November 9, 2011
Winter centerpiece
Here is a nice example of living plants and winter greenery with just a little touch of flowers. I was going for something a little organic looking, that would last a few weeks, that a customer could easily keep refreshing throughout the holiday season. Long lasting equals good value for the customer! You could add pine cones, more twigs, totally a million festive touches you can add yourself! This will soon be added to the website for the holidays!
December 19, 2010
I was recently reminded of how much joy flowers can bring, when I read about an anonymous benefactor who is bringing joy to folks in their town by having flowers delivered to individuals for no apparent reason. I was so thrilled by this story! The only criteria is that the recipient must have done a good deed at sometime in their life. The florist Dennis Nutley of the Green Cottage in Hudson Valley gets to create & deliver these gifts, and he recently said “he wished the person sending the flowers could see the joy that he sees when they are delivered”. You can read about it here; http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/12/17/life/doc4d0a8d594f9c1596323966.txt
Another fellow florist in Scotland was reflecting upon how beautiful their flowers looked in photographs that were sent to them by a local photographer who was shooting an event they did locally. Their flowers are really beautiful! You can read their blog and see their flowers here; http://planetflowers.blogspot.com
I was reminded while reading their blog, how little I really get to enjoy my flowers. I am always so busy with the production aspect of installing for an event, or setting up a ballroom for a party or wedding, or just making beautiful flowers for clients who call daily and want us to send a little bit of joy to their loved ones, there is so little time for me to actually enjoy them.
If you ask our delivery drivers, they will certainly tell you a whole different story. They get to experience the joy, the surprise, and the pleasure that a gift of flowers can bring to the recipient. Delivering flowers is a hard job, but I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world! My driver always wants to know what the occasion is because he cares that much. I always love it when he comes back to the studio and tells me how much the recipient loved the flowers. I realize that I need to stop taking flowers for granted! Bringing JOY is what we do best!
The other thing that was a great reminder was when a customer recently sent me flowers. She came into the studio, while I was at home sick. She asked if any one had sent me flowers? Of course not, who would make them? But our designer Tamara told the client she knew how picky I was & knew exactly what to send to me! I can’t tell you how it made me feel! Maybe I was more shocked at the kindness of the customer, but I know that a big part of my joy was seeing the beauty of the flowers through different eyes.
I would love to get a little mystery flower trend going and send them to someone who deserves a little bit of joy back! We all know that special someone who keeps giving but never expects anything in return. What do you think? This could be like the Seattle wave~pass it on~let’s make it happen in our own little communities. Call your local florist, , give them a little joy, by asking them to send a gift of joy to someone who deserves it! Just thank them for being the kind of person who gives to the community expecting nothing in return.
P.S. I just remembered the lady who came into the store, and asked if she could pay for the next person’s flowers~ When the next person came in, I rang up the sale and told them that they were already paid for, she just could not believe it! She thought it was me that paid for it, but I told her it was paid for by a customer, who just wanted the next person to be blessed in the way she felt she had been blessed in her life. I don’t know what led me on this path today, maybe it’s just the time of the year, but I too feel very blessed. The human spirit is truly amazing and I am reminded every day in this job that it’s not about shopping, it’s about a purpose!
November 19, 2010
Thanksgiving Flower Centerpiece
This Design looks nice on a holiday table, we do this in seasonal colors and flowers for Thanksgiving, then we change it up for December by adding winter greens and more winter flowers in lime greens or reds or whites. It really adds to the table to have lovely flowers included in the decor. I have many customers who send flowers as a holiday gift to someone who is hosting a dinner or a holiday party. I always think that it is such a thoughtful thing to do!
Centerpiece for a smaller table
Think about using a glass cube like this arrangement for a smaller table. It looks beautiful if you add votive candles around it, it’s a warm and comfy piece. Most people don’t add candles to the centerpieces any more, they use candlestick holders or votive candles instead. Personally I like that look better, it’s more stylish . These glass cubes look nice if you have a long table you can use three down the center of a long table with candles between them.
What ever style you do, just remember to add a little grace to your table by using flowers!
November 19, 2010
The first Kirkland Home show was held last week. Thanks to all the people who worked so hard to put it on. My Home Wholesale opened their beautiful store up to vendors and deserve a big thanks as well.
Our table was decorated for the holiday season. We wanted to show how you can be festive, add unusual color, and mix it up a bit for something a little different. We decided to go with peacock colors because they work so nice with browns and coppers. A big thank you to Tiffany at www.sealitwithlove.com for the beautiful menu cards, place cards at all of her beautiful paper If you’re looking for beautiful invitations or planning an event, check out her website to see some of her awesome items. The photography was done by www.laurenkahanphotography.com it does a nice job of showing off our flowers and our table. The idea for using unusual color came from our floral designer Tamara, who really wanted to show that the holidays aren’t just about candy canes and red flowers.
Peacock Holiday Table
holiday table
Flowers & table setting
Flowers for the table
The room setting
October 30, 2010
November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
A Thanksgiving bounty! One of our centerpieces for the table.
Paradise found!
Another example of some or our not so traditional Thanksgiving flowers!
Enjoy the sunshine!
We like to spread a little sunshine around during the holidays, especially when we are in the middle of our long winter rainy season! You won’t find those dark brown mums in my store during the holidays, I think they are just too dreary! We need more sunshine here in the NW in the winter, although I did see my shadow today for a few minutes 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get to spend it with your loved ones!
July 5, 2009
A gathering of thoughts for this past 4th of July….
As Thomas Jefferson so artfully wrote in The Declaration of Independence “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
And Jim Blasingame, small business advocate points out, ” We began with freedom, the freedom to dream and to try; to succeed and to fail; to own and to enjoy; to accumulate and to pass on to the next generation.”
“Entrepreneurs take risks, but only the freedom to enjoy success can make those risks acceptable.”
“A healthy entrepreneurial environment fosters national economic well-being. ”
“Thank you, Founders. Without their vision, courage, passion and sacrifice, it’s doubtful that entrepreneurship as we know it would exist today.”
And thank you to Jim Blasingame, small business advocate, who’s blog you can find here:
http://blog.smallbusinessadvocate.com/
His blog touched my heart and validates the very core reason that I own a small business in this country, and I am sure every small businesss owner will relate, as well as all of us who still have a dream!
Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration!
May 10, 2009
I’m wishing every Mother/ Mom out there good health, happiness, strength, and love! Enjoy the day…I hope you appreciate the small blessings in your life and spend the day doing something you love with someone you love!
I survived the day..300 tulips, roses, lilies, hydrangea, calla lllies, 200 cybidium orchids and untold numbers of stems of flowers later..I’m done!
The strangest request came very late in the day today for an edible arrangement. Call me tired, or call me dumb, I just did not understand what that was. What is that? I was running it through my brain, are roses edible? Are violets edible? Then I found out she wanted arranged fruit! 🙂 Like an edible fruit arrangement, so I ended up giving her the number to the place in town, and she ended up calling me back because they were sold out and she decided that unedible flowers were okay after all. We had the best laugh..she decided that Washingtonians are really great friendly folks! Of course I agree.
Then I had a gal from New York call me, and the address turned out to be wrong, I knew this becasue according to the map it was located in the middle of Lake Union. When I called the recipient, we had a great laugh when I asked her if she lived on a houseboat. she said that she did not, then I asked her if she was a mermaid…she laughed so hard! I told her I was just trying to get some flowers to her, but this address in the middle of the lake wasn’t working for me. Geez….one digit can make such a HUGE difference. 🙂
Can you tell I’m tired.. and just going to go listen to Saturday night blues.. ( this is Saturday right???)
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