Votive Centerpiece

I made this piece at Christmas with my new aluminum low urns from Accent Decor.  Such a nice simple centerpiece that will last all season!  I used gold votives and gold and silver xmas balls for a nice glittery look.

Valentines Day

With all this awful weather I told my clients that they could get their delivery on Wed or maybe not until Sat.  A few opted for yesterday so I ran around town.  This piece is for one of most loyal clients - we did the arrangements for her wedding years ago and now 2 little girls and many Valentine's Days later we are still together.  For her piece I used pink parrot tulips, Blushing Bride mini protea, pink ranuculus, lambs ears, mini green hydrangea, geranium leaves and tree fern.  Very Constance Spry yes?

Messing around

I love this container but rarely use it...anyway, I had some nice sunflowers and odds and ends and came up with this piece....

Free style ikebana

I love ikebana - the type of thinking involved does not come easily to me - I spend a lot of time in class thinking and consulting with my teacher Kyoko turning materials this way and that to find the perfect position for elements.   

Last night she provided some beautiful sweeping branches and we created arrangements with them.  I liked the idea of the branch floating above the container and worked with Kyoko on mechanics to make that happen.  The horizontal aspedistra leaves enhance the floating aspects of this piece and the tulip and brezillia berries give it some stability.

More pictures from Becky's wedding

Leo Druker took these wonderful photos of Becky and Greg's wedding in early December.  She was a beautiful bride and it was such fun to work with her.  She collected lots of elements to use in the arrangements and I was happy to oblige.  She wanted a wonderful color story of bright pinks and rose with grey and cream.

Sara and Kiran's wedding

Yesterday Sara and Kiran got married yesterday at the Carnegie Institute in downtown DC...
The color story was gold and silver with blush and cream roses.  These are just some quick shots of the bouquet and the cake table decor with a gold branch with hanging votives.  

Becky's wedding/floral table runner

I did the flowers for Becky's wedding in early December.  She wanted a table runner down the length of a 16 foot table.  I ordered a pre-made princess pine garland which was so beautiful!  We enhanced it with mercury glass votives, brass candlesticks from the bride's collection,  grey-ish pink succulents and a variety of roses.  So pretty I think.

Winter gleaned bouquet

For the January challenge for IFDA (Innovative Floral Designers Assoc - MD) my local design group, I proposed that our members make a bouquet from materials that they got from the own gardens or somehow found.  I toured my garden and then hopped across the street to my inlaws' garden.  Their garden is really better than mine mostly because my husband puts a ton of work in over there and I found some great stuff.  Pink camellias, beet greens, lambs ears,  red nandina leaves euonymous foliage, ligularia and dusty miller were ready for the picking.

Pastel Ranuculus

Beautiful pastel ranuculus in the most luscious sherbet colors of yellow, peach and rose.  I made a small bouquet along with lamb's ears and a little cedar.  The ribbon wrap is 3 colors of peach ribbons zig zagged together. 

My Christmas table

After a busy season decorating everyone else's house I got something together for my own table today.  I made a scaffolding of birch branches on my light fixture and hung some cedar fronds and crystals from it.  On the table itself I made a small tablescape of silver and gold votives with more cedar and pine cones.  It was sinple but pleasing to me.

Holiday arrangement

I made this little arrangement for the Landon School grandparent's party a few weeks ago, I had just gotten my new camera and was experimenting with some settings.  Such fun.  I love those gold Combo roses - at times they cost the moon but they are such a wonderful color. 

Landon Gala samples

Landon School is having a gala in February and I am making samples for them.  They want an orange color story with tropical flowers and this is a first view of what I am showing them.

Asia's Birthday Party Flowers

Asia had a birthday party a few weeks ago.  Her color scheme was blush/gold/silver - one of my favorite combinations.  I used Quicksand roses, blush callas, silver dusty miller, white anenome and silver brunia berries in a gold ceramic square vase.  I think it is very pretty.  This photo was taken with my new Canon Rebel camera with a 50 mm lens - finally, good photos to post!

Pale Fall

Today I made some arrangements for a new client - she has a very neutral house and wanted the color story to be pale fall colors.  I had a lot of fun with this - I used some local flowers, the last of the dahlias for the season, purple queen anne's lace, antique pink dutch hydrangea, Femma and Pink Aubade roses, yellow dahlias, scabiosa pods, millet, hydrangea berries, sweet gum foliage and silver dollar eucalyptus.  

Meridian House Event

Last week I did an event for St. Albans School at the Meridian House, a historic property designed by James Pope, who also designed the National Gallery in Washington.  It is a most beautiful building.
We did 3 different mantle arrangements and made some little tree arrangements for the buffet tables.  For a late fall vibe, we used Rover mums, monbretia pods and Terra Cotta roses.  The trees were made from Sweet Gum branches in birch tubes with an arrangement of roses, mums and greens around the base.

Dinner Party on the Hill

I made some arrangements for a dinner party on Capitol Hill the other night.  The client wanted some subtle cool tones for a hot Washington evening outdoors.  I used pierus, green anthirium, cream roses and some tan/rust dried pods in a trio of little stone urns. 

Charleston Alexander Bridal Jewelry Show

On Aug 17  I was happy to participate in a bridal jewelry show at the Charleston Alexander Jewelers in Bethesda.  I provided an array of bouquets and had a great time making a some different types of pieces.  I used babies breath with a feather collar, a wonderful heart shaped anthirium leaf with cymbidium orchids, pale green anthirium with pink ranuculus, cream roses and silver dusty miller and other combinations.  What fun - I had a lovely time.

Party at the Canadian Embassy

We did the flowers for a party at the fabulous Canadian Embassy last month.  They wanted a tropical vibe and we were happy to oblige.  We used a medley of tropical flowers and greens - oncidium orchids, flax leaves, pink ginger, aralia leaves, orange pincushions, burgandy ti leaves, red anthirium, orange gerbers and heliconia.  Lots of fun to work with this great palette and do something lush.

Charleston Alexander Bridal Fashion Expo and Jewelry Trunk Show

On August 17 2013, I am going to be part of  the Charleston Alexander Jewelry Bridal Fashion Expo and Jewelry Trunk Show in Bethesda, MD.  I am providing bridal bouquets and arrangements for the show and am so excited to be part of this.  It is open from 10 - 7 pm.   Check out the entry on the blog on the Charleston Alexander web site.

Sunny dinner party

Last night there was a dinner party outside on a pool deck.   I did the flowers in a nice sunny yellow with refreshing greens and grey accents to cool things off visually during this hot spell in Washington.

Breakfast at St. Albans

This past spring I made an arrangement for a breakfast at the headmaster's home.  Peaches and creams were the colors and I made a pretty piece for the event.  Ranuculus, roses, cream hydrangea, my favorite varigated pittosporum and a touch of grey brunia to add a little sophistication.

Kissing ball

I had a wedding last week and one of the samples I made for the flower girl to carry was this moss ball covered with birch bark flowers attached with pearl pins.  

Summer bouquet

Sometimes it is fun to just plunk some stems in a vase and enjoy a bright bouquet.  This is what I did yesterday and delivered it to a newly married couple. 

Persimmon wedding

We did a lovely wedding this weekend.  The colors were persimmon and grey and we expanded that to include pinky persimmons and silvery grey and all the persimmon colors in between...This picture is the sweetheart table arrangement.

Two photos of new work - one with orange pin cushions, roses, red hypericum, poppy pods and safari sunset protea.  The other with lavender roses, blooming lambs ears, newly blossoming lavender hydrangea and nigella.