual and serves up some of the best catfish I have eaten anywhere.

Casual Summer Event centerpieces wm

The restaurant sits on the water, so she came up with a fishing theme. This is where I came in. They needed flowers for the tables to coordinate with the restaurant and theme. I was so thrilled to work on these arrangements because, outside of their request for colorful flowers, I had free reign.

Casual Summer Event wm

My friend used burlap runners on the tables, fishing net, the cutest gingham place cards and bobbers for the napkin rings.  I went with very natural looking arrangements with sunflowers as the star flower.

I enjoyed working on these and love how the event turned out. If you are in need of invitations or ideas for parties, visit Pink Peppermint Paper to see all the things my friend has to offer.

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Flower Favorites

trio wmJuly 25, 2016, posted by Gina – I am a planner, so soon as I receive an order for flowers, my mind races with all kinds of ideas for the arrangements. I take every detail into consideration from which flowers would make the most pleasing design to what containers would be best and, of course, I think through the mechanics involved in putting them together. While I give most of my attention to the largest arrangements, it is sometimes the smallest ones that I fall in love with. That was certainly the case with the trio pictured above that I created for a powder room. I found these cute iron containers on the hugely popular Magnolia Market website.  Test tubes sitting inside iron forms are the vessels for the flowers. While I was very happy with the way the other arrangements turned out, this little trio gave me such a big smile. They really gave the powder room a fresh, cheerful touch.

large yellow and white wm

All these flowers were designed for an engagement party at a beautiful home where they seemed to fit right into place. The large, round arrangement pictured above was created for the main dining table. The long rectangular arrangement pictured below went on a large island and it was stunning against the white marble counters.

yellow and blue wm

This succulent arrangement nestled together nicely in a very pretty shell bowl and went on an outdoor table where the beverages were served.

shell container wm

We’d love to hear from you!  If you have any comments or thoughts to share, click on the title of this post and the comment form will open at the bottom of the page.

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Fast and Furious Flowers

July 21, 2016, posted by Gina – Last weekend a good friend of mine served as somewhat of a wedding coordinator. Her daughter was the Maid of Honor but apart from that she has a kind and generous nature so it came as no surprise to me that she would have found herself in this unlikely position.

The wedding was on Sunday afternoon and she met with the bride on Saturday to go over all the details. They went through all the usual checklists and it soon became apparent that somehow flowers had been left out of the plans.

I received a call at 3:00 pm on Saturday from my friend. She was telling me how pretty the location was and sharing how many props the venue had stocked in a very well organized store room. She also mentioned that flowers had not been taken into account, though the bride absolutely wanted them. She told the bride she’d figure something out. As my friend continued telling me about the venue, I could not get past the flower issue. My mind was racing with all kinds of ideas to help her make the best arrangements possible given the time constraint.

Here’s where this story gets interesting. My friend has never made a bouquet, boutonnière or done much flower arranging.  So, we devised a last minute, extremely low budget plan. I told her that roses would be the best bet, and probably the only bet, at 3:00 pm on a Saturday.  She rushed off to the grocery store and found that there was not enough of any one color except red. Luckily, red was the color for the wedding. She bought everything she could find and then flew off to the craft store for wire, ribbon and supplies.

I began sending her photos of bouquets and boutonnières that would be the easiest to put together. We talked about how to put these together quickly as she had to attend the rehearsal.  So at about 8:45 pm the night before the wedding my friend who had never done flowers before with only roses at her disposal began the daunting task of preparing wedding flowers. We exchanged phone calls and photos back and forth for a while until she felt comfortable and was just plain getting tired. And that was the last I heard about the flowers.

On Sunday I was anxiously waiting to hear about the wedding. I received a text from my friend telling me the wedding was over. All I could think was ‘where are the photos’? How did the flowers look?  Did they hold up in the 100-degree outdoor wedding? She was busy wrapping things up so it was late in the day before photos started coming my way.

Take a look for yourself! She did an amazing job! Think about the challenge of having to do 6 bouquets, 1 corsage and 6 boutonnières using only roses and having 2 hours to get them done. So the end to this story is that the couple was married, the wedding was beautiful and no one had any idea that the flowers had not been planned from the beginning. My friend is a Rockstar!

bouquet

barn

bridesmaids

the kiss


The Park in Bloom

climbing roses peach

May 24, 2016, posted by Michelle – Things are blooming in Lyon’s Parc de la Tête d’Or near our neighborhood. Since this is the time of year that the park looks its most gorgeous, I couldn’t help but assemble some photos to post. This park has a wide variety of plants and trees, a beautiful lake, a few greenhouses and several rose gardens. I also took photos of some of the beautiful homes that overlook the park.

Pink Roses wm

PINK and PURPLE wm

RED wm

Wildflower Pond wm

lake wm

Desert Palm wm

Maisons wm


Spring Wreath 2 comments

May 19, 2016, posted by Gina – A friend of mine saw a wreath in an upscale catalog and fell in love with it. We both thought the price was too high so she asked if I could make something similar. Duplicating it was challenging but I must say the completed wreath looks pretty close to the over-priced beauty.

Spring

As you can see this wreath is fairly full and, believe it or not, the one in the catalog was four and a half times the cost of this one. I am so happy she asked me to work on this fun and rewarding project.

We’d love to hear your comments. Click on the title of this post and the comment form will open at the bottom of the page.


Rose Garden by the River 1 comment

white roses

May 16, 2016, posted by Michelle – Bonjour everyone! I am posting a collection of photos from the beautiful rose garden (Roseraie de Saint Clair) in the park by my apartment. There are 150 varieties of domestic and wild roses in this garden that sits idyllically on the banks of the Rhône river. We’d also like to dedicate this post to our grandmother (1912 – 2010) whose birthday was May 16th.

rose collage

primrose path

first third

roses by the rhone

in bloom last third


Pretty Peonies, Part 2

May 11, 2016, posted by Gina –  We recently designed some stunning arrangements for a client who specifically requested peonies for a luncheon she was hosting. Last week we shared a few photos of the peonies that had just arrived and were still in the box. Now we’d like to show you the finished product…

watermarked centerpiece

The peonies were just beautiful and seemed to have just been harvested. It was such a treat to be able to work with such beautiful flowers. We designed the largest arrangement with peonies, hydrangeas, tulips and pale pink roses for her dining room.

watermarked demijohn

We also made up a tall arrangement in a demijohn for the kitchen island and another in a crystal rose bowl for the powder room.

watermarked mint julep arrangements

We also placed small individual arrangements in mint julep cups at each place setting. We hear that our clients’ guests really enjoyed these and that makes us so happy.

Fresh flowers are a great way to show your guests how much you appreciate the pleasure of their company. They add beauty, life and warmth to any table.

We’d love to hear from you. To leave your comments click on the title of this post and the comment form will appear at the end of the page.